Importance For Children's Health Research Articles

Development of Community-Based Growth and Development Physiotherapy Services in Karangmalang District

Based on the Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) report in 2018, 39, 32% of Karangmalang District, Sragen City had problems with child growth and development. The main factor of this problem is because parents hide their children at home who are experiencing child development problems due to embarrassment to the surrounding community and the supporting factors of this problem are due to the lack of parents' economy for treatment at the hospital, and lack of education in understanding the importance of health in children's growth and development. The purpose of this activity is to provide education and understanding to parents in Karangmalang District about the importance of healthy growth and development in children. The conclusion of the activity can contribute to the community of Karangmalang District as an effort to provide physiotherapy services and educational efforts to parents who have growth and development problems in their children and understand better about the importance of handling physiotherapy on growth and development problems in children.

Oral Health Behavior and Dental Caries status: A comparative study between rural and urban school-going children in Dhaka Division

Introduction: The importance of oral health in children is paramount. Proper techniques of brushing and the influence of fermentable carbohydrates in dental caries should be taught at the early childhood stage. Objective: To estimate the mean deft, DMFT, Oral health-related behavior, and practice among the selected rural and urban school-going children in Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among 593 (152 rural and 441 urban children) school children using the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected from 3 urban schools and 1 rural school, using an interview-based structured questionnaire and oral examination. Consent was taken both from the college authority and participants before data collection. Descriptive analysis was performed. Results and Discussion: The study was carried out among 593 school children with an age range between below 5 years to above 15 years old. The majority of the students at urban schools brush their teeth twice daily while most rural school children brush their teeth once daily. Most of the students use toothbrushes and toothpaste as cleaning aids, however, the majority of them usually brush before meals. In addition, the majority of the students at rural and urban schools do not brush their teeth after taking sweet foods. Mean deft in deciduous teeth is high among rural school children (2.07) while mean DMFT in permanent teeth is high among urban schools. Conclusion: Organized and systemic community oral health promotion should be strengthened and a prevention-oriented oral health system is needed for promoting future oral self-care practices among school children. Update Dent. Coll. j: 2022; 12(1): 3-7

Knowledge And Awareness on Oral Care Among Mothers of Children Less Than Five Years Old: A Survey

Introduction: Health-related behaviors are influenced by knowledge and awareness, with oral health being no exception. It is well-known that oral diseases are influenced by social determinants. Children depend on their parents and caretakers for maintenance of their oral health so oral health knowledge of mothers could be associated with the status of their children’s oral health.
 Aim: The aim of this survey was to evaluate and create awareness on oral care among mothers of children less than 5 years old.
 Materials and Methods: An online survey was conducted among mothers of children less than five years old using a questionnaire in google forms. The Questionnaire was framed which mainly targeted awareness on dental attitude, knowledge and practice of mothers regarding their children’s oral health. The survey was done in January 2021. The results were obtained and statistically analysed through SPSS software, chi square test was done and represented as pie-chart and bar graphs.
 Results: Out of 100 mothers who participated in the study, 66.09% have studied up to primary/high school level and 33.91% have qualified university level. About 54.78% of the participants agreed that the importance of oral health to general health, 28.70% disagreed. The association of mothers' education and their opinion on children's age on brushing their teeth shows that the majority of primary/high school mothers agreed that children should brush their teeth older than 5 years than other participants and it was statistically significant p value=0.04(>0.05))
 Conclusion: Mothers who are graduates are more aware of the importance of oral health in children, treatment of dental caries, and brushing technique than mothers who qualified with school education.

