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Browsing by Author "Miller, Kathryn M."

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    Predictors of psychological distress and well-being in the caregivers of children with or at-risk for HIV infection
    Miller, Kathryn M. (Virginia Tech, 1996)
    Assessed the contribution of demographic, illness, and psychosocial parameters to the psychological adjustment of 64 caregivers of children with or at risk for HIV infection. As a group, caregivers reported a significantly greater level of psychological distress than the general population while the level of well-being reported by caregivers was similar to that of the general population. Illness and demographic parameters failed to significantly predict aspects of caregiver adjustment, together accounting for only six and nine percent of the variance in caregiver psychological distress and well-being, respectively. Psychosocial variables, however, contributed significant increments in the variance of both domains of caregiver adjustment. Specifically, higher levels of caregiver psychological distress were associated with poorer caregiver health status, greater number of coping strategies reported, and higher levels of family conflict. Higher levels of caregiver well-being were associated with perceptions of less impact of negative life events, lower levels of family conflict, and greater perceptions of emotional support. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.
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    A test of protection-motivation theory for promoting injury control
    Miller, Kathryn M. (Virginia Tech, 1993)
    The present study evaluated the relationship between parental attitudes and their injury preventive efforts related to bicycle-related head injuries. Specifically, the present study assessed the contribution of components of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT; severity, vulnerability, response-efficacy, self-efficacy, response-cost) in persuading parents to engage in the preventive action of purchasing a bicycle helmet. Participants were 69 parents of elementary school-aged children. Parents were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: a PMT/low RC group (n = 18), a PMT/high RC group (n= 18), a No Information/low RC group (n = 17), and a No Information/high RC group (n = 16). As such, parents either received a PMT-based informational message regarding bicycling head injuries or they received no information. Similarly, parents in both of these conditions either received a discount coupon for a bicycle helmet or they received no coupon. Parents' intentions to purchase a bike helmet for their child as well as their actual purchases were assessed. Overall, regardless of experimental group, parents reported similar perceptions of severity, vulnerability, response-efficacy, self-efficacy and response-costs associated with bicycle head injuries and helmets. Neither the receipt of PMT-based information nor the availability of discount coupons resulted in parents' increased intentions to purchase or actual purchases of bicycle helmets for their child. Rather, parents generally reported that they were fairly likely to purchase a bicycle helmet for their child, yet few had done so at the time of the home visit. The most notable finding involved the failure of parents' intentions to purchase a bicycle helmet for their child to predict their actual purchasing behavior. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research are discussed.