Family gatherings are an effective way to build meaningful partnerships between classrooms and families. Children learn best when they are in a supportive environment, one that meets the needs of the children, the needs of the families, and the needs of the staff of the child care center or school. The partnership-building process can be assisted…

This article discusses the challenges to engaging families in secondary schools, along with practical tips for improving family engagement at the secondary level. Some of these challenges include lack of connection, poor communication, poor attendance, and complex curriculum. The tips and practices that are presented here are just a few of the…

A healthy volunteer program can be a great asset to any school library. Volunteers do much of the routine work that then frees the librarian to work with students individually or in groups, providing instruction and reading guidance. In addition to the physical work volunteers provide, they become strong advocates for a school library program…

This article describes a take-home literacy project in which kindergartners took home books, a stuffed animal, a camera, and a shared writing activity to complete with their families. The children later shared their writing and experiences in school. The resulting written responses and photographs depicted a level of involvement with the families…

The purpose of this article is to stimulate discussion and research about patient suffering and caregiver compassion. It is our view that these constructs are central to understanding phenomena such as family caregiving, and that recognizing their unique role in the caregiving experience provides new directions for intervention research, clinical…

This volume contains materials presented at a one-day conference on family support for the care of older adults. Checklists and guides are included on evaluating and meeting the needs of older persons. A discussion guide for those taking care of older parents covers ways in which to support the older persons and the entire family. Several…

This model, which provides tried and proven concepts and principles and which can be adapted to a health facilities services delivery system, is designed to assist the professional in planning for patient and family education and may be used with any illness regardless of its etiology or chronicity. The model presents a step-by-step procedure,…

Combined life course perspective with life history interviewing to compare 15 lifelong unmarried, childless women and 15 ever-married mothers from the 1910 birth cohort. Results suggest that linear progression from family of origin to family of procreation reveals one stream in family life course; experiences of lifelong single women revealed…

Examined the comparability of three techniques that are used to assess the dependability of family observational measures: analyses of observer agreement, reliability, and generalizability. Results indicated no single evaluative technique will always be most conservative in estimating the quality of observations. Suggests that multiple assessments…

Describes the White boycott of several New Orleans schools after they were desegregated in 1960. Presents recollections of three White women who resisted the boycott and risked physical violence by driving White children to the integrated schools. (KH)

In treating a substance-abusing adolescent, the family is a key target of intervention. Multifamily therapy groups (MFTGs) have been used to involve families in treatment and have been found to be effective with a variety of populations. This article provides a theoretical overview of a MFTG model and describes the implementation of the model with…

Describes why promoting national literacy is the author's primary project as First Lady. (MM)

Describes a school for mentally retarded preschoolers in Beijing, China, that helps young children and their parents. (PCB)

Studied the participation of elderly patients (N=148) in the planning for discharge from acute care hospitals. Found that most patients participated actively, but that poor patient condition inhibited full participation. Concludes that family control over decision making also limits participation. (Author/ABL)

Social learning theory formed the basis of a program to develop self-management skills in cystic fibrosis patients. Strategies for practical learning activities for patients and their families included goal setting, reinforcement, modeling, skill training, and self-monitoring. (SK)