Search

Research has shown that engaging families through youth development and after-school programs may benefit children. This paper extends knowledge in this arena, describing a set of strategies for implementing family-strengthening activities in youth development settings. The paper reports findings from a pilot evaluation of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Family PLUS initiative. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the form of surveys, phone interviews, and focus groups with club leaders, parents, and youth. Results uncover emerging family support strategies that actively link school, club, and family; culturally tailor programming; foster long-term and family-friendly staff; place children at the center of family programming; and pair family-strengthening activities with other types of programming. The paper also reports on the obstacles such strategies address as well as initial evidence of the positive influence of such programming on parent-child relationships, parent development, and parent-staff relationships. Implications for future research are discussed. (Contains 2 endnotes.)

• Orthodontic pain is commonly evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) which is subjective. • The objective assessment of pain with the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) biomarker in gingival crevicular fluid at different levels could explain the pain experienced by the patients. • Thus, this study aims to assess subjectively and objectively, at which timepoint the patient undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment will have maximum pain during the initial stages of orthodontic treatment. • A total of 22 patients who required fixed appliance mechanotherapy were included in the study. The concentration of PGE2 in gingival crevicular fluid was assessed at four time points: 1 hour before (T0); 24 hours (T1); 48 hours (T2); 72 hours (T3) after initial archwire placement. The pain intensity was recorded with the aid of Visual Analog Scale at all the four timepoints. • The highest concentration of PGE2 was observed between 48 hours (T2) and 72 hours (T3), while the highest VAS scores were recorded between 24 hours (T1) and 48 hours (T2) following initial archwire placement. However, no association was found between PGE2 biomarkers and VAS scores during initiation of orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to assess subjectively and objectively, at which timepoint the patient undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment will have maximum pain during the initiation of orthodontic treatment. A total of 22 patients (21 ± 2.7 years, [15 female and 7 male]) requiring extraction of maxillary first premolar participated in the study. Following bonding, an initial archwire of 0.016" NiTi was placed with a distal force of 100 g applied to the canines. The concentration of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the gingival crevicular fluid was assessed at four time points: 1 hour before (T0); 24 hours (T1); 48 hours (T2); 72 hours (T3) after initial archwire placement. The pain intensity was recorded with visual analog scale. The concentration of PGE2 increased from T0 to T1. The highest concentration was observed at T2 following which there was a mild decline at T3. Statistically significant difference in the PGE2 concentration was observed between T0 to T1 and T1 to T2. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores increased from T0 to T1. The highest score was observed at T2 followed by a decline at T3. A statistically significant difference in the VAS score was noted between T0 to T1 and T2 to T3. On correlating PGE2 and VAS score, a weak negative correlation was noted between T0 to T1 and no correlation was noted between T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. The patients experience maximum pain between 24 hours (T1) and 48 hours (T2) following initial archwire placement. The highest concentration of PGE2 and VAS score was observed at 48 hours (T2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nutrition education is used as a way of promoting lifelong healthy eating practices among school adolescents. There is limited published information on the impact of nutrition education programmes in India. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and practices of high school students with respect to healthy diets before and after a nutrition education programme. Design: Pre- and post-intervention questionnaire survey. Setting: Two private schools in Chennai city. Method: This study was conducted among adolescents studying in standard VIII and IX in two private schools in Chennai city. Nutrition education as lectures and interactive discussions were given to students one hour every week for a period of 10 weeks. Information on knowledge and attitude on healthy eating and dietary practices was collected before and after the nutrition education intervention using a questionnaire. Differences in knowledge, attitude and practice of students on healthy diet were measured using the chi[superscript 2] test with the level of significance "p" < 0.05. Results: A total of 181 students were involved in the study (response rate 92%). Following the nutrition education programme, satisfactory dietary knowledge significantly improved from 37% to 67% ("p" < 0.001). Similarly, students showing a positive attitude towards healthy diet increased from 18% to 40% ("p" < 0.001). The proportion of students taking soft drinks reduced from 20% to 10% ("p" < 0.01) and ingestion of fast food items through fast food restaurants reduced significantly. Conclusions: This short-term nutrition education programme brought significant improvements in dietary knowledge and reductions in soft drinks and fast foods consumption.

There has been increasing interest in using of web-based surveys--rather than paper based surveys--for collecting data on alcohol and other drug use in middle and high schools in the US. However, prior research has indicated that respondent confidentiality is an underlying concern with online data collection especially when computer-assisted surveys are administered in group settings such as computer labs and classrooms. Using a sample of 341 high school students, we conducted a study comparing alcohol risk behavior prevalence rates from the web-based surveys with paper-form version of the same survey. The online surveys used in the study implemented several programming safeguards to enhance privacy. The goal of our study was to see if the risk-behavior items--when transitioned to an online format with these additional safeguards--would provide prevalence estimates that are comparable to its paper form version. Results showed that overall alcohol prevalence rates did not vary significantly between the two conditions. However, there was a significant interaction between gender and survey mode. Females reported lower mean risk indicator rates compared to males, possibly indicating stronger privacy concerns among the former group. The results suggest that online survey administration may require targeted efforts to help alleviate confidentiality concerns among adolescent girls.

Introduction: For individuals with end-stage organ disease, organ transplantation is the most preferred therapeutic option. There is an insufficient supply of organs to meet the demand. Students in the health sciences are an important link in raising public awareness about organ donation (OD). Their attitudes and views have the potential to influence public opinion. The purpose of this research was to better understand the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding OD among health science students at the Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Pune. Subjects and Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional institution-based study of students pursuing different health sciences courses was conducted. A specially designed questionnaire was used to survey the students. A total of 680 students were sent the Google questionnaire, out of which 219 participants responded, for a response rate of 32.20%. Results: Out of 219 respondents, 60.3% did not have any knowledge regarding the process of registering for OD. Moreover, 78.1% and 72.1% had no idea about the brain-dead donor ventilation support protocol or the law regarding OD in India, respectively. However, around 4/5th of the study participants were willing to sign a donor card, and only around 12% of participants have pledged or registered for OD. Conclusion: Students have a good attitude regarding OD; however, there is a dearth of understanding and practice on the subject. Improving their understanding by integrating the issue of OD into their curriculum may help close this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]