Stephen Claxton‐Oldfield
Biographic Data
| ID | 7110683 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Claxton‐Oldfield |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Claxton‐Oldfield |
| SIGNATURE | OLDFIELD S C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Mount Allison University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Deathbed Visions
11 female hospice palliative care volunteers who had either witnessed and/or had patients or patients' family members tell them about deathbed visions (DBVs) were interviewed about their experiences, perspectives, and responses. The volunteers responded to a series of guiding questions and shared stories about their patients' DBVs. During the interviews, the volunteers talked about, among other things, the impact of DBVs on their patients and the…
A Pilot Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Training Module Designed to Improve Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers’ Ability to Deal With Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
The need for training to help healthcare professionals and hospice palliative care volunteers deal with unusual experiences at or around the end of a person's life is an oft-repeated theme in the scientific literature. A pilot study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a training module designed to improve volunteers' ability to recognize, understand, and respond to unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP) in their work with dying patients a…
Nursing Home Staff Members’ Experiences With and Beliefs About Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
Twenty-two members of a nursing home took part in a study examining their experiences with and beliefs about unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP). Nearly all the staff members had witnessed and/or been told about residents holding on for someone to arrive or for a specific event to occur before dying (95% and 91%, respectively). Other commonly witnessed/reported EOLP included residents having sudden, unexpected moments of lucidity, sensing or fee…
The Impact of Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena on Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers and Their Perceived Needs for Training to Respond to Them
Thirty-nine hospice palliative care volunteers completed a survey examining (a) their beliefs about end-of-life phenomena (EOLP), (b) the impact of EOLP on their lives, and (c) their perceived needs for training to respond to them. Forty-nine percent of the volunteers either had personally witnessed an EOLP in their volunteer work and/or had a patient or patient's family member report an EOLP to them. More than half of the volunteers strongly agr…
Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers’ Experiences With Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
Forty-five Canadian hospice palliative care volunteers responded to a survey examining whether they had witnessed or been told about any unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP) in their work with dying patients and their families in the past year. The most commonly witnessed EOLP were patients talking to or reaching out their hands toward deceased relatives or friends (34%), occurrences of terminal lucidity (33%), and patients seemingly getting read…
Perceptions of Gay and Lesbian Stepfamilies
The purpose of this study was to explore young adults' perceptions of stepfamilies headed by gay and lesbian couples. Undergraduate students read a brief vignette describing one of four family units (gay stepfamily, lesbian stepfamily, heterosexual stepfamily, or biological family). After reading the vignette, students rated their perceptions of the family unit using the First Impressions Questionnaire (FIQ; Bryan, Coleman, Ganong, & Bryan, 1986)…
Multiple Stereotypes of Stepfathers
Three separate studies were conducted to determine whether university students hold multiple stereotypes of stepfathers. In the first study, 116 undergraduate students were asked to list all of the traits that are typically associated with stepfathers. After semantically similar traits were grouped together, 77 distinct traits (45 negative and 32 positive) remained. In the second study, 34 undergraduate students were asked to sort the 77 traits f…
Young Adults' Perceptions of Their Relationships with Their Stepfathers and Biological Fathers
Ninety-five undergraduate students took part in a study designed to compare young adults' perceptions of their relationships with their stepfathers and fathers. Seventy-three of the students (76.8%) lived in two-biological parent families and 22 of the students (23.2%) lived in mother-stepfather families. Students responded to a Stepfather (or Father) Questionnaire. The questionnaire, a modified version of the Stepparent Behaviour Inventory (SBI)…
Child Abuse in Stepfather Families
The purpose of this study was to investigate how people make judgements about the likelihood of child abuse by stepfathers and biological fathers. One hundred eighty-six university students were asked to indicate whether they believed that: (1) girls who live with stepfathers were at higher, about the same, or lower risk for sexual abuse compared with girls who live with biological fathers; and (2) boys who live with stepfathers were at higher, a…
Some Possible Implications of Negative Stepfather Stereotypes
