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Oral care-related challenges are well documented in the autistic community. This review examined interventions designed to improve oral health in autistic individuals across the lifespan. Through a systematic process, 36 studies were identified which focused on improving home-based oral care skills and routines, and reducing fear, anxiety, and/or negative behaviors in the dental clinic. Studies incorporated preparatory interventions to support home-based hygiene activities or improve an approaching dental encounter (n = 29), most often using visual aids, and/or strategies to manage behavioral difficulties exhibited in the dental office (n = 17). Some studies used both approaches (n = 10), combining visual aids prior to a visit with behavior management in the dental office. Using an evidence-based rubric, methodological quality of most articles was only "adequate" (n = 8) or "weak" (n = 23). Findings provide preliminary support for preparatory home-based visual interventions to improve toothbrushing and/or ready patients for dental visits, and distraction or sensory-reducing interventions to improve experiences in the dental clinic. Only one study purposefully recruited autistic adults and no studies included intervention elements tailored to race/ethnicity, culture, and/or socioeconomic status. This review highlights the need for high-quality studies investigating the impact of oral care-related interventions for autistic individuals and identifies a gap in interventions for autistic adults and those from minoritized populations.

Purpose: Reusable takeaway food containers (RTFCs) are a newly emerging green packaging choice for the takeaway industry that can effectively reduce campus solid waste but are not yet well accepted. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key factors influencing university students' intention to choose RTFCs, seeking to enhance RTFC project management practices and contribute to developing a sustainable "green university." Design/methodology/approach: In total, 316 valid respondents from a Chinese university were surveyed for data collection. A multivariate ordered logistic regression model was used to conduct empirical analysis. Findings: The results of this study underscore the crucial role of perceived value in the relationship between perceived green attributes and students' intention to choose RTFCs. The positive impacts of perceived green attributes on intention are direct and indirect, through the lens of perceived value. When the value is substantial, it significantly boosts the student's intention to choose RTFCs. Conversely, the perception of lower hygienic quality or higher returning time cost dampens this intention, with a more pronounced effect than perceived green attributes. Notably, perceived publicity activities have the most significant impact on student's intention to choose RTFCs. Originality/value: This study contributes to the understanding of promoting RTFCs, a key strategy for reducing plastic waste on campuses. The findings provide actionable recommendations for the project company and the university, offering practical ways to encourage students to use RTFCs and contribute to plastic waste reduction.

The study aimed to investigate the Effect of Academic Stress on Students' Academic Achievements and Its Implications for Their Future Lives. A correlational research design was employed through stratified random sampling (n[subscript i] = 270, where female = 80 and male =190) to collect pertinent data through a questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. Firstly, academic stress highly affects students' academic achievement, with females being more stressed (65.20%) than males (59.60%), which leads to a high dropout rate and low graduation rate. Secondly, about 69% were accustomed to drinking alcohol, chewing Khat, absenteeism, and smoking whereas about 31% were regularly engaging in unsafe sex, physical fights, smoking shisha, and poor personal sanitation. Thirdly, there were significant positive relationships among sex, age, academic batch, and student's cumulative grade point average. To conclude, academic stress hinders good academic achievement, increases college dropout rates, low graduation rates, and lack of self-confidence. It leads to drinking alcohol, absenteeism, chewing khat, reduced academic morale of students, and failure in completing assignments on time. Therefore, university authorities should ensure a good academic environment for the students and minimize academic stress through appropriate course load, appropriate lecture hours, proper lecture schedules, and non-congested lecture halls.

This research explored factors promoting physical activity and development in early childhood in urban and rural areas. A sample of 488 urban and 387 rural students was selected through random sampling. Data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. The findings revealed that urban schools have more environmental factors promoting physical activity than rural schools. Urban students had better physical development scores than those in rural areas. The study also found that school location correlates with students' physical development in the form of good hygiene habits, consuming nutritious food and clean water, regular exercise, good body coordination, and good hand-eye coordination.

In this essay, I use autoethnography to investigate the multiple adaptations of the (instructor's) performative body in the classroom, both online and in-person, due to COVID-19. Specifically, attuning to these adaptations makes space for reclamation of the (instructor's) performative body in pedagogical spaces by re-engaging embodied pedagogy. Through autoethnography, I offer insights on dis/connection in online teaching, especially in an emergency, remote setting; the adaptation necessary to move back to in-person teaching during a pandemic; and a recommitment to acknowledging the identity of bodies that enter pedagogical spaces together. The lessons learned require focus on the power and privilege, both institutional and societal, that instructors and students must navigate in the classroom. Ultimately, through this exploration of the performative body's adaptations, embodied pedagogy moving forward highlights the possibilities of our classrooms to be places where pedagogical bodies can re-engage one another.