The influence of the use of improved sanitation facilities and improved drinking-water sources on the diarrhea-associated deaths in children under 5 years

ABSTRACTDiarrhea is one of the main causes of children's death. Due to the importance of health in children under 5 years, this study has been conducted to determine the influence of the use of improved sanitation facilities (UISF) and the use of improved drinking-water sources (UIDWS) on the diarrhea-associated deaths per 1000 live births in this age group. An ecologic study was conducted in 75 countries, and the data on UIDWS and UISF information have been collected by World Health Organization (WHO) under a program named “Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water” (GLAAS). To determine the correlation between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children, Pearson correlation was applied. Besides, a linear regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children. According to the findings, there was a significant statistical relationship between UIDWS and UISF with the diarrhea-associated deaths in children (p < 0.001). The diarrhea-associated deaths in children under 5 years are influenced by factors such as UIDWS and UISF, and this rate can be reduced making UISF and UIDWS available for people and especially people of rural areas.

The Timing of Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Mothers' Parenting Practices With Young Children: Implications for Pediatric Practice

The prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms and its associated consequences on parental behaviors, child health, and development are well documented. Researchers have called for additional work to investigate the effects of the timing of maternal depressive symptoms at various stages in the development of the young child on the emergence of developmentally appropriate parenting practices. For clinicians, data are limited about when or how often to screen for maternal depressive symptoms or how to target anticipatory guidance to address parental needs. We sought to determine whether concurrent maternal depressive symptoms have a greater effect than earlier depressive symptoms on the emergence of maternal parenting practices at 30 to 33 months in 3 important domains of child safety, development, and discipline. Secondary analyses from the Healthy Steps National Evaluation were conducted for this study. Data sources included a self-administered enrollment questionnaire and computer-assisted telephone interviews with the mother when the Healthy Steps children were 2 to 4 and 30 to 33 months of age. The 30- to 33-month interview provided information about 4 safety practices (ie, always uses car seat, has electric outlet covers, has safety latches on cabinets, and lowered temperature on the water heater), 6 child development practices (ie, talks daily to child while working, plays daily with child, reads daily to child, limits child television and video watching to <2 hours a day, follows > or = 3 daily routines, and being more nurturing), and 3 discipline practices (ie, uses more reasoning, uses more harsh punishment, and ever slapped child on the face or spanked the child with an object). The parenting practices were selected based on evidence of their importance for child health and development, near complete data, and sample variability. The discipline practices were constructed from the Parental Response to Misbehavior Scale. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed using a 14-item modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale. Multiple logistic regression models estimated the effect of depressive symptoms on parenting practices, adjusted for baseline demographic characteristics, Healthy Steps participation, and site. No significant interactions were found when testing analytic models with dummy variables for depressive symptoms at 2 to 4 months only, 30 to 33 months only, and at both times; reported models do not include interaction terms. We report main effects of depressive symptoms at 2 to 4 and 30 to 33 months when both are included in the model. Of 5565 families, 3412 mothers (61%) completed 2- to 4- and 30- to 33-month interviews and provided Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale data at both times. Mothers with depressive symptoms at 2 to 4 months had reduced odds of using car seats, lowering the water heater temperature, and playing with the child at 30 to 33 months. Mothers with concurrent depressive symptoms had reduced odds of using electric outlet covers, using safety latches, talking with the child, limiting television or video watching, following daily routines, and being more nurturing. Mothers with concurrent depressive symptoms had increased odds of using harsh punishment and of slapping the child on the face or spanking with an object. The study findings suggest that concurrent maternal depressive symptoms have stronger relations than earlier depressive symptoms, with mothers not initiating recommended age-appropriate safety and child development practices and also using harsh discipline practices for toddlers. Our findings, however, also suggest that for parenting practices that are likely to be established early in the life of the child, it may be reasonable that mothers with early depressive symptoms may continue to affect use of those practices by mothers. The results of our study underscore the importance of clinicians screening for maternal depressive symptoms during the toddler period, as well as the early postpartum period, because these symptoms can appear later independent of earlier screening results. Providing periodic depressive symptom screening of the mothers of young patients has the potential to improve clinician capacity to provide timely and tailored anticipatory guidance about important parenting practices, as well as to make appropriate referrals.