Two studies were conducted to investigate whether ambiguous evidence of child abuse would lead undergraduate students to be more suspicious of stepfathers than of fathers. In Study 1, students responded to a written vignette in which a 15 year old girl mentions to a high school counsellor that her stepfather (or father) likes to tickle her unexpectedly at home. Imagining themselves as the counsellor at the girl's school, students rated the stepfa…
Young Adults' Perceptions of Stepchildren
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of young adults regarding children from stepfamilies and biological families. A total of 140 university students rated the family position labels brother, sister, stepbrother, and stepsister on nine bipolar evaluative adjectives. The results revealed that sisters were perceived more positively than stepsisters and brothers more positively than stepbrothers. As the number of children who…
Deconstructing the Myth of the Wicked Stepparent
This article examines the myth of the wicked stepparent; a myth which continues to exist even though there is very little substance in it. For the most part, it appears that the myth of stepparental wickedness has its origins in baseless folklore and continues to be perpetuated in popular literature and contemporary Hollywood movies. It seems likely that such negative portrayals of stepparents would influence how members of society view them. Alt…
The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information
This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child…
Portrayal of Stepparents in Movie Plot Summaries
55 summaries of movie plots that mentioned a stepparent by name were examined. 58.2% of these 55 plot summaries portrayed the stepparent in negative terms. The remaining 41.8% of the plot summaries contained no evaluative comments. None of the plot summaries presented the stepparents in a specifically positive manner. It was concluded that the negative perception of stepparents in our society may be associated, at least in part, with the unsavour…
Perceptions of Stepfathers
Two separate studies were conducted to compare college students' perceptions of the parental behavior of stepfathers and biological fathers. After reading a brief vignette, the students were asked to rate the parental behavior of an adult, identified as either a stepfather or father and depicted either spanking a child (Study 1) or behaving affectionately toward a child (Study 2). The results of Study 1 indicated a less positive perception of ste…
Perceptions of Stepfathers
Two separate studies were conducted to compare college students' perceptions of the parental behavior of stepfathers and biological fathers. After reading a brief vignette, the students were asked to rate the parental behavior of an adult, identified as either a stepfather or father and depicted either spanking a child (Study 1) or behaving affectionately toward a child (Study 2). The results of Study 1 indicated a less positive perception of ste…
Deconstructing the Myth of the Wicked Stepparent
This article examines the myth of the wicked stepparent; a myth which continues to exist even though there is very little substance in it. For the most part, it appears that the myth of stepparental wickedness has its origins in baseless folklore and continues to be perpetuated in popular literature and contemporary Hollywood movies. It seems likely that such negative portrayals of stepparents would influence how members of society view them. Alt…
Perceptions of Stepfathers
Two separate studies were conducted to compare college students' perceptions of the parental behavior of stepfathers and biological fathers. After reading a brief vignette, the students were asked to rate the parental behavior of an adult, identified as either a stepfather or father and depicted either spanking a child (Study 1) or behaving affectionately toward a child (Study 2). The results of Study 1 indicated a less positive perception of ste…
Portrayal of Stepparents in Movie Plot Summaries
55 summaries of movie plots that mentioned a stepparent by name were examined. 58.2% of these 55 plot summaries portrayed the stepparent in negative terms. The remaining 41.8% of the plot summaries contained no evaluative comments. None of the plot summaries presented the stepparents in a specifically positive manner. It was concluded that the negative perception of stepparents in our society may be associated, at least in part, with the unsavour…
The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information
This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child…
Deconstructing the Myth of the Wicked Stepparent
This article examines the myth of the wicked stepparent; a myth which continues to exist even though there is very little substance in it. For the most part, it appears that the myth of stepparental wickedness has its origins in baseless folklore and continues to be perpetuated in popular literature and contemporary Hollywood movies. It seems likely that such negative portrayals of stepparents would influence how members of society view them. Alt…
Young Adults' Perceptions of Stepchildren
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of young adults regarding children from stepfamilies and biological families. A total of 140 university students rated the family position labels brother, sister, stepbrother, and stepsister on nine bipolar evaluative adjectives. The results revealed that sisters were perceived more positively than stepsisters and brothers more positively than stepbrothers. As the number of children who…
Some Possible Implications of Negative Stepfather Stereotypes