This study applies the hermeneutical phenomenological approach, guided by Critical Race Theory, to explicate a nuanced understanding of the way Chinese international students' racial identity shapes the challenges that they faced during the pandemic and their experience of academic institutions' support during this time. The current study highlights the pervasive anti-Asian racism that directly and indirectly contributed to Chinese international students' negative experiences studying in Canada during the pandemic. The findings also highlight the lack of support from academic institutions, despite the rising anti-Asian racism faced by this group of students. Furthermore, this study calls attention to the consideration of race in developing support programs for racialized international students. Recommendations for universities to better support international students (Chinese or otherwise) are developed.

This study investigates college students' current food safety knowledge and food-handling perceptions and utilized an online survey which designed based on previous studies as method. The questionnaire measured respondents' food safety knowledge and perception, and were divided into knowledge, attitudes and perception categories. The results show that college students significantly lacked in basic food safety knowledge as well as food handling skills and implies a high need to develop enhanced food safety resources for college students, especially on topics related to cross-contamination prevention, correct food preparation procedures, time and temperature control, and awareness of pathogens that cause foodborne illness.

This study explores Ohio Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workers' descriptions of their mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year. This unexpectedly rich theme was found through a broader qualitative study initially undertaken to understand ECEC employee perceptions of inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine among Ohio educators. Data were collected anonymously through an online questionnaire and thematic analysis was conducted. There were eight main themes related to participant mental well-being in our analysis of the data: making decisions to keep people safe, struggle to find personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, financial concerns, lack of control, inability to social distance due to caregiving role, isolation, and feeling mentally and physically exhausted, and a positive impact on mental well-being from returning to work. These results confirm and illustrate research indicating COVID-19 had a detrimental impact on mental well-being among ECEC professionals and offer insight into the experiences of providers through their narrative responses. Child care worker financial stability is linked to their well-being; ECEC workers should receive systemic support to improve their baseline mental well-being to prevent a crisis such as COVID-19 from overwhelming them. They should be provided clearly articulated tiered supports and interventions to help them manage their mental well-being.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres implemented various protective and hygiene measures. Some of these, such as maintaining distance or wearing face masks, temporarily restricted interactions between pedagogical staff, children, and parents. This may have made it difficult for staff to provide high-quality interactions with positive and sensitive attitudes towards children and parents. The long-term effects of these distancing measures on the quality of daily interactions in ECEC centres have been largely unexplored. Based on a panel survey of German ECEC centre leaders conducted over a period of one and a half years, we used random-effect-within-between models to provide a long-term assessment of the effects of specific protective measures on different levels of interactions within ECEC centres. These levels include staff-child interactions, interactions between children, and cooperation between staff and parents. Our findings indicate that child-child interactions were largely unaffected by the measures, while staff-parent interactions suffered the most. Communication with parents and regular implementation of pedagogical practices had a stabilizing effect, while keeping distance from children, wearing face masks, and (pandemic-related) staff shortages worsened staff-child interactions. Additionally, our findings revealed that adopting a stricter group concept was associated with improved staff-child interactions. Centers that had previously used an open group concept reported lower quality interactions during the pandemic. This study provides valuable insights into the effects of protective measures on daily interactions in ECEC centres, highlighting the importance of considering both short-term and long-term effects when implementing protective measures.

Objectives: Previous studies have demonstrated poor oral hygiene in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the association between ADHD and periodontitis is still unclear. Methods: In all, 16,211 adolescents with ADHD and 162,110 age- and sex-matched controls participated in the study between 2001 and 2011. To identify the occurrence of periodontitis, the participants were followed up till the end of 2011. Confounding factors, including smoking, diabetes, and depressive disorder, were assessed and adjusted in the Cox regression models. Results: Adolescents with ADHD (HR: 2.29) were more likely to develop periodontitis later in life than controls. We additionally observed the beneficial effect of atomoxetine (HR: 0.42) on the periodontitis risk among adolescents with ADHD. However, this finding should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample (n = 290) of children taking atomoxetine in the present study. Conclusions: ADHD is an independent risk factor for subsequent periodontitis development. Oral health should be closely monitored in adolescents with ADHD. Future investigation of the shared pathomechanisms between periodontitis and ADHD is warranted.

