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Full time workers caring for children with chronic illness: A national study
Social-cognitive aspects of children and adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome
Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD
Effects of chronic illness on the education of primary aged students
Full time workers caring for children with chronic illness: A national study
Investigators: Dr Margaret Vickers, School of Management, University of Western Sydney; Professor Lesley Wilkes, School of Nursing, Family and Community Health, University of Western Sydney and Dr Belinda
Barton, Head of CHERI, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Funding: ARC Linkage Grant (2005 – 2008) in conjunction with University of Western Sydney and CHERI.
With advances in medical technology more Australian children with chronic illness are surviving. The day-to-day care required for many children with chronic conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and cerebral palsy are challenging and stressful, with daily
health care regimens being time consuming, rigorous, and unrelenting - taxing to both children and parents. Balancing the competing demands of such care regimes, work, and personal and family responsibilities can be challenging and exhausting. For parents who
are working full time and caring for a child with chronic illness, the stressors related to managing their work and caring responsibilities are exacerbated. However, no studies have investigated the experiences of these parents.
The support needs of full time workers who care for children with chronic illnesses are under acknowledged. This three-phased study will identify these support needs from the worker’s perspective. In-depth interviews and a national population survey will
provide data. Synthesised data will provide recommendations that health workers, employers and support services can use to develop at home, community, employment and information support for these workers.
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Social-cognitive aspects of children and adolescents with velocardiofacial syndrome
Investigators: Dr Belinda Barton, Head of CHERI; Dr David Dossetor, Head, Department of Psychological Medicine, The Children's Hospital at Westmead; and Dr Meredith Wilson, Head, Clinical Genetics, The Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Funding: CHERI.
The aim of this project is to obtain a cognitive and social profile of children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS). Children with VCFS have impaired cognitive functioning including a general lowering of IQ scores and learning problems, as well as significant
delays in both expressive and receptive language. In addition, many children and adolescents with VCFS are socially withdrawn and have poor social relationships, which are possibly related to impaired communication skills.
As part of this study, individuals with VCFS who are aged between 8 to 17 years will have a comprehensive educational assessment conducted by a psychologist. Parents and teachers also provide information about their child’s social and executive functioning. A detailed report is provided to parents outlining the results of their child's assessment, including recommendations which aim to improve their child's academic performance and social skills. The results of this study will assist us in developing appropriate and effective interventions that aim to improve the academic performance and social skills of children and adolescents with VCFS.
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Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD
Investigators: Associate Professor Heather Jenkins and Professor Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia.
Partner organisations: CHERI and the Child Development Unit at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, NSW; WA Department of Education and Training, Association of Independent Schools of WA, and Eli Lilly Australia.
Funding: ARC Linkage Grant (2003 – 2006) in conjunction with Curtin University of Technology; CHERI; Department of Education Western Australia; Child Development Unit, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead; Eli Lilly Australia
and Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia.
Students with ADHD are characterised behaviourally with major symptoms of distractibility, impulsivity and inattentiveness, exhibited persistently across different contexts such as home and school, at levels that are developmentally inappropriate for their
age. The principal underlying mechanism that leads to these behavioural outcomes is hypothesised to be a deficit of response inhibition, which in turn restricts the development of four executive functions: working memory, internalisation of speech, self-regulation
of affect, motivation and arousal, and reconstitution.
| This study has three aims: |
| i. |
To establish the social-cognitive phenotypes of students with and without ADHD in the developmental period from pre- to mid-adolescence (9 to 17 yrs) as a function of response inhibition, executive function, gender, age and
medication status; |
| ii. |
To evaluate the mental health status of students with and without ADHD, particularly with respect to their levels of depression and anxiety, as a function of executive function and gender; |
| iii. |
To investigate the effects of new nonpsychostimulant medication (atomoxetine) and standard psychostimulant medication (dexamphetamine) on the restoration of response inhibition, and on the predicted improvement to executive
functioning, social perceptions of learning environment and achievement in science classes. |
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Effects of chronic illness on the education of primary aged students
Investigators: Professor Trevor Parmenter, Director, Centre for Developmental Disability Studies and Associate Professor David Evans, School of Development and Learning, University of Sydney.
As a result of the advances in scientific
knowledge and technology, the number of children being identified and living with a chronic illness is increasing. Consequently, the number of students with a chronic illness attending schools has grown. Absences from school due to illness and the need to attend
medical and health appointments may result in reduced opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy skills. This project aims to investigate the literacy and numeracy skills of primary aged children with a chronic
illness.
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