Disadvantaged Backgrounds Research Articles

The Strategies and Problems Faced by Indonesian Teachers in Conducting e-learning during COVID-19 Outbreak

COVID-19 outbreak had spread rapidly all over the world, impacting on the education system. The students had to study at home. Teachers were to apply online class in conducting the teaching and learning proccess. The school stakeholders also had to create a new management in supporting the school system. The objective of this research was to find out and describe the applied strategies and also problems faced by teachers in conducting e-learning during this COVID-19 outbreak. The findings showed that there were three teaching strategies applied by teachers; they were: applying only online chat, using video conference, and combining both online chat and video conference in online teaching and learning proccess. Some of problems also arose during the e-learning, totally 6 problems. The arisen teachig problems were: the teachers’ disability in accessing technology, school facilities in supporting e-learning, the difficulties in explaining the material, students’ limitation in accessing internet, students’ economically disadvantaged familiy background, and parents’ support system. Nevertheless, the teachers expressed that the e-learning system really relieve their responsibility in conducting teaching and learning proccess during this COVID-19 outbreak.

The Unequal Opportunity For Skills Acquisition During The Great Recession In Europe

This paper is the first to investigate the extent to which the high levels of joblessness resulting from the Great Recession across Europe have translated into higher school attendance among youth. Using repeated cross‐sectional and longitudinal data from the EU‐SILC for 28 countries, we establish a robust counter‐cyclical relationship between rising unemployment rates and school enrolment. The same is true of transitions back to education. Our analysis by subgroups reveals a worrying trend, with youths from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (measured by low household income) less likely to enrol in tertiary studies when unemployment rises.

Replacing a reading scheme with dialogic reading: an action research case study in 15 London nurseries

ABSTRACT This paper examines how 15 London social enterprise nurseries undertook a short pilot study to ascertain how to successfully replace a formal reading scheme with the Whitehurst and Lonigan dialogic reading (DR) approach. DR has shown to work very successfully with children from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, which is the focus group of the nurseries which also use a specific social pedagogy framed within the cultural capital of language and literacy to support children's longer term educational success. The organisation adopted an action research model to constantly review its teaching methods and resources to ensure the most effective and appropriate delivery to children.

School academic climate and oral health (tooth loss) in adolescents.

BackgroundPreventing tooth loss depends on oral health maintenance behaviors. This study hypothesized that adolescents with educational aspirations have greater motivation to invest in the future, including maintenance of oral health status.AimTo analyze the association between a school academic climate of educational aspirations and tooth loss (first permanent molars) among adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional study was designed to include 2,500 adolescents (aged 14–19 years) enrolled in public high schools of Olinda located in Northeast Brazil. Multilevel Poisson regression random intercept models were conducted with tooth loss (first permanent molars) as the outcome. The primary cohort of interest was school academic climate, as measured by the proportion of students taking the national high school exams.ResultsTooth loss of the first permanent molars (assessed by clinical exam) was more prevalent in adolescents from more disadvantaged backgrounds (receiving family allowance, low maternal education). However, after controlling for a wide range of individual characteristics, adolescents enrolled in schools with lower academic climate had a higher prevalence of tooth loss (PR 1.42, 95%CI: 1.09,1.85).ConclusionThe school academic climate is associated with tooth loss, suggesting that educational aspirations are linked to adolescent oral health maintenance behaviors.

Conjugal Relations and Stepchildren’s Well-being: Exploring the Experiences of Remarried Women in Bangladesh

Drawing on qualitative research in Sylhet, Bangladesh, this article explores the patterns of conjugal relations of remarried women who have children from previous marriage(s). We are primarily concerned here with the potential impacts of remarriage for women and children’s well-being. Regardless of gendered identity, it continues to be the case that the majority of Bangladeshi people are married only once. However, remarriage and polygamy are not uncommon, and this tends to be particularly the case among people living in poverty. This study is based on ethnographic observation and life history interviews with 12 remarried women from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Drawing on this data, we argue that remarriage can render custodian mothers’ lives more difficult through the complex negotiation between the needs and desires of their new husbands versus the well-being of their children. The sociocultural structure of Bangladesh continues to be framed by specifically located patriarchy. In this context, women’s remarriage challenges normative conjugal relations, and the resulting intrafamilial negotiations can adversely affect both mothers’ and children’s well-being.

Do people living in disadvantaged circumstances receive different mental health treatments than those from less disadvantaged backgrounds?