Background: While wearing masks during the pandemic poses communication and social challenges for people in everyday life, those with social anxiety might find them plausible, aligning with contemporary cognitive theories. Social anxiety involves fearing negative assessments and holding a negative self-image. Concealing anxiety symptoms during mask use may contribute to a more positive self-perception. Aims: Given that up to 60% of adults seeking stuttering treatment also meet criteria for social anxiety disorder, this study aims to investigate the complex relationship between communication freedom, self-perceived stuttering and anxiety in adults who stutter (AWS). The unique context of mandatory mask-wearing during the pandemic provides an opportunity to explore these dynamics and understand the conflicting relationships between stuttering, anxiety-related safety behaviours and the need for open communication in AWS. Methods and Procedures: Twenty AWS participated in interviews, responding to open-ended questions to elucidate their affective, cognitive and behavioural experiences while wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis was used to identify the emerging themes and subthemes based on information-rich quotes, employing a six-phase recursive process. Various speech and anxiety-related measures were used to describe the characteristics of the study participants. Outcomes and Results: Three main themes and sub-themes emerged. The first theme highlights communication challenges for AWS wearing masks, impacting verbal and nonverbal interactions. The second theme reveals AWS wearing masks to conceal stuttering cues, experiencing reduced stress. The third theme indicates that, despite the comfort in concealment, most AWS prefer speaking freely without a face mask. Conclusions and Implications: The conflict between the desire for authentic, fluent communication and the ease of hiding stuttering symptoms poses a major dilemma for AWS. According to the results of this study, most adults who stutter prioritize open communication. However, there were some individual differences. A major factor influencing their decision was their fear of negative evaluation.

Objective: This study examined children's representations of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as well as their pandemic experiences against the backdrop of the world having transitioned to normalcy. Design: Mixed-methods approach encompassing both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Setting: Two middle schools in Hefei city in mid-eastern China. Method: Data were collected using a qualitative task which elicited children's drawings, commentaries, answers to questions related to their pandemic experiences, followed by small-group interviews. Content analysis and emergent coding techniques were employed to analyse the data, the extracted themes of which were then quantified to reveal their incidence and distribution. Results: Analysis of the multimodal data set revealed children not only depicted viral morphology but also evoked emotions. The pandemic had brought about changes in children's lives, marked by a shift towards more academic activities, rest and relaxation and screen time. These changes also raised psychological, physical and social development concerns warranting mitigation. Multifaceted sources were identified as contributing to children's unhappiness, including restricted social interactions, educational challenges, emotional and psychological issues. Notably, children reported enhanced pre- to post-pandemic hygiene and sanitisation practices. Unsubstantiated beliefs relating to processes of recovery suggest the need for clearer communication in this regard. Conclusion: The study highlights the necessity for health education to support children in physical and psychological coping during a pandemic and build their resilience against future epidemics. Actively listening to children's account of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and their pandemic experiences paves the way for making health education initiatives more relatable and attuned to their needs.

The current review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of behavior-analytic procedures in increasing face mask-wearing in autistic individuals. This comes following recommended guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review and meta-analysis were completed of peer-reviewed and grey literature. Six databases were searched and seven studies using single-case experimental designs met the eligibility criteria which were then quality appraised. Data were extracted on participant characteristics, study design, independent and dependent variables, fidelity, generalization, maintenance, and social validity outcomes. Both the non-overlap of all pairs and Baseline Corrected TAU were used to estimate effect size. Two studies were rated strong and borderline strong quality and five were rated as adequate or below. All studies showed positive outcomes for mask-wearing, with an average of 0.92 for non-overlap of all pairs and 0.47 for Baseline Corrected Tau effect sizes. The most common and effective procedures for increasing mask-wearing were graded exposure and differential and positive reinforcement. Factors such as mode of delivery, implementer, and setting did not appear to influence study outcomes. Procedures were found to be rated as acceptable by parents and professionals in five of the studies. The existing literature on increasing face mask-wearing in autistic individuals provides promising findings to add to existing literature around increasing tolerance to medical equipment and hygiene practices in autistic populations. However, these findings are based on a small sample size, with six of the studies taking place in the United States with varying study quality.

Handwashing is a vital skill for maintaining health and hygiene. For individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), such as autism spectrum disorder, evidence-based strategies, such as prompting and task analysis, may be effective in teaching these skills. Due to the shortage of experts who teach individuals with IDD skills such as handwashing, staff working with children need a means of ensuring these instructional strategies are implemented with fidelity. This study examined the effects of a tablet-based application that used artificial intelligence (GAINS®) on four behavior technicians' implementation of least-to-most prompting, total task chaining, and time delay during an acquisition of handwashing program with young children with autism. All four technicians increased fidelity immediately upon using GAINS and all four technicians reached mastery criteria within the shortest number of sessions possible. One child participant met mastery criteria, two showed some gains, and one demonstrated a high degree of variability across sessions. Limitations of the least-to-most prompting procedure, user design, considerations and directions for future research and practice are discussed.

