Length Of Attendance Research Articles

We’ve been Offering It for Years, But Why Do They Come? The Reasons Why Adults Bring Young Children to Public Library Storytimes

Abstract While storytime programs for preschool children are offered in nearly all public libraries in the United States, little is known about why adults choose to bring children to participate. This survey study gathered information from 346 parents and caregivers who attended storytime programs at 35 public libraries in three states. Parents and caregivers indicated child enjoyment of hearing stories and participating in activities and the opportunity for children to interact as the primary reasons for attending; however, differences in motivation to attend were noted by community density, relationship to the child, educational level of the adult, and length of attendance. In addition to identifying those aspects of storytimes that resonate most for children and building upon them, librarians should integrate cooperative activities that facilitate interaction. Further, librarians should take stock of their own contexts and modify programs to best address the needs of their specific community.

Examining the association between religiosity and medical mistrust among churchgoing Latinos in Long Beach, CA.

Medical mistrust among racial/ethnic minorities has been associated with decreases in health care utilization, whereas religiosity has been separately linked with increases in this behavior. However, very few studies have examined the relationship between religiosity and medical mistrust among Latinos, a group with strong religious connections and potentially high mistrust. In-person, self-administered surveys were collected among 767 adult Latinos attending three Latino churches (one Catholic and two Pentecostal) in Long Beach, CA. Measures included a previously validated 12-item medical mistrust scale, religiosity (religious denomination, length and frequency of attendance, and number of groups or ministries involved in), health care access, and sociodemographic factors. Medical mistrust score was 2.47 (standard deviation [SD] = 0.77; range 1-5). Almost two-thirds of participants (62%) attended religious services frequently (once a week or more), and the majority attended a Catholic church (80%). About half of the participants had attended their church for ≥5 years (50%) and participated in one to two church groups or ministries (53%). Multivariable analyses show that Pentecostal church congregation and those identifying as Mexican/Chicano were negatively associated with medical mistrust. On the contrary, participating in church groups or ministries and having an immigrant parent were positively associated with medical mistrust. Our findings suggest that church-based health initiatives should consider church denomination, length of attendance, participation in groups or ministries, and ethnic differences to address medical mistrust issues among Latino congregants.

PRESCHOOL INSTITUTION AS A DETERMINANT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PETTY MOTORISM IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The paper first examined the complexity of the preschool institution and assessed the status of petty motoring for children entering the first grade of the Elementary School, and the nestablished the relationship between the indicators of petty motor is mof children on the one hand and the length of attendance at the preschool institution from one, two, three and many years on the other. The aim of the research is to determine whether and how much attendance of a preschool institution affects the development of graphomotor readiness and visual perception in children going to school. In other words, this research was supposed to find out whether attendance at a preschool institution was a determinan to the development of petty motorism in children. The results obtained on a sample of 141 children do not confirm the assumption that the length of attendance at the preschool institution influences the indicators of fine motoring of children be fore enrollment in school. The variance an alysis showed that the difference sbetween groups and with ingroups were random because the F-test values F = 0.708 with 2 degrees of freedom between groups and 138 degrees of freedom within groups and p = 0.494 for the edge ornament and F = 1.050 with 2 degrees of freedom between groups and 138 degrees off reedom within groups and p = 0.353 for a special test are not statistically significant. From the presented results, the iranalyzesand discussions, the basic conclusiono fthe research was drawn out, which states that the attendance of preschool in stitutions for one, two, three and more years does not influence the development of petty motoring in children. The obtained finding implies that the tests, the edge ornament and the special test, were quite difficult for children from the sample, which is explained primarily by the maturation of the structure, but alsoby specific learning and exercise that would contribute to the child's overall development.

Social competence of Mandarin-speaking immigrant children in childcare

This study aims to examine social competence of Chinese immigrant children and its associations with age, length of attendance in childcare, gender, generational status and proficiencies in English and Mandarin Chinese. One hundred Mandarin-speaking children aged three to five years from 15 childcare centres in Sydney were assessed by normed English and Mandarin tests. Childcare educators rated the children's social competence questionnaires. The results indicated that Chinese children performed well in social competence although the children aged three years had a higher anxiety level than the normative sample. Age, length of attendance in childcare, gender and generational status were associated with some subscales of the social competence measure. English level was associated negatively with hyperactivity, atypicality, withdrawal, somatisation and attention problems but positively with adaptability, social skills and functional communication. Mandarin level was associated positively with somatisation but negatively with withdrawal. Possible explanations of these associations are discussed with the literature.

