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Background Individuals with Down syndrome exhibit particular oro-facial characteristics that may increase their risk of oral health problems. However, there is little research on the oral health of children and adults with Down syndrome and the way that oral health may affect Quality of Life (QoL). This study explored mothers’ perceptions of the oral health problems experienced by their children with Down syndrome and how these reported problems impacted the lives of the children and their families. Methods The study involved 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with mothers of children and adolescents aged 12–18 years with Down syndrome attending special care centres in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results The predominant oral-health related problem reported by mothers was difficulty in speaking. Mothers also reported that tooth decay and toothache were problems that had undesirable effects on different aspects of their children’s QoL including: performing daily activities, emotional wellbeing, and social relationships. Poor oral health and functional problems had direct and indirect impacts on the family’s QoL as well. Conclusion Mothers perceived an array of QoL impacts from oral conditions, which affected their child with Down syndrome and the wider family.

Background Teenagers are a priority intervention group in sexual education. Objectives To promote a model of training intervention based on the debate and critical reflection about sexuality in the context of the classroom, to test its efficiency and characterize teenagers in the sexual context. Methods It is a field experimental study with a non probabilistic sample of 56 teenagers (28 in the control and experimental group, respectively) with an average of 15 years of age (sd = 1.191). The evaluation protocol is the questionnaire which allows characterizing social demographic and sexual. It includes the scale of attitudes concerning sexuality, 1 attitudes concerning the birth control pill and condom, 2 scale of knowledge about family planning, 3 scale of knowledge about sexual transmitted infections 4 and scale of motivation to have or not to have sex. 5 Results Teenagers are an older experimental group, mostly of the male gender and live in a town. They have a dating relationship 39.3% mostly lasting between six months and one year, 35.7% has had sexual intercourse, 21.4% has sexual intercourse in their current dating relationship, 44.4% uses the birth control pill and 55.6% the condom, 67,9% has done emergency contraception and 92.9% considers to be important the use of condom. The training intervention was effective in the attitudes concerning the condom (p = 0.045). Conclusion Educating to a conscious sexual life is the responsibility of everyone. The reflexive methodologies must be privileged, allowing the integration of knowledge and the change of attitudes, where the students’ part is of maximum importance, being up to them, under supervision of the trainer, to post their doubts and collaborate in the pursuit of answers.

Children’s food behaviors have been expressed in a various ways because of recent changes in their family environment. Thus, this study was performed to investigate in-depth qualitative research on the mother’s perception on children’s food behaviors by focused group interview. This study was designed in four steps of planning, collection of participants, process, and analysis. Participants for the focus group interview were recruited and sampled from households with elementary school students in the Seoul and Gyeonggido areas. Groups were divided by total income and education expense levels. 1) High income household: It is better to improve currently existing web sites for nutrition education. 2) Mid income household: Easy, practical, and inexpensive off-line cooking class/nutrition education classes for mothers are needed. Nutrition programs for children should be developed through mass media and be promoted in the broadcasting circle. 3) Low income household: Motivation is required for mothers' education and the serious nutritional problems of children should be informed through mass media and home correspondence from school. And interesting educational materials should be developed for children to read whenever they want.

Background Studies in several countries indicate that parents show little concern and aren’t much aware of the nutritional status of their children, and have the tendency to underestimate the overweight which may present a difficulty when promoting healthier life styles. The aim of this study was to identify maternal body image perceptions in preschool children and analyze its relationship with nutritional status and family social demographic variables. Methods A transversal and descriptive study was developed in a sample of 1424 preschool children and their mothers living in several parts of Portugal. The children were weighted and measured by trained personnel, the BMI was calculated and the nutritional status was classified according to the NCHS referential (CDC, 2000). 1 Mother's real and ideal body image perception from their children was evaluated according to Collins’ body image silhouettes (1991). 2 Results The ideal and real perception was translated in a negative index on both children's genders, however 67.2% of the mothers revealed accuracy of perception, while 22.3% had a negative and 12.8% a positive discrepancy, being this significant concerning gender and age of the children. Children's actual weight status (ie, 60.2% normal weight, 16.9% overweight, 17.4% obese and 5.5% underweight) was significantly different from their parents’ perceptions (ie, 52.3% normal weight, 27.5% overweight 0,6% obesity and 19.6% underweight) explaining in 25.9% the variability of this perception. Globally 42.3% has no discrepancy but 44.3% thinks that children were thin and 13.4% heavier. This difference is significant concerning the age and scholarship of the mothers but has no relation with the income and residence. Conclusion Despite signs of a positive trend, mothers continue to show difficulty in recognizing the children's nutritional status, so effective public health strategies to increase parents’ awareness could be the first step in an effort to prevent childhood obesity.