Children vary in how sensitive they are to experiences, with consequences for their developmental outcomes. In the current study, we investigated how behavioral sensitivity at age 3 years predicts mental health in middle childhood. Using a novel repeated measures design, we calculated child sensitivity to multiple psychological and social influences: parent praise, parent stress, child mood, and child sleep. We conceptualized sensitivity as the strength and direction of the relationship between psychosocial influences and child behavior, operationalized as toothbrushing time, at age 3 years. When children were 5-7 years old (n = 60), parents reported on children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Children who were more sensitive to their parents' praise at age 3 had fewer internalizing (r = -0.37, p = 0.016, p[subscript FDR] = 0.042) and externalizing (r = -0.35, p = 0.021, p[subscript FDR] = 0.042) problems in middle childhood. Higher average parent praise also marginally predicted fewer externalizing problems (r = -0.33, p = 0.006, p[subscript FDR] = 0.057). Child sensitivity to mood predicted fewer internalizing (r = -0.32, p = 0.013, p[subscript FDR] = 0.042) and externalizing (r = -0.38, p = 0.003, p[subscript FDR] = 0.026) problems. By capturing variability in how children respond to daily fluctuations in their environment, we can contribute to the early prediction of mental health problems and improve access to early intervention services for children and families who need them most.

Background: More women are going outdoors and menstrual hygiene is a concern for these women, we do not know how collegiate outdoor programs are addressing this topic, if at all. It is possible that feminine hygiene may not be adequately discussed in these settings. Because of this, the overall health and outdoor experiences of female participants are potentially at risk. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of current practices and potential barriers surrounding feminine hygiene and menstruation dialogs in college outdoor recreation programs in Texas. Methodology/Approach: An open-ended online survey was distributed to 36 schools with outdoor recreation programs in Texas. Responses were independently analyzed and coded for emergent themes. Findings/Conclusions: Thirty-eight percent of schools did not address feminine hygiene and menstruation in pretrip communications. Predominant themes consisted of an emphasis on health and hygiene, dependence on female leaders, a need for more knowledge and resources, and a desire for normalization. Implications: Most professionals expressed that resources to expand their knowledge on these topics can help to better prepare participants. Current practices surrounding these topics may be insufficient and able to improve. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of the curriculum and the preference of participants.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions (e.g., face mask wearing and social distancing) on individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH). The study aimed to describe perceptions of challenges and valued resources to inform efforts to mitigate negative consequences of the pandemic. A survey was used to solicit information about the pandemic-related experiences of 108 individuals who are D/HH and/or parents or service providers of children who are D/HH. Questions elicited perceptions of pandemic related challenges, resources, and supports. Results demonstrated high percentages of respondents reported experiencing substantial impacts of face mask wearing on communication. Additionally, respondents reported negative consequences of social distancing on the way they connected with others. Findings point to the need for increased awareness of risks for impacts on communication and social well-being and consideration of additional supports.

With the widespread use of masks in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to understand how emotion recognition is affected by partial face covering. Since individuals with autism spectrum condition often tend to look at the lower half of the face, they are likely to be particularly restricted in emotion recognition by people wearing masks, since they are now forced to look at the upper half of the face. This study compared the recognition of basic and complex emotions in individuals with and without autism spectrum condition, when faces were presented uncovered, with face masks, or with sunglasses. We also used eye tracking to examine group differences in gaze patterns during emotion recognition. Individuals with autism spectrum condition were less accurate at recognizing emotions in all three conditions. Averaged across the three stimulus types, individuals with autism spectrum condition had greater difficulty recognizing anger, fear, pride, and embarrassment than control group. There was no group difference in emotion recognition between the three conditions. However, compared to individuals without autism spectrum condition, there was no evidence of either gaze avoidance or preference for the mouth region. Our results suggest that emotion recognition is reduced in individuals with autism spectrum condition, but this is not due to differences in gaze patterns.

During the advancement of COVID-19, many safety protocols, including facial masks, were incorporated into public settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2021), due to safety regulations, recommended wearing face masks when in close contact with other people in public environments, such as in a classroom, where social distancing was difficult. Many industries smoothly transitioned to daily use of traditional cloth masks, but other industries that served children sought masking alternatives. This study examined related research to explore whether wearing masks had any impact on student engagement, particularly in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Education of Students with Exceptionalities (ESE) settings. The synthesis of research here suggested that masks influenced children's engagement, including intellectual, emotional, social, behavioral, and physical aspects, and recommended the use of transparent masks with young children and children with exceptionalities. The paper also provides recommendations for future research.