Grandchildren's perspectives on grandparents in rural New Zealand

Within studies of ageing, rurality and family relations, the prevalent “point of view” is based on the perspectives of adults, particularly older people themselves. However, taking seriously the reciprocal nature of kinship relations also challenges researchers to find ways to explore younger people's views and experiences of intergenerational ties. The study on which this paper is based addressed this challenge, by considering the dynamics of ageing in rural families through the lens of young people's experience. In the South Island of New Zealand, Area Schools serve families in rural regions specifically defined in terms of a catchment area based on distance from any other state school. This research study selected five (from 16) of these schools, and invited the classes of Year 7 and 8 students to take part in a classroom activity, led by the researcher with support from the class teacher. The activity involved a total of 98 young people (aged 11–13) in written completion of a survey which outlined their relationships and contacts with the people they know as grandparents, along with basic demographics of their own age, gender, family and household situation, and length of attendance at the school. From this survey, information was derived about 380 grandparents (of whom 73 were no longer alive), the nature and frequency of their contacts, and the types of activities they shared with these grandchildren. Around 40 percent of the students have daily or weekly contact with a grandparent, one third “regularly do things together”, and one fifth say they have “a special relationship” with a grandparent. By controlling the age group of the grandchild, and focussing on rural families, this study adds insights and detail to a growing body of research interest in understanding the roles and contributions made by grandparents to New Zealand families, in particular those in rural communities.

Surveying the views of pupils attending supplementary schools in England

Background Supplementary schooling broadly refers to extra schooling organized by and for particular ethnic groups outside of mainstream provision. Purpose This is the first study to systematically explore the attitudes of pupils attending supplementary schools in England and the largest ever UK study of supplementary schools and their pupils. Sample The sample comprised 772 pupils aged 5–16 years attending 63 supplementary schools in four major cities in England. Design and methods Pupils completed a questionnaire to determine their attitudes to mainstream and to supplementary school; their attitudes to and self-evaluation of their achievement in reading and mathematics; their attitude to learning and learning activities; their reasons for attending supplementary school; and their likes and dislikes about supplementary school, as well as other pupil background data. Statistical analyses explored the effect of age, gender and length of attendance in relation to questionnaire responses. Results and conclusions Pupils attending supplementary schools experience extremely high levels of educational disadvantage well above the national average. Pupils were very positive in their attitudes to supplementary school, and from age 7 upwards were significantly more positive about supplementary school than they were about mainstream school. Pupils valued gaining general support for their educational improvement, a deeper understanding of their home language or culture, specific help with learning English and mathematics, help with other mainstream school work, social activities, using computers and ICT, and the positive support of their supplementary school teachers. The pupils who had been attending a supplementary school the longest had the highest scores for attitudes to learning and learning activities, and attitudes to and evaluation of their achievement in maths. However, further research is needed to identify any causal linkage between supplementary schooling and education-related outcomes.

Pre-dialysis clinic attendance improves quality of life among hemodialysis patients.

BackgroundAlthough previous research has demonstrated that referral to pre-dialysis clinics is associated with favourable objective outcomes, the benefit of a pre-dialysis clinic from the perspective of patient-perceived subjective outcomes, such as quality of life (QOL), is less well defined.MethodsA retrospective incident cohort study was conducted to determine if pre-dialysis clinic attendance was a predictor of better QOL scores measured within the first six months of hemodialysis (HD) initiation. Inclusion criteria were HD initiation from January 1 1998 to January 1 2000, diagnosis of chronic renal failure, and completion of the QOL questionnaire within six months of HD initiation. Patients receiving HD for less than four weeks were excluded. An incident cohort of 120 dialysis patients was identified, including 74 patients who attended at least one pre-dialysis clinic and 46 patients who did not. QOL was measured using the SF 36-Item Health Survey. Independent variables included age, sex, diabetes, pre-dialysis clinic attendance and length of attendance, history of ischemic heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure, malignancy, and chronic lung disease, residual creatinine clearance at dialysis initiation, and kt/v, albumin and hemoglobin at the time of QOL assessment. Bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to identify predictors of QOL scores.ResultsMultivariate analysis suggested that pre-dialysis clinic attendance was an independent predictor of higher QOL scores in four of eight health domains (physical function, p < 0.01; emotional role limitation, p = 0.01; social function, p = 0.01; and general health, p = 0.03), even after statistical adjustment for age, sex, residual renal function, kt/v, albumin, and co-morbid disease. Pre-dialysis clinic attendance was also an independent predictor of the physical component summary score (p = 0.03).ConclusionsWe conclude that pre-dialysis clinic attendance favourably influences patient-perceived quality of life within six months of dialysis initiation.

