Percorrer por autor "Austin, Joan"

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    Family rituals in pediatric epilepsy : links to parental competence and adaptation.
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2018) Mendes, Teresa Paula Gameiro Pompeu; Crespo, Carla Alexandra Mesquita; Austin, Joan; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    This cross-sectional study examined the associations between family ritual meaning and 3 indicators of parental adaptation (anxious and depressive symptoms and quality of life) via 2 dimensions of parental competence-satisfaction and efficacy-in parents of children with epilepsy. Two hundred Portuguese parents of children diagnosed with epilepsy for at least 6 months completed self-report measures assessing the main study variables. Our results showed that when parents reported stronger family ritual meaning, they also reported higher levels of parental satisfaction and efficacy, which were in turn were associated with lower psychological distress (anxious and depressive symptoms) and better quality of life of parents. This pattern of results was significant regardless of the severity of children's epilepsy, age group, and family socioeconomic level. In the context of pediatric epilepsy, empirical evidence was found for the role of family ritual meaning in being directly and indirectly associated with parents' adaptation outcomes by higher levels of parental satisfaction and efficacy. Focusing intervention targets on what families naturally do and recognize as their own ritual meaning may be a favorable route to address those at risk of psychological distress and lower quality of life.
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    Social comparison in parents of children with chronic conditions: Results from the Portuguese version of the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure.
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2019) Mendes, Teresa Paula Gameiro Pompeu; Crespo, Carla Alexandra Mesquita; Buunk, Abraham; Marôco, João; Austin, Joan; HEI-LAB (FCT) - Digital Laboratories for Environments and Human Interactions
    The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure (INCOM) is a measure for assessing individual differences in social comparison orientation. Despite the relevance of social comparison orientation in understanding adult patients' adjustment responses to chronic health conditions, the impact of parental social comparison processes in the context of chronic pediatric conditions remains unexplored. This study’s main goal was to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the INCOM with parents of children with chronic health conditions. Method: Two samples of parents of children with chronic pediatric conditions (asthma, epilepsy, diabetes and obesity) were used (test sample, N = 301; validation sample, N = 192). Parents completed self-reported measures of social comparison orientation, anxiety and depression symptoms and neuroticism. Results: Regarding factorial validity, results supported the unidimensionality of a revised INCOM scale, comprised of nine items. Results also supported the reliability of the measure, and provided evidence of concurrent validity: parents with higher social comparison orientation presented more anxiety and depressive symptoms, and higher neuroticism scores, consistent with what was theoretically expected. Conclusion: This study opens an important door in the field of pediatric chronic conditions, supporting the relevance of examining parents’ social comparison differences in future research, and the utility of the INCOM in the assessment of those differences.