Purpose: This study was driven by the interest of public health students in learning how COVID-19 has impacted student life. Specifically examined were students' experiences and preferences with modes of education during the pandemic, influence of COVID on students' mental and physical health, impact on employment and future careers, and thoughts on vaccinations and mask mandates. Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected through survey research. A total of 375 students at a mid-size liberal arts institution on the east coast participated. Results: Data indicates above average attitudes towards mask and vaccination mandates, slightly higher level of agreement of vaccination's efficacy, but a lower-than-average agreement that legal action should be taken for those out of compliance. Politics and social media play a role in people's knowledge and attitudes related to COVID. Data also reveals that majority reported their GPA remained the same and that students took three times the number of courses on-line as face-to-face, but preferred face-to face more than on-line. Descriptive statistics reveal students are more satisfied with their face-to-face courses than on-line, and distractions with on-line courses were fairly high. Students reported a fairly high level when asked if COVID impacted their education negatively. Additionally, students reported COVID impacted their mental health but not necessarily their physical health. For employed students, less than one-fifth had opportunities to work at home, while the majority did not work from home. Participants neither agree nor disagree that COVID impacted future career decisions. Conclusion: Implications, limitations, and future research are addressed at the conclusion of the study.

In this study, the primary goal was to enhance the knowledge and awareness of 4th-grade primary school students regarding global pandemic diseases and methods of safeguarding against worldwide epidemic diseases which are socio-scientific issues. To achieve this goal, two activity modules tailored for 4th-grade students were created. These encompassed various activities, including experiments, worksheets on scientific process skills, science-themed interactive reading, and poster development. The research was conducted at a public school during the 2022-2023 academic year, utilising a qualitative research methodology. Data were collected through pre- and post-implementation interviews. The findings of the study indicated that students were able to articulate accurate scientific information about global pandemics and protective measures. They also demonstrated an ability to implement preventive measures in their daily lives and share information about global pandemics with their families and friends. Furthermore, it was observed that students developed a more positive perception of scientists.

This paper investigates the author's classroom practice of implementing an interpretive perspective on intercultural language teaching and learning in two online intercultural workshops on the topic of face masks designed and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflexively examines two critical incidents in classroom practice in terms of what these incidents reveal about the challenges faced by pre-service teachers in operationalizing an interpretive stance towards intercultural language teaching and learning in practice. Based on the epistemology of reflective practice, this self-study seeks to produce knowledge-of-practice by framing the author's practical knowledge as language teacher in relation to theories of intercultural language teaching. Classroom discourse analysis of teaching and learning sequencies provides an emic lens on the enactment of an interpretive perspective on intercultural language teaching at the micro level in terms of two basic aspects of pedagogical practice: 1) Embedding interpretation in learning design and 2) Mediating learners' interpretations in classroom interaction. The findings reveal that this author's attempts to personalise intercultural language learning and elicit meaningful reflections from students were constrained by the limited semiotic richness of the material presented and the difficulty of going beyond a superficial interactional format to provide effective scaffolding and successfully realize a dialogic stance towards knowledge building. The paper considers the implications of these challenges for pre-service teacher education and offers suggestions for supporting teachers hoping to teach interculturally.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the resulting pandemic had widespread implications on the safety of the job tasks teachers are charged with each day. The Center for Disease Control (CDC, 2020) recommends people age 2 years and older should wear masks in public settings; however, for children with disabilities, wearing a mask may be difficult and as such, is not required. Special education teachers and students in particular are at high risk for exposure and contracting COVID-19. Therefore, behavior-analytic strategies that can teach and reinforce appropriate mask-wearing should be evaluated. Given the environment of schools at the time of the study, mask-wearing was a critical skill that children had to learn, and quickly. In this study, students ages 3 to 5-years-old with developmental delays were taught how to properly wear a mask using behavior skills training (BST) until all students were able to put on a mask, or ask for help in doing so, independently. Then, a group contingency was utilized to reinforce the wearing of masks throughout the day in the classroom. Using a changing criterion design, BST and a group contingency was effective in increasing mask wearing for students in the classroom.

To date, no evidence-based practices are identified for working with students who are deafblind (DB). No evidence-based practices have been identified for teaching basic self-help skills such as dressing. The present study examined the efficacy of an intervention package including the system of least prompts (SLP; i.e., SLP and least-to-most prompting), visual cues, and reinforcement to teach three self-help skills (i.e., wash hands, dry hands, entry routine) to four participants, ages 3-5 years, with vision and hearing impairments and multiple disabilities. A multiple probe across behaviors design, replicated across participants, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention package including SLP to teach self-help skills. Three of four participants increased their independence for all targeted self-help skills. A functional relation is indicated for three of four participants and provides promising evidence for use of SLP in teaching individuals with multiple disabilities that include DB.