BackgroundSocio-economic status (SES) has been linked to treatment outcomes for mental health problems, whilst little to no literature has explored the effects of SES on access to both medication and psychological therapy. The aim of this study was to explore whether access to mental health treatments differed by SES.MethodsThe North West Coast Household Health Survey (HHS) collected data from residents aged 18+ from across 20 disadvantaged and 8 less disadvantaged neighbourhoods in 2015, and from 20 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in 2018. Logistic regression was used to explore the effects of SES on access to treatment (medication, psychological therapy) for people who had experienced mental health problems in the past 12 months.ResultsOf 6860 participants, 2932 reported experiencing mental health problems in the past 12 months. People from more disadvantaged backgrounds experienced greater rates of anxiety and depression. Anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication treatment was significantly more common in residents with lower SES, as well as counselling. Regression analysis showed that residents from more disadvantaged neighbourhoods who reported mental distress were more likely to receive medication.ConclusionsThis appears to be the first study showing higher levels of treatment with medication and psychological therapy in people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Future research needs to address the underlying factors associated with increased mental health treatment uptake in people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

How Do Children Spend Their Time? Time Use and Skill Development in the PSID

As income and wealth inequality have grown in the United States in recent decades, the large and growing differences in household expenditures on children from advantaged versus disadvantaged backgrounds have increasingly become a matter of public concern. High socioeconomic status (SES) households (those with high incomes and/or high levels of parental education) increasingly spend more money on physical goods (books, tuition, computers, etc.) and more time on "enrichment" activities such as homework, tutoring, reading, and extracurricular activities that are thought to directly foster cognitive (academic) skills.

Supporting Graduate Nursing Education for Students From Disadvantaged Backgrounds.

There is a lack of diversity in the master's prepared nursing workforce. One nursing school implemented a scholarship program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in the Family Nurse Practitioner and Adult Gerontology Primary Nurse Practitioner tracks. Awardees were required to be full-time students from disadvantaged backgrounds with financial need. Each student was matched with a faculty member for regular mentorship. Student progress was evaluated every three months, with follow-up 1 year after graduation. A total of 45 students received the Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) over 2 consecutive years. Of the 45 students, 26 (58%) identified themselves as Hispanic and 11 (24%) as black. A total of 42 (93%) of 45 SDS students completed the original plan of study and passed the national certification board. The SDS serves as a model of an effective mentorship program to assist nurse practitioner students from disadvantaged backgrounds. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(5):287-290.].

The Elusiveness of Equal Access to Educational Opportunity: Scotland, After a Decade of Inclusive Policies.

The achievement of equal access to educational opportunity is an international policy imperative that remains as elusive as it is desirable. Despite a plethora of inclusive policies and initiatives in Scotland such as Getting it Right for Every Child (2008 & 2012), Curriculum for Excellence (2009) and the Scottish Attainment Challenge (2015), significant numbers of young people cannot be said to experience equal access to educational opportunity. This paper draws upon complementary sociological and philosophical perspectives to explore why such barriers to equality of educational opportunity persist, before suggesting ways in which serious engagement with such theory might counter deficit assumptions in play and offer possible new ways forward. The point of departure is Bourdieu’s typology of various forms of social capital which highlights how possession of capital is advantageous to upper and middle class families, whereas lack of such capital serves to restrict educational opportunities for young people from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Such an analysis argues that reproduction of social conditions, styles of thinking and decision-making, coupled with oppressive societal structures, all serve to disempower young people and impact negatively upon their educational attainment. This paper explores a variety of ways in which theory might challenge and interrupt assumptions informing discourses associated with inequality and their associated remedies. Through engaging a series of problematics within current framings of inequality, the paper argues that a more sustained engagement with theory offers the possibility of more nuanced understandings of inequality and a provocation to imagine otherwise. Engaging in such imaginative work might, moreover, enable the barriers to equality of educational opportunity to be better addressed.

Peers’ parents and educational attainment: The exposure effect

This paper discusses the ‘exposure effect’ in child development by investigating the extent to which the educational background of peers’ parents is related to a child’s future college attainment. I analyze the friendship networks of a nationally representative sample of high-school students in the US. To address endogenous friendship formation, I adopt two distinct strategies: a selection correction approach and exploiting within-school cohort variations in parental compositions. I find that peers’ academic performance and other observed characteristics, with a rich set of control variables and network fixed effect, do not fully explain the spillover from peers’ parents of the same gender. Effects are more prominent for students with a disadvantaged background - less-educated parents, single-mother households, and less caring fathers. Suggestive evidence is provided to support the role model effect as a plausible channel.

Integrating Diabetes Prevention Education Among Teenagers Involved in Summer Employment: Encouraging Environments for Health in Adolescence (ENHANCE).

