The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to deliver parenting and mental health support services to families. This narrative review illustrates the diverse ways in which ICT is being used across Europe to provide family support to different populations. We distinguish between the use of ICT in professional-led and peer-led support and provide implementation examples from across Europe. We discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of different ways of using ICT in family support and the main developments and challenges for the field more generally, guiding decision-making as to how to use ICT in family support, as well as critical reflections and future research on its merit.

AbstractBackground and aimsPain modulation via expectation is a well-documented phenomenon. So far it has been shown that expectations about effectiveness of a certain treatment enhance the effectiveness of different analgesics and of drug-free pain treatments. Also, studies demonstrate that people assess same-intensity stimuli differently, depending on the experimentally induced expectations regarding the characteristics of the stimuli. Prolonged effect of expectation on pain perception and possible symmetry in conditions of lower- and higher-intensity stimuli is yet to be studied. Aim of this study is to determine the effect of expectation on the perception of pain experimentally induced by the series of higher- and lower-intensity stimuli.Methods192 healthy participants were assigned to four experimental groups differing by expectations regarding the intensity of painful stimuli series. Expectations of two groups were congruent with actual stimuli; one group expected and received lower-intensity stimuli and the other expected and received higher-intensity stimuli. Expectations of the remaining two groups were not congruent with actual stimuli; one group expected higher-intensity stimuli, but actually received lower-intensity stimuli while the other group expected lower-intensity stimuli, but in fact received higher-intensity ones. Each group received a series of 24 varied-intensity electrical stimuli rated by the participants on a 30° intensity scale.ResultsExpectation manipulation had statistically significant effect on pain intensity assessment. When expecting lower-intensity stimuli, the participants underestimated pain intensity and when expecting higher-intensity stimuli, they overestimated pain intensity. The effect size of expectations upon pain intensity assessment was equal for both lower- and higher-intensity stimuli.ConclusionThe obtained results imply that expectation manipulation can achieve the desired effect of decreasing or increasing both slight and more severe pain for a longer period of time. Manipulation via expectation before the stimuli series was proven to be effective for pain modulation in the entire series of stimuli which lasted around 10 min. The results suggest a potential benefit of manipulating expectations to alleviate emerging pain, since the obtained effects are moderate to large.ImplicationsIt seems that expectation effect is strong enough to “overcome” even the direct effect of stimulus intensity (at least in the low to moderate intensity range), which suggests potential benefits of verbal instructions even in rather painful stimuli.

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The aim of this paper is to determine whether experimenter's professional status (Study 1) and familiarity (Study 2) affect participant's pain assessment, even when there are no other differences in the experimenter's characteristics. Both studies measured pain threshold and tolerance, and assessment of pain unpleasantness and intensity induced by thermal and electrical stimuli. In Study 1, experimenter introduced himself to participants as either a student (lower status) or an expert associate (higher status). ANOVA revealed significant and moderate to large effect of status only in thermal modality; as expected, participants tested by the higher status experimenter displayed higher thermal pain thresholds and tolerances. In Study 2, another experimenter conducted all the measurements; hers (higher) status was previously familiar to one group of students and disclosed to the other group just before the measurement. ANOVA revealed statistically significant and moderate effect of familiarity only in electrical modality; as expected, participants tested by the familiar higher status experimenter displayed higher electrical pain thresholds and tolerances. These results suggest that not only the professional status of a person measuring pain, but also individual's familiarity with it influences someone's pain assessment. With this in mind, researchers are encouraged to conduct studies that control for these factors and to include more information regarding experimenter's characteristics within their reports.

Prema National Adoption Attitudes Survey (2002) polovina Amerikanaca za posvojenu djecu smatra da će vjerojatnije imati probleme u ponašanju i školovanju, a trećina da će vjerojatnije imati medicinske probleme i probleme s drogom/alkoholom te manje vjerojatno biti sretna, samopouzdana i dobro prilagođena. Slični rezultati dobiveni su i na stručnjacima – školskim savjetnicima, socijalnim radnicima i obiteljskim terapeutima, što upozorava na mogućnost stigmatizacije posvojene djece, čak i kod profesionalaca koji (im) pružaju podršku i pomoć. S ciljem istraživanja te teme u Hrvatskoj ispitivali smo implicitne stavove prema posvojenoj djeci kod budućih stručnjakinja (psihologinja, socijalnih radnica i učiteljica) te ispitali njihovu informiranost i potrebu za edukacijom o posvojenju. Studentice (N = 255) su po slučaju pridijeljene jednoj od četiri skupine. Nakon čitanja jedne od četiri vinjete (biološko/posvojeno dijete × 1/2 roditelja) trebale su procijeniti osobine, potrebu za stručnom pomoći te potencijalne buduće probleme opisanog djeteta. Studentice su osobine i buduće probleme djeteta procjenjivale neovisno o načinu formiranja obitelji, ali su ipak potrebu za stručnom pomoći u slučaju posvojenog djeteta procijenile većom. Vlastitu informiranost buduće stručnjakinje procjenjuju slabijom – pri čemu kao glavne izvore informacija o posvojenju uglavnom navode televiziju/dnevne novine, internet te obitelj i prijatelje, dok istovremeno takve sadržaje smatraju dosta korisnima za buduću profesiju. Rezultati sugeriraju potrebu za dodatnom edukacijom na temu posvojenja u sklopu fakultetskog obrazovanja – u svrhu osiguravanja većeg znanja i osviještenosti budućih stručnjaka te prevencije stigmatizacije posvojene djece. Ključne riječi: implicitni stavovi, informiranost o posvojenju, posvojena djeca, posvojiteljske obitelji, studenti pomagačkih struka