Currently the number of men working in early years education in England is very low at 2%. This stubbornly resistant workforce pattern matters because it perpetuates the entrenched gender stereotype of young children's education and care as women's work. It is extraordinary to find this corner of gender statis in a world that is supposedly in the grip of a gender revolution. This gender revolution does not appear to have impacted on, or even dented, the gendered nature of the early years workforce. This is all the more remarkable because early years staffing shortages have now reached crisis point in England (the country where the authors reside and where they have carried out the research referred to in this paper). The small minority of men that do take up work in this sector often work interchangeably with their female counterparts, adopting a range of roles and responsibilities including reading, rough and tumble, comforting and food preparation. The task of intimate care however, or more specifically 'nappy changing', remains an area of tension within men's presence in early years settings, with parents or carers sometimes requesting that male practitioners do not change their child's nappy or nursery managers removing men from this role. Although the Sex Discrimination and Equalities Act 2010 stipulates that no employee should be discriminated against because of their sex, a 2-year study into the recruitment and support of men in early years education in England (GenderEYE) shows that discriminatory practices around intimate care are very much alive.

Menarche can be a difficult transition for young people. With appropriate education, youth can feel more positively about the menstrual experience. Since many elementary teachers are not equipped with menstrual health knowledge, the education falls to the school nurse. However, it is unknown if school nurses feel comfortable communicating about menstruation with young people. The purpose of this study was to explore school nurses' perceptions regarding menstrual health education in elementary schools (grades K-5). An online mixed-methods survey was established using Qualtrics. Through snowball sampling, 30 elementary school nurses responded. Using the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) as a framework, a deductive semantic thematic analysis was used to identify themes for each question. Data suggested that elementary school nurses would participate in professional development regarding menstrual health and hygiene. School health nurses are receiving limited knowledge/skills surrounding pedagogy and are not familiar with cultural differences when it comes to menstrual health.

COVID-19, which affects the world, undoubtedly seems to have affected university students who receive applied education. Sports Science students continue their sports training within the mask and distance rules by switching to face-to-face teaching during the normalization period. This study aimed to reveal whether the physical activity levels of Sports Science students were affected by Coronavirus-19 phobia after switching to face-to-face training. 432 (female; 152, male; 280) university students from Sports Sciences attended the research. Data from the participants were collected using the Coronavirus-19 Phobia Scale and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). The independent sample and Mann-Whitney U test, One-Way, and two-way ANOVA test (Post hoc Tukey) were used in the data analysis. According to the results, the 'psychological' sub-dimension scores of the participants, an increase in body mass index, not doing sports, reducing the vaccine dose, spending COVID-19 in the hospital, and wearing a mask in practical classes increase. In addition, those who wear masks in applied lessons have higher 'somatic,' 'social,' and 'economic' sub-dimension scores. Females' coronavirus-19 phobia, 'psychological' and 'economic' sub-dimensions, and total scale scores are higher than males. Consequently, with the increased physical activity levels of Sports Science students, coronavirus-19 decreases phobia scores.

Purpose: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Malaysian government declared a Movement Control Order (MCO) to prevent the spread of the virus. Educational institutions were forced to switch their pedagogy to online learning to complete the semester curriculum, catching academicians and students off-guard that resulted in makeshift online lesson delivery. Previous online learning motivation studies have neglected the impact of an unplanned or sudden transition to online learning during a pandemic on student motivation to learn. This study aims to examine location learning environment, learner-instructor interactions, and self-efficacy of students more succinctly on their learning motivation during an unplanned transition to online learning. Method: This study used a sequential explanatory mixed method strategy with a sample size of 535 randomly collected from a public and two private higher education institutions in Malaysia. IBM SPSS statistical software v22 was used for descriptive statistics. Regression testing was carried out using AMOS statistical software v21 structural equation modeling. Findings: Revealed the importance of location learning environment in fostering student motivation and the positive influence of learner-instructor interactions on students achieving the desired learning outcomes during an unplanned transition to online learning. However, there is no evidence to suggest a causal effect between student self-efficacy and online learning motivation during such conditions. The theoretical implication indicates that having conducive hygiene factors are essential to driving student motivation under such situations. Significance: The COVID-19 pandemic provides opportunities for researchers to examine the role of various motivational theories to explain student motivation in learning under challenging conditions. Educators and students would benefit on ways to increase student online learning motivation in lockdown conditions. Setting up a more efficient online delivery approach could lead to higher student satisfaction and potential enrolment.