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) in youth is a growing healthcare and public health concern. It is costly, and youth suffer from disabling and deadly comorbid conditions at a faster pace than adult onset. However, T2D is preventable. The population of obese youth at greatest risk for T2D is of minority race/ethnicity and socioeconomically disadvantaged background, which creates barriers to health promoting lifestyles. Despite being the first line of prevention efforts for T2D, efficacious behavioral lifestyle interventions are still lacking at the community level. During the summers of 2016 and 2017, a study integrated obesity and diabetes prevention health education into TeenWorks summer employment program at Indy Urban Acres in Indianapolis, Indiana. Results were analyzed using paired sample t-tests. Participants (N = 168) had a mean age of 15.8 ± 0.7years, 61% female, 13% Hispanic, 80% Black. By the end of the intervention, physical activity (p = 0.000) and prevention knowledge (p = 0.000) were significantly higher. Dietary intake (p = 0.204), self-efficacy (p = 0.58), food insecurity (p = 0.058) and depression screening scores (p = 0.809) were not significantly different. In light of the continuing childhood obesity epidemic and increasing prevalence of prediabetes and T2D in youth, there is a pressing need to understand and reduce barriers to obesity and diabetes prevention in high-risk populations. This study demonstrated the feasibility of integrating obesity and T2D prevention health education into a teen summer employment program.

Discrimination, health, and the costs and benefits of believing in system fairness.

For minority students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, attending university and succeeding despite social and academic stressors is often considered the ultimate marker of resilience. However, a growing body of work suggests that there may be health costs to upward mobility for such students. This study investigated whether believing that the social system is fair simultaneously promotes psychological health while undermining the physical health of Latinx students experiencing frequent discrimination. Two hundred thirty-three low-income and/or first-generation Latinx college students were followed through their first year at university. Discrimination experiences, psychological health, and physical health risk (a suite of inflammatory, biomorphic, and cardiovascular risk markers) were assessed upon entering university and at the end of the academic year. Regardless of discrimination experiences, believing in system fairness predicted higher end-of-year psychological health (controlling for initial psychological health). However, for students who experienced substantial discrimination at university, believing in system fairness also led to higher end-of-year physical health risk (controlling for baseline levels of discrimination and physical health risk). Beliefs that allow socioeconomically disadvantaged minority students to thrive psychologically may also put them at physical health risk when facing frequent discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

BackgroundThere is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. This study aims to investigate the number of words children hear and the number of vocalizations children produce in their first year of life and examines whether these aspects of the early language home environment differ by maternal education.MethodsMothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups.ResultsThere was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2958 to 39,583 at six months and 4389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection.ConclusionsThese results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

Changes in smoker characteristics in England between 2008 and 2017.

AimsAt a time of declining smoking prevalence in England, it is useful to document any changes in the characteristics of smokers. This has implications for targeting tobacco control policies and interventions. This study compared the characteristics of smokers from 2008 to 2017 to assess changes in smoking and quitting patterns and socio‐demographic profile.Design and settingAnalysis of annual trends in results from repeated cross‐sectional surveys of representative samples of the population in England from 2008 to 2017.ParticipantsThe study included 208 813 adults aged 16+.MeasurementsInformation was gathered on age, sex, social grade and region, cigarette consumption, cigarette dependence as measured by time to first cigarette of the day, daily smoking, smoking roll‐your‐own cigarettes, attempts to cut down, use of an e‐cigarette or nicotine replacement therapy, attempts to cut down or quit, use of support in quit attempts and whether the quit attempt was abrupt.FindingsDuring the period, mean daily cigarette consumption [B = –0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = –0.33 to −0.27] and the time to first cigarette score decreased (B = –0.03, 95% CI = –0.03 to −0.02). The proportion of smokers attempting to cut down or quit decreased (odds ratio (OR) range = 0.96–0.97, 95% CI range = 0.95–0.97). Use of behavioural support [odds ratio (OR) = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.86–0.92] or no support decreased (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.96–0.99), while use of pharmacological support, including e‐cigarettes, increased (OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.02–1.05). There was no significant change in the difference in social grade between smokers and non‐smokers comparing 2008 with 2017. Changes in smoking and quitting behaviour were independent of changes in socio‐demographic characteristics.ConclusionsBetween 2008 and 2017 in England, smokers appear to have become less dependent on cigarettes but less likely to try to quit or cut down. Of those who tried to quit, fewer used behavioural support and more used pharmacological support. The proportion from more disadvantaged backgrounds did not change significantly.

Contributions of Classroom Engagement and Exposure to Math Content on Preschoolers' Math Performance

Children's early math skills are one of the strongest predictors of later academic success, yet many preschools dedicate relatively minimal time to fostering math skill development. Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds tend to enter school with weaker math skills than peers and continue to lag behind more affluent peers throughout elementary and secondary school. The current study a) explored the amount of exposure to math content that children receive in preschool (both observed and teacher-reported), and b) examined children's engagement with tasks, the quantity of exposure to math content, and the quality of instructional support as potential factors that may contribute to changes in children's math performance across the preschool year. The sample consisted of 380 preschool children from primarily low-income families. Controlling for child characteristics (e.g., sex, age, race, SES) and classroom factors (e.g., teacher education, years of teaching experience), children's engagement with tasks emerged as a strong predictor of positive changes in math performance across the preschool year. Independently, neither exposure to math content nor instructional support significantly predicted changes in children's math performance. However, the pairing of high-quantity exposure to math content and high-quality instructional support was associated with significant positive changes in children's math performance across the preschool year.

