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Parents of gender variant children currently receive conflicting information concerning how to respond to their child's gender variance. This conflict arises from divisions within the academic literature between what are referred to as either reparative or affirmative approaches to working with gender variant children. The current paper reports on a scoping study designed to understand the support experiences of Australian parents of gender variant children, together with their attitudes towards gender variance. The study was mixed methods in design, including both quantitative and qualitative information gained from 61 parents of gender variant children. The major findings of the project indicate that a formal diagnosis of gender variance appears to facilitate support towards gender variant children and their parents. The study also found conflicting experiences of contact with healthcare professionals, with some participants reporting positive and supportive experiences and others reporting negative interactions with professionals. Finally, the study found that there were gender differences in relation to parental responses, namely that fathers were less supportive of their child's gender variance. As such, the paper indicates room for improvement in relation to healthcare professionals working with gender variant children and their families, together with insight into the experiences of parents for this group of young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive theories emphasise the role of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep in the development and maintenance of sleep-related problems (SRPs). The present research examines how parents' dysfunctional beliefs about children's sleep and child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are related to each other and to children's subjective and objective sleep. Participants were 45 children aged 11-12 years and their parents. Self-report measures of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and child sleep were completed by children, mothers and fathers. Objective measures of child sleep were taken using actigraphy. The results showed that child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were correlated with father ( r = 0.43, p < 0.05) and mother ( r = 0.43, p < 0.05) reported child SRPs, and with Sleep Onset Latency ( r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Maternal dysfunctional beliefs about child sleep were related to child SRPs as reported by mothers ( r = 0.44, p < 0.05), and to child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep ( r = 0.37, p < 0.05). Some initial evidence was found for a mediation pathway in which child dyfunctional beliefs mediate the relationship between parent dysfunctional beliefs and child sleep. The results support the cognitive model of SRPs and contribute to the literature by providing the first evidence of familial aggregation of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents and family members whose adult child or relative has a mental illness endure significant losses, to which they respond with grief. Such grief may negatively affect family members' physical and psychological health and also the relationship with their relative. Yet, research in this field is sparse. Very few studies have examined parents' loss and grief in the context of the patient being a child or teen. It is not clear the extent to which parents' loss and grief in response to their child or adolescent's mental illness is similar or different to the accounts of older parents and family members caring for an adult relative with major psychopathology (e.g., Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder). Parental loss and grief is not often addressed in child and adolescent mental health services' provision of care; alarmingly, little is known about how best to support parents who access these services. The present study aimed to bridge this knowledge gap and identify the therapeutic needs of this younger parent population. Comprehensive interviews were conducted with 14 parents and one custodial grandparent of a youth aged 18 years or younger who was currently attending a child and adolescent mental health service. An inductive thematic analysis identified six themes; parents' narrative of finding out, profound and pervasive loss, complex grief, waning support, the challenges of caregiving and a call for assistance. It can be inferred from these results that youth mental illness can constitute a source of loss and grief for parents. Participants' loss and grief was largely consistent with the experience of families caring for an adult relative with major psychopathology. Opportunities for mental health practitioners to support families' loss and grief were identified. Further studies are needed to enhance understanding of this complex and, to a large extent, ignored familial experience. Results do underscore the importance of clinicians acknowledging parents' loss and grief and working directly with this experience over the course of youths' treatment, perhaps in conjunction with family psychoeducation approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this descriptive focus group study, we investigated parents' views about child sexual abuse prevention education at home and in schools. Focus groups were conducted with a sample of 30 Australian adults who identified as the parent or caregiver of a child/children aged 0-5 years. The study explored (1) parents' knowledge about child sexual abuse prevention, (2) the child sexual abuse prevention messages they provided to their children and the topics they discussed, (3) their attitudes towards child sexual abuse prevention education in schools, and (4) their preferences for content. Data analysis provided seven key themes in these four areas: knowledge (the inadequacy of their own prevention education; and how important is stranger danger now?); messages (bodies, touching, and relationships; the role of protective adults; and parent-child communication); attitudes (voice and choice); and preferences (not the nitty gritty, just the basics). The findings may be useful in assisting school authorities and providers of child sexual abuse prevention programs to better understand parents' contributions to child sexual abuse prevention education, and their perspectives in relation to provision of school-based prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]