Educational virtual environments (EVEs) can enable effective learning experiences on various devices, including smartphones, using nonimmersive virtual reality (VR). To this purpose, researchers and educators should identify the most appropriate pedagogical techniques, not restarting from scratch but exploring which traditional e-learning and VR techniques can be effectively combined or adapted to EVEs. In this direction, this article explores if test questions, a typical e-learning technique, can be effectively employed in an EVE through a careful well-blended design. We also consider the active performance of procedures, a typical VR technique, to evaluate if test questions can be synergic with it or if they can instead break presence and be detrimental to learning. The between-subject study we describe involved 120 participants in four conditions: with/without test questions and active/passive procedure performance. The EVE was run on a smartphone, using nonimmersive VR, and taught hand hygiene procedures for infectious disease prevention. Results showed that introducing test questions did not break presence but surprisingly increased it, especially when combined with active procedure performance. Participants' self-efficacy increased after using the EVE regardless of condition, and the different conditions did not significantly change engagement. Moreover, participants who had answered test questions in the EVE showed a reduction in the number of omitted steps in an assessment of learning transfer. Finally, test questions increased participants' satisfaction. Overall, these greater-than-expected benefits support the adoption of the proposed test question design in EVEs based on nonimmersive VR.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the ways in which people are able to communicate effectively. The addition of the face mask as a distracting stimulus interrupts the holistic process that people use to interpret facial expressions. The present study seeks to investigate the impact of face masking and gaze direction on emotion recognition in students with autism. We predicted that students with autism (n = 14), who characteristically experience difficulties when appraising emotions, would struggle to assess the emotions of people wearing face masks. We did not find a significant three-way interaction of emotion, mask, and gaze on classification accuracy. We did, however, find that face masks reduced participants' ability to emotionally appraise sad faces. Further, participants showed better accuracy appraising faces with a direct gaze. Exploring how face masks impact autistic individuals' emotion recognition will benefit special educators as they adapt to teaching during the pandemic, as well as the general population that seeks to improve communication with neurodiverse persons. Future studies should examine emotional appraisal ability and additional emotions as well as different kinds of emotional stimuli.

Objective: Evaluate COVID-19 pandemic impacts on college student mental health. Participants: Three cohorts of college students (2018 n = 466; 2019 n = 459; 2020, n = 563; N = 1488) from three American universities. Participants were 71.4% female, 67.5% White, and 85.9% first-year students. Methods: Multivariable regression models and bivariate correlations were used to compare anxiety, depression, well-being, and search for meaning before and during the pandemic, and the relationships between pandemic health-compliance behaviors and mental health. Results: Anxiety, depression, and well-being did not significantly worsen during compared to before (2019) the pandemic (ps = 0.329-0.837). During the pandemic, more frequent in-person social interactions were correlated with lower anxiety (r = -0.17, p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (r=-0.12, p = .008), and higher well-being (r = 0.16, p < 0.001), but also less handwashing (r = -0.11, p = 0.016) and face mask-wearing (r = -0.12, p = 0.008). Conclusions: We observed little evidence for pandemic impacts on college student mental health. Lower compliance with pandemic health guidelines was associated with better mental health.

The current pandemic has highlighted the importance of hand hygiene as a preventive measure to avoid the transmission of diseases. It is a habit that should be reinforced during childhood, so that it lasts into adulthood. The main objective was to analyse and describe, through drawing, the mental schemas that 6-12 year-old pupils have about clean and dirty hands and their relationship with microorganisms. A descriptive and qualitative study was carried out with 260 participants in which their drawings were analysed according to thecategories: colouring, shape and/or presence of wounds, viruses or living beings, localisation and presence of accessories. The results show that dirty hands are represented coloured in sections combining various shapes and, in some cases, living beings or viruses can be found. Among 11-12 year-old students there are very few cases where dirt is represented as dots or reference is made to microscopic size, with neutral and warm colours being the most used. Clean hands are represented by the silhouette of the hand in a single colour. Sometimes accessories are added to reinforce the idea of cleanliness and it is not conceivable that a clean hand could harbour microorganisms or dirt.

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced in the gut as a result of microbial action on ingested dietary fiber and have been associated with several health benefits. Herein an undergraduate student experiment that uses gas chromatography equipped with either a flame ionization detector or mass spectrometer for the analysis and quantitation of SCFAs in synthetic fecal material is described. The experiment provides students with valuable sample preparation and instrument operation skills and provides an opportunity for students to perform quantitative analysis using the method of internal standards. Subsequently, the experiment provides an opportunity for students to consolidate their learning of the key theoretical concepts including chromatographic separation by gas chromatography, and methods for confirming analyte identity using each detector type. Due to recent global interest in gut health, the experiment is topical and of interest to students. The experiment is designed for upper-division undergraduate analytical chemistry students.