Evaluating the impact of Covid-19 on children and young people’s social, emotional and psychological wellbeing: A systematic review

This systematic review investigated the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children and young people’s (CYP) social, emotional and psychological wellbeing (SEPW). It reviewed the current research available around the Covid-19 pandemic and how it relates within a Scottish context. Implications for educational psychology practice and future research were explored. Fifteen articles, including a mixture of qualitative/quantitative studies and narrative reviews were quality assessed. All articles were directly related to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on CYP SEPW. The main findings report that SEPW has been impacted in CYP due to Covid-19. While many of the findings indicate a negative impact on CYP SEPW, there were some positive outcomes. This review also highlighted a range of ecological factors that influenced the severity of this impact, including CYP from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, children with additional support needs (ASN) and parental influences. Ways to mitigate negative responses to the pandemic included suitable interventions, parental support, effective multi-agency working and support and training provision for educational professionals. Further research is required to explore the child’s voice in relation to the impact of Covid-19 on their SEPW. There is also a need for Scottish research to ensure the specific needs of CYP in Scotland are being met, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Community health workers involvement in preventative care in primary healthcare: a systematic scoping review

ObjectivesTo review effective models of community health worker (CHW) involvement in preventive care for disadvantaged culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients in primary healthcare (PHC) that may be applicable to...

The Use of a Smartphone Application to Complete Therapeutic Homework in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Gambling Disorder: a Pilot Study of Acceptability and Feasibility

The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is limited by clients’ failure to complete homework assignments. Widespread growth in smartphone use and application (app) software provides the potential to enhance the homework completion. In this pilot study, we examined the demographics of clients who declined to use an app to complete homework in CBT for gambling disorder. We also systematically collected information on what clients liked and disliked about an app to complete homework and compared their homework completion and treatment attendance with an archival, matched sample of 15 clients who completed homework using hardcopy. Clients who declined to use the app to complete homework were socioeconomically disadvantaged. Almost all clients who rated the app agreed or strongly agreed that they enjoyed using it. Clients who used the app to complete homework attended a similar number of treatment sessions but completed more homework than clients who used hardcopy. For individuals with access to smartphones, these results support the acceptability and feasibility of a smartphone app to complete therapeutic homework in CBT for gambling disorder and allow us to make several recommendations for future randomized controlled trials. These studies should allow clients to customize the frequency of homework reminders and to complete homework over multiple log-ins to the app. However, the implementation of smartphone-based healthcare interventions may not enhance the accessibility of care for individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Gender and STEM Subject Choice

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ (STEM) knowledge and skills are of increasing importance to the Scottish (and UK) economy in terms of economic growth and better-paid employment opportunities. Shortages of suitably qualified individuals mean that policymakers are concerned to increase the study of STEM subjects at both tertiary and secondary education levels, as the latter feeds the former. Persistent, gendered patterns of STEM subject choice exist at all school qualification levels with, for instance, Biology more likely to be studied by females and Physics by males. These differences have been attributed to social conditioning and gender-biased environments rather than any innate, biological differences with little known about the latter. This paper used Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) administrative data for 2002-2009, linked to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), to explore whether biological factors may play a part in STEM subject choice in Scottish state secondary schools. Specifically, it examined the impact that potential exposure to increased levels of testosterone, in-utero, for female twins with male co-twins (the Twin Testosterone Transfer hypothesis) may have on their STEM subject choices. Twins and a control group of closely spaced sibling pairs were identified from SQA administrative data. Logistic regression was employed to examine Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, general Science and Computing subject choices. No evidence of any testosterone effect was found despite clear patterns of gender segregation. The impact of socio-economic background was stark. The odds of individuals from more disadvantaged backgrounds taking named sciences fell as deprivation levels rose. Age-14 educational choices and general age-16 attainment were seen to be critical for studying STEM subjects at Higher, the crucial qualifications for university entry, indicating that policy interventions to increase uptake need to begin well before this to redress social inclusion and gender imbalance issues.

Phonological memory problems are magnified in children from language minority homes when predicting reading disability.

Children from language minority (LM) environments speak a language at home that differs from that at school, are often from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and are at risk for reading impairment. We evaluated the main effects and interaction of language status and phonological memory and awareness on reading disorder in 352 children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. A significant phonological memory by language status interaction indicated that phonological memory problems were magnified in predicting reading impairment in children from LM versus English dominant (ED) homes. Among children without reading disorder, language minority status was unrelated to phonological processing.