EFFECT OF PERCEPTION OF SERIOUSNESS OF CHILDREN'S TONSILLECTOMY ON FAMILY ADAPTABILITY AND COHESION.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 180
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate one major factor, family perception of seriousness of a stressor event, which may be associated with changes in family adaptability and cohesion during a six week crisis period. The following questions were explored: What difference does the family's perception of the seriousness of a child's surgery have on the family's adaptability and cohesion prior to and six weeks following surgery? What difference does the family's level of stress have on its perception of the seriousness of surgery?.

This study utilized a pretest/post-test no control group design. Data were collected at the time of surgery scheduling and six weeks following surgery through mailed questionnaires from families attached to an otolaryngology outpatient clinic and five otolaryngologists' practices. Subjects consisted of 41 families in which a child underwent a tonsillectomy. Variables of interest were measured by the Rating Scale of Seriousness of Surgery, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales III (Olson, Portner, and Lavee, 1985), and the Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (McCubbin, Patterson and Wilson, 1982).

Fisher's exact tests were conducted on the number of families who either shifted or did not shift categories of cohesion and adaptability from pretest to post-test measurements. Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare high and low seriousness groups on cohesion, adaptability, and life stress scores with premeasures of each variable serving as the covariate.

Study findings did not consistently support predictions of the Family Crisis Model (Burr, 1973; Hill, 1949) and the Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems (Olson, Portner and Lavee, 1985). Significant findings resulted in the cohesion dimension. Families who were in the balanced categories of cohesion and who perceived their children's surgery to be serious significantly shifted to extreme categories six weeks after surgery. There was a significant difference in family cohesion scores between high and low seriousness groups. There were no significant findings for adaptability or stress.

This study provided some support for the Family Crisis and the Circumplex Models. It also supported the notion that the testing of middle range family theories can result in refinement of family theory and research.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-05, Section: B, page: 2284.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1990.

School code: 0043.