The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old

© 2015 Kennedy, Rooney, Kane, Hassan and Nesa. The family context plays a critical role in the health of the child. This was the first study to examine the usefulness of the General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF) in assessing family functioning and its relationship to...

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Main Authors: Kennedy, P., Rooney, Rosanna, Kane, Robert, Hassan, S., Nesa, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Frontiers Research Foundation 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46329
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author Kennedy, P.
Rooney, Rosanna
Kane, Robert
Hassan, S.
Nesa, M.
author_facet Kennedy, P.
Rooney, Rosanna
Kane, Robert
Hassan, S.
Nesa, M.
author_sort Kennedy, P.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2015 Kennedy, Rooney, Kane, Hassan and Nesa. The family context plays a critical role in the health of the child. This was the first study to examine the usefulness of the General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF) in assessing family functioning and its relationship to internalizing symptoms in school-aged children aged between 9 and 11 years of age. Eight hundred and forty-seven year 4 and 5 students from 13 schools (607 intervention students, and 240 control students) participated in the Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program (AO-PTS) - a universal school-based program targeting internalizing symptoms. Students rated how 'healthy' they perceived their family to be at pre-test and at 6-months follow-up. Although some aspects of validity and reliability could be improved, results indicated that perceptions of family functioning at pre-test were predictive of internalizing symptoms at the 6-months follow-up. The FAD-GF therefore showed promise as a potential measure of family functioning for children as young as 9 years old. Regardless of children's pre-test levels of perceived family functioning, no intervention effects were found on the anxiety and depression scales; this finding suggests that child perceptions of family functioning may act as a general protective factor against internalizing symptomology.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-463292019-03-28T07:20:52Z The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old Kennedy, P. Rooney, Rosanna Kane, Robert Hassan, S. Nesa, M. © 2015 Kennedy, Rooney, Kane, Hassan and Nesa. The family context plays a critical role in the health of the child. This was the first study to examine the usefulness of the General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF) in assessing family functioning and its relationship to internalizing symptoms in school-aged children aged between 9 and 11 years of age. Eight hundred and forty-seven year 4 and 5 students from 13 schools (607 intervention students, and 240 control students) participated in the Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program (AO-PTS) - a universal school-based program targeting internalizing symptoms. Students rated how 'healthy' they perceived their family to be at pre-test and at 6-months follow-up. Although some aspects of validity and reliability could be improved, results indicated that perceptions of family functioning at pre-test were predictive of internalizing symptoms at the 6-months follow-up. The FAD-GF therefore showed promise as a potential measure of family functioning for children as young as 9 years old. Regardless of children's pre-test levels of perceived family functioning, no intervention effects were found on the anxiety and depression scales; this finding suggests that child perceptions of family functioning may act as a general protective factor against internalizing symptomology. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46329 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00504 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers Research Foundation fulltext
spellingShingle Kennedy, P.
Rooney, Rosanna
Kane, Robert
Hassan, S.
Nesa, M.
The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title_full The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title_fullStr The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title_full_unstemmed The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title_short The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
title_sort enhanced aussie optimism positive thinking skills program: the relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9-11 years old
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46329