Lack of sexual health knowledge among Saudi Arabian adolescents suggests the need for investigation into the sexual health education curriculum provided in schools. This study explored the dominant ideologies that shape sexual health education discourse in Saudi Arabia. To date, there have been few analyses of the ideologies underpinning Saudi Arabia's school curriculum and the approach that is taken to teaching about sexual health. Examining the ideologies informing sexual health education in Saudi schools can assist in a shift towards more comprehensive approaches. In this study, critical discourse analysis was used to identify the underlying ideologies present within Saudi school curricula as they relate to sexual health education. Our findings suggest that conservative ideology dominates sexual health education discourse. Significantly, it is more strongly present in the curricula available to girls and young women. Sexual health education's discourse currently reflects social/cultural perspectives and avoids the inclusion of more comprehensive health-related information that would better enable young people to protect their health.

The aim of this paper is to explore what we have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic in the field of Physical Education in three different countries: Argentina, Spain and Sweden. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, and the concept of field agency is used to make sense of the data. Differences were found among the three countries, regarding the content of the classes, the use of resources, the emotions of teachers, and the use of physical contact. This was also a result of the regulations and resources in place. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that the nature of the field of PE had been momentarily disrupted during the pandemic in these contexts. The habitus of both, teachers and students was challenged, and the economic capital of each context determined what was possible to do 'as PE'. Particular new discourses, such as the risk of getting the COVID-19 virus, interacted through agents to re-shape the field of PE and modify agents' habitus. The participating teachers enacted agency and expressed their capacity to make practical and normative judgements among alternative possible trajectories of action for their classes, in response to the emerging demands, dilemmas and ambiguities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Developing adaptive skills poses a significant challenge for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Personal hygiene, including hand-washing, was particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Video self-modeling (VSM) is an effective strategy for teaching adaptive skills due to its inherent individualization nature. However, the production and implementation of VSM face certain barriers. To address this issue, the present study employed an innovative approach termed iVSM, which utilizes the head-swapping technique to generate self-modeling videos. To evaluate the efficacy of iVSM in teaching hand-washing skills, a single-subject multiple probe design was employed across three preschool children with ASD. The findings indicated that all participants successfully acquired the targeted skill, with two of them achieving mastery following a single intervention session. The implications of these findings underscore the potential of this novel approach to strike a balance between individualization and feasibility, thereby enhancing the broader implementation of VSM within the context of inclusive education. Furthermore, future studies can focus on the comparative research and explore more applications.

The history of the Hilfsschule (special school) is contested and multifaceted. For the German context, most research to date has focused on institutions or professional pioneers in special education. This paper, through a "New Historicism" perspective, asks how a group of pupils, described as "retarded", could become a new pedagogical object within a discourse among teachers, psychiatrists, school doctors and local administrations at the end of the nineteenth century. Linking national and local discourses, this paper analyses the emergence of the special school pupil (Hilfsschulkind) in Germany within a broader discourse of educability as well as through knowledge practices, namely record-keeping systems.

The communication of scientific findings often concludes the research experience, but few science programs include explicit undergraduate curricula for practicing oral science communication. While course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can provide opportunities for students to practice science communication, few studies describe or assess authentic oral science communication activities within CUREs, and fewer do so under pandemic conditions. Little evidence exists describing how science communication activities impact students' science identity and science communication self-efficacy, specifically regarding research posters. To address this topic, we collected students' quantitative and qualitative perceptions of science identity and science communication self-efficacy in a face-to-face (F2F) CURE and collected students' qualitative perceptions of presenting their research at a F2F poster symposium during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that students' science identity and science communication self-efficacy improved significantly, and we identified benefits and complaints about presenting research F2F during the pandemic--namely, a stimulating presentation atmosphere, face coverings as communication barriers and comforts, and audience type informing presentation confidence.

This study aimed to conduct a scoping review to know children and adolescents' main oral health concerns with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and thus identify any oral characteristic that stands out, aiming at preventive and interceptive clinical conduct. A search was performed in the three electronic databases and the gray literature; in September 2021. A total of 562 studies were identified, and after applying the eligibility criteria, 73 articles were included in the synthesis of this scoping review. The mean decayed, lost, and restored teeth index (DMFT/dfmt) ranged from 0 to 12.37; the mean DMFT index (permanent dentition) from 0.06 to 6.2; and the average dmft index (deciduous dentition) ranged from 0.29 to 9.91. The mean simplified oral hygiene index (OHIS) ranged from 0 to 3.4; gingival index (GI) from 0.29 to 2; and plaque index (PI) from 0.005 to 3.15. Plaque prevalence was 25.9% to 90%; dental calculus from 4.7% to 59.41%; gingivitis from 36.7% to 100%. Bruxism was 10.3% to 73%, and dental trauma was 4.7% to 100%. This disparity in the results shows the heterogeneity of this population, with different degrees of socio-behavioral impairment, which can directly influence oral hygiene and the consequent accumulation of biofilm.