Mixed-Age Grouped Preschoolers' Moral Behavior and Understanding

Prior research on young children's moral development has been conducted primarily in same-age environments. The purpose of this present research was to investigate whether preschool children's moral (helping) behaviors are related to younger peer-directed internal state language (talking about a younger peer's feelings, wants, and abilities), perspective-taking skills, and attendance at a child development oriented, mixed-age child care center. Twenty-one pairs of children (older peer: 4- 6-years-old; younger peer: 2- 3-years-old) were videotaped while playing with four toys and three puzzles, which were presented singly. Results indicated that moral (helping) behaviors were positively and significantly related to frequency of vocal turns to the younger peer, to perspective-taking ability, and to length of attendance at a mixed-age center. Also, the data supported the developmental notion that perspective-taking ability is related to age. Mixed-age group care settings may facilitate young children's demonstration and understanding of some aspects of moral development, such as helping behaviors and perspective-taking ability.

Risk factors and prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis A virus (HAV) in children from day-care centers, in Goiania, Brazil.

A seroepidemiologic survey about hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection was carried out in a group comprising 310 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 9 years, from day-care centers, in Goiania, a middle sized city in the central region of Brazil. The biomarkers employed in the investigation of previous infection include total IgG and IgM anti-HAV antibodies, and for the detection of more recent infection, IgM anti-HAV antibodies were analyzed. The study was performed in 1991 and 1992. According to the results, 69.7% of the children presented total IgG/IgM anti-HAV antibodies, with 60% of the group in the age range of 1 to 3 years. Among 10 day-care centers analyzed, the prevalence of the biomarker IgM anti-HAV was 3.2%, with an uniform distribution of the cases in the group of children ranging in age from 1 to 4 years. Multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the sociodemographic factors that could influence the results. It was verified that the risk for the infection increased with the length of the attendance in the day-care centers, i.e., the risk for children with attendance of one year or more was 4.7 times higher, when compared with children with one month attendance (CI 95% 2.3-9.9). According to the results, hepatitis A is an endemic infection in day-care centers in the study area. The length of attendance in the day-care settings was demonstrated to be a risk factor for the HAV infection. Such findings suggest that if hepatitis A vaccination becomes available as a routine policy in our region, the target group should be children under one year. Moreover, those children should receive the vaccine before they start to attend the day-care centers.

Cytomegalovirus infection in day care centers in Rome, Italy: viral excretion in children and occupational risk among workers.

From nine day care centers in Rome, Italy, 253 children of middle to low socioeconomic classes were examined for cytomegalovirus (CMV) excretion in saliva. The overall excretion rate was 13%, with no marked differences between centers. Socioeconomic level, age of enrollment, chronological age, length of attendance, and number of siblings did not have any discernible influence on viral shedding. The most notable result is that during the second year of age, 100% of the excretors had been breast fed, but only 60% in the third year, indicating that maternal transmission is the most likely source of children's infection early in life. Serologic survey of 82 female workers in day care centers, 82 matched housewives, and 229 female students aged 14 to 18 years who were in training to care for children showed that at 14 years of age the CMV seropositivity rate is 85, which suggests that primary infection during childbearing age is an uncommon event in Rome.

Conceptions of Moral and Social Rules in Rejected and Nonrejected Preschoolers

In this study, we examined the relationship between peer group status and conceptions of moral and social rules in preschoolers. Four- to 5-year-olds (N = 102) were classified into five status groups: controversial, popular, average, neglected, and rejected. There was a significant Peer Group Status x Rule Domain effect on conceptions of the punishment due to perpetrators of transgressions. In contrast to the rejected children, the four nonrejected groups accorded more punishment to violations of moral than of social rules. The distinction between the punishment due to the perpetrators of transgressions in the two domains was made most clearly by the small number of controversial children. These findings were unrelated to the length of time that the groups had been in attendance at child care centers (mean length of attendance = 191/2 months). As in previous studies, compared to transgressions against social rules, moral transgressions were regarded as naughtier, worthier of punishment, wrong if there was...

