Children's Health Awareness Research Articles

The Impact of Family Upbringing Methods on the Formation of Children's Health Awareness

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of family upbringing methods on the formation of health awareness in children by examining the correlation between family upbringing methods and dimensions of health awareness. The research adopts a correlational methodology and includes the development of a scale for family upbringing methods consisting of 20 items distributed among four styles and a scale for health awareness consisting of 15 items distributed among three dimensions. These scales are applied to a random sample of 80 male and female respondents. One of the key findings of the research is the lack of a statistically significant correlation between authoritarian, democratic, and neglectful family upbringing styles and the level of health awareness in children. However, there was a statistically significant relationship between the overprotective style of upbringing and the level of health awareness in children who are subjected to it. The results also showed no statistically significant differences in the sample's responses based on variables such as gender, age, and birth order within the family. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2023-04-02-05 Full Text: PDF

Using Augmented Reality to Motivate Oral Hygiene Practice in Children: Protocol for the Development of a Serious Game.

BackgroundNew technologies create possible new ways of action, interaction, and learning which is extremely relevant in the field of oral health education. There is a lack of protocol in using an immersive interactive ludic-educational interface to motivate oral hygiene practice in children by means of augmented reality.ObjectiveThis study aims to present a protocol on the development of a serious game to motivate oral hygiene practice in children.MethodsA serious game will be designed by augmented reality techniques to improve toothbrushing effectiveness of children aged 6 to 10 years. The functional structure of this interface is activated by means of movements recognized by Kinect (Microsoft Corp). The toothbrushing technique will be available in the game, enabling the children to execute the movement in the virtual environment. By identifying errors, this game will be tailored to improve the oral health of children by correcting the technique and teaching the user the adequate toothbrushing method. A template analysis will be performed to identify barriers and facilitators in each scenario.ResultsAfter the implementation of the virtual interactive and immersive panels, enrollment will begin and evaluations will be made by means of questionnaires distributed to participants who interact with the game. Thus, an analysis of the product efficacy will be conducted. The expected outcome will be to obtain a digital instrument to motivate oral hygiene practice and enhance health awareness in children.ConclusionsThe serious game will support the prevention of oral diseases by sharing scientific research in the school environment and community.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/10987

Oral health awareness in school-going children and its significance to parent's education level.

The oral health imparts a major impact on one's quality of life. Since last decades, there is an increase in the prevalence of dental afflictions which can be avoided by the knowledge of simple preventive measures. The aim of this study was to assess the oral health status of children and to analyze its association with the education level of their parents. Two randomly schools were selected and all the children from 5-15 years willing to participate in the present cross-sectional study were assessed for oral health status using the World Health Organization for the oral health awareness in children, 2004. Both child and parents were directly interviewed to avoid any bias in understanding the questionnaire. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (16.0) was used for data analysis. Chi-square/Fisher's exact test was used to compare the dichotomous variables. A total of 210 (133 males and 77 females) children were assessed along with their parents for the awareness of child's oral health condition. Totally 134 (63.3%) children were of age group 5-10 years, while 76 (36.7%) children were of age group 11-15 years. Children with uneducated parents have often experienced toothache, brushes once a daily and frequently visits the dentist for toothache compared to children of educated parents, and this association was observed to be statistically significant (<0.001). The oral health status of children was average. However, education level and awareness of parents regarding oral health preventive measures play a key role in determining the oral health of children.

Developmental Trends in Children's Internal Body Knowledge

Literature on children's internal body knowledge has consistently indicated that knowledge about the body develops in an orderly sequence with increasing age. How much children currently know about their internal organs, however, may be influenced by the increase in health and body information available through school education programmes. As there is little recent research in this area, the present study aimed to provide an update on what Australian children currently understand about their anatomy, and to corroborate the developmental trends found in previous research. One hundred and eighty-nine school children aged 7 to 12 years were asked to draw the interior of the body in a body outline provided, with a subset of 54 children also being interviewed about their understanding of their anatomy. The developmental trends found in this study were broadly consistent with those reported in the existing literature on children's inside body knowledge, and are similar to those documented with children's human figure drawing; namely, that children's body knowledge and understanding increased with age. Although awareness of the integration of internal body parts amongst children in the present study seemed more developed than suggested in previous studies, the availability of educational resources influencing children's knowledge about their internal organs remains equivocal. Nevertheless, this research has relevance for those involved in children's health awareness and education, as well as direct implications for paediatric health care procedures.

Obesity and diet awareness among Polish children and adolescents in small towns and villages.

In addition to genetic predispositions and environmental factors, healthy lifestyle education is very important for children and adolescents. The purpose of this research was to estimate the number of overweight and obese children and adolescents from small towns and villages and to find out an association between health awareness in children and the risk of becoming overweight or obese. The research was conducted in 1,515 healthy children aged 6-18 years from small towns and villages in Poland. Overweight was diagnosed when BMI for age and sex was over the 90th percentile; obesity--when it was over the 95th percentile. The study consisted of a lifestyle interview and anthropometrical measurements. The lifestyle interview was conducted with the use of an anonymous questionnaire form and included questions about food frequency, diet habits and physical activity. The research was analysed using the SAS System for Windows, release 8.02. Overweight status was diagnosed in 9.0% and obesity in 5.1% of respondents. Excess body mass was statistically more frequently diagnosed in girls than in boys aged 14-18 years. Girls of this age group significantly more frequently chose wholemeal bread, smoked sausages, meat and poultry as products that are believed to keep them fit. Older children substantially more often indicated that stress, smoking cigarettes, consuming fatty meat, sweets, being obese, and a lack of physical activity are factors that damage health. Boys spent more time in front of a computer or TV than girls; in the older group of children, the phenomenon even intensified. Awareness of healthy lifestyle behaviour is not sufficient to maintain optimal body mass. Knowledge about proper eating habits is better among girls than among boys, especially in the older age groups. However, in older groups, there was less physical activity due to spending more time in front of TV or the computer. High percentage of obese/overweight children and insufficient knowledge of nutrition may consequently result in increased risk of cardio-vascular diseases in adult population.

Status of oral health awareness in Indian children as compared to Western children: A thought provoking situation (A pilot study)

A study was conducted to evaluate the level of oral health awareness in a selected sample of Indian children and a selected sample of western children residing in Amritsar city of Punjab. Children were evaluated on the basis of a standardized questionnaire developed by WHO, for health awareness in children. Final results revealed the level of awareness in both the groups and the practical application of their knowledge about dental health in day to day life.

Using Focus Groups to Discuss Sensitive Topics with Children

The Children's Health Awareness Project is presented as a case study of the use of focus groups for gathering sensitive information from children. General focus group techniques are described, as are the benefits and limitations of focus group methodology for social science applications. Recommendations are offeredfor other investigators planning to use this methodology to gather information from children, especially when sensitive topics are to be addressed.