Two studies were conducted to investigate whether ambiguous evidence of child abuse would lead undergraduate students to be more suspicious of stepfathers than of fathers. In Study 1, students responded to a written vignette in which a 15 year old girl mentions to a high school counsellor that her stepfather (or father) likes to tickle her unexpectedly at home. Imagining themselves as the counsellor at the girl's school, students rated the stepfa…
Child Abuse in Stepfather Families
The purpose of this study was to investigate how people make judgements about the likelihood of child abuse by stepfathers and biological fathers. One hundred eighty-six university students were asked to indicate whether they believed that: (1) girls who live with stepfathers were at higher, about the same, or lower risk for sexual abuse compared with girls who live with biological fathers; and (2) boys who live with stepfathers were at higher, a…
Multiple Stereotypes of Stepfathers
Three separate studies were conducted to determine whether university students hold multiple stereotypes of stepfathers. In the first study, 116 undergraduate students were asked to list all of the traits that are typically associated with stepfathers. After semantically similar traits were grouped together, 77 distinct traits (45 negative and 32 positive) remained. In the second study, 34 undergraduate students were asked to sort the 77 traits f…
Young Adults' Perceptions of Their Relationships with Their Stepfathers and Biological Fathers
Ninety-five undergraduate students took part in a study designed to compare young adults' perceptions of their relationships with their stepfathers and fathers. Seventy-three of the students (76.8%) lived in two-biological parent families and 22 of the students (23.2%) lived in mother-stepfather families. Students responded to a Stepfather (or Father) Questionnaire. The questionnaire, a modified version of the Stepparent Behaviour Inventory (SBI)…
Perceptions of Gay and Lesbian Stepfamilies
The purpose of this study was to explore young adults' perceptions of stepfamilies headed by gay and lesbian couples. Undergraduate students read a brief vignette describing one of four family units (gay stepfamily, lesbian stepfamily, heterosexual stepfamily, or biological family). After reading the vignette, students rated their perceptions of the family unit using the First Impressions Questionnaire (FIQ; Bryan, Coleman, Ganong, & Bryan, 1986)…
Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers’ Experiences With Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
Forty-five Canadian hospice palliative care volunteers responded to a survey examining whether they had witnessed or been told about any unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP) in their work with dying patients and their families in the past year. The most commonly witnessed EOLP were patients talking to or reaching out their hands toward deceased relatives or friends (34%), occurrences of terminal lucidity (33%), and patients seemingly getting read…
The Impact of Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena on Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers and Their Perceived Needs for Training to Respond to Them
Thirty-nine hospice palliative care volunteers completed a survey examining (a) their beliefs about end-of-life phenomena (EOLP), (b) the impact of EOLP on their lives, and (c) their perceived needs for training to respond to them. Forty-nine percent of the volunteers either had personally witnessed an EOLP in their volunteer work and/or had a patient or patient's family member report an EOLP to them. More than half of the volunteers strongly agr…
A Pilot Study Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Training Module Designed to Improve Hospice Palliative Care Volunteers’ Ability to Deal With Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
The need for training to help healthcare professionals and hospice palliative care volunteers deal with unusual experiences at or around the end of a person's life is an oft-repeated theme in the scientific literature. A pilot study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a training module designed to improve volunteers' ability to recognize, understand, and respond to unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP) in their work with dying patients a…
Nursing Home Staff Members’ Experiences With and Beliefs About Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena
Twenty-two members of a nursing home took part in a study examining their experiences with and beliefs about unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP). Nearly all the staff members had witnessed and/or been told about residents holding on for someone to arrive or for a specific event to occur before dying (95% and 91%, respectively). Other commonly witnessed/reported EOLP included residents having sudden, unexpected moments of lucidity, sensing or fee…
Deathbed Visions
11 female hospice palliative care volunteers who had either witnessed and/or had patients or patients' family members tell them about deathbed visions (DBVs) were interviewed about their experiences, perspectives, and responses. The volunteers responded to a series of guiding questions and shared stories about their patients' DBVs. During the interviews, the volunteers talked about, among other things, the impact of DBVs on their patients and the…
Psychology (15 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Stepfamily (7 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (6 works) · Perception (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences (5 works)