Treatment and follow-up variables discriminating abstainers, controlled drinkers and relapsers.

A group of behaviorally treated abstainers, controlled drinkers and relapsers who had been followed up for a minimum of 1 year were compared on eight treatment and 11 posttreatment variables. Discriminating characteristics of abstainers were their goal of abstinence at discharge and length of attendance at aftercare facilities. Controlled drinkers had a goal of controlled drinking and were most likely to have had controlled drinking training during treatment. Relapsers were most likely to have been discharged from treatment prematurely, to receive further treatment and to use psychotropic medication. No controlled drinkers attended Alcoholics Anonymous or received residential care during follow-up in contrast to a small proportion of abstainers and relapsers who did. Some aspects of the drinking behavior of controlled drinkers and relapsers were also studied. Controlled drinkers were more likely to have a period of initial abstinence and for a longer period of time. Of the controlled drinkers, 66% drank at least once per week and 86% set themselves drinking limits; average consumption of alcohol was 48 and 32 g/day by men and women, respectively. The majority of controlled drinkers changed their preferred beverage and their social and physical drinking environment after treatment in accordance with therapeutic advice.

Obstetric team care by a private midwife and obstetrician--a pilot trial.

Autonomous obstetric care by either midwife or doctor excludes the complementary expertise of each other. However, in the present Australian hospital system midwives are usually unable to provide continuity of antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum care to the individual patient and thus are less able to accept ongoing clinical responsibilities or provide satisfactory psychological support to the patient. A pilot trial was instituted to assess the practicality of team care by an obstetrician and a midwife where the midwife, having joined with the obstetrician in the care of the patient at all antenatal visits, attended the patient on her admission to the labour ward until 1 hour after her delivery. This personalized midwifery service did not, in this trial, involve the midwife in duties or responsibilities greater than those of the normal labour ward staff but provided the patient with continuity of care and support by a midwife known to the patient throughout her labour and delivery. The midwife visited the patient twice postnatally. Sixty private patients entered the trial and 56 were attended by the midwife in labour. The mean length of attendance of the midwife in the labour ward was 6.6 hours (range 2-14 hours). The mean length of labour in the hospital was 5.2 hours. There was an apparent reduction in analgesic requirements in the trial patients compared to the concurrent rates in the hospital. All patients in the trial were very enthusiastic about the service, the words 'confidence' and 'security' recurring in their later comments. The service was well accepted by the rostered labour suite staff after an initial orientation programme.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Geriatric day hospitals: practice and planning.

A study of 1026 day-hospital patients who attended the three geriatric day hospitals in East Kent in the year 1971-2 showed similar results to those obtained from previous studies with regard to age and sex of attenders, diagnoses and average length of attendance. Day-hospital practice was viewed within the context of the other essential services provided for the elderly in this retirement area. The lack of day centres and psychogeriatric day hospitals and its effects on day-hospital practice are discussed with reference to the low NPI (new patient index) figures in the three units. Each area's yearly referrals are related to its resident elderly population and vary from 3-15 patients per 1000 (average 7.7 patients). Since an average patient attends for three months or more, something between 1 and 2 places per 1000 elderly would be required if they attended two days a week, and up to 3 places per 1000 elderly if they attended three days a week. This result suggests that the national guide-line of 2 places per 1000 elderly may be sufficient to meet present local referrals; though it cannot be assumed that it measures need.

The Ecology of Bangalore, India: An East-West Comparison

than do the girls. We suggest that the absence of significant difference as to sex distribution at the senior level is attributable to attachment to City High School based upon length of attendance and shared equally by boys and girls. If the foregoing speculations were accepted, we should have to broaden the area of sociological knowledge from which our hypotheses were derived. We should have to include considerations drawn from the study of small groups and from the study of minority groups, as well as those emerging from the study of socio-economic status groups. But again, as with the question of the relevancy of the data used to test the major hypothesis, the degree of validity of these speculations can only be demonstrated by further, more intensive research.