No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of School Home Links activity guide homework on kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory scores. Student Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores were obtained and analyzed for gains in score from the Middle of Year (MOY) and End of Year (EOY) administration. Parents were provided School Home Links Activity Guide Homework to use with their child on a weekly basis for twelve weeks. This group formed an experimental group. A control group did not receive SHL activity guide homework. For the control and experimental group each student's letter/sound score was entered into SPSS for the MOY and EOY TPRI, and average gains were calculated. Groups of students were isolated and analyzed for gain based upon participation in a district reading program, and/or high or low parental involvement in SHL activity guide homework. Research in the upper grades shows that homework completion and parent involvement positively affect student achievement. Students whose parents are involved in their education reap many benefits. These benefits include higher academic achievement (Davies, 1991). Fuller & Olsen (1998), Davies (1991), and Epstein (1995) believe parent involvement is a stronger indicator of student achievement than socioeconomic status, parent education, ethnicity, or any other indicator. The research supports the use of homework for upper grades. The results of this study remain inconclusive for kindergarten age students. This study shows that there is no statistically significant difference between experimental and control group kindergarten TPRI scores when homework is an independent variable.

Procedural pain is still under managed in practice, resulting in immediate and long-term negative sequellae for children. Accreditation guidelines identify health care professionals as responsible for providing procedural pain management, however recent evidence supports the idea that parents can be assisted to provide effective pain management through non-pharmacological strategies. Using Appreciative Inquiry, twelve nurses were interviewed about their knowledge of the evidence, work context, and factors that facilitate their ability to engage parents in procedural pain management. Focus groups verified the findings and made suggestions for practical application. From the data, four predominant patterns emerged: 1) Establishing meaningful interpersonal connections; 2) Fostering a culture of collaboration; 3) Pain as a priority – moving from a philosophy to a standard; 4) Sustaining practices through advanced knowledge and skills. Findings will contribute to the literature that guides education, policies, and standards that engage all resources to promote more effective pain relieving practices.

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The effects of marital separation or divorce on children have been widely researched, often relying on clinical samples, and the short-term and long-term consequences have been documented. Research findings are divergent: some studies suggest that adolescents are not adversely affected while other studies show that adolescents' functioning is affected in a permanent way by parental separation. Ambert and Saucier (1983) reviewed adolescents' perceptions of parents, controlling for gender and parental marital status. Their findings suggested that adolescents perceive their parents differently on the basis of marital status and gender. / Inspired by Ambert and Saucier's research, this exploratory study was based on interviews with eighteen adolescents, in an attempt to understand how family composition and gender influences adolescent perceptions of parents. The subjects were from divorced and intact families and the results were analyzed qualitatively. It was assumed that adjustment to parental separation or divorce would be reflected in the adolescents' perceptions of their parents. / Contrary to expectations, the findings of this study indicated that adolescents from both intact and divorced families perceived their parents in a similar way. These findings are attributed to several factors, including the absence of interparental hostility, the length of time since the separation and economic stability within these families.

Manitoba, like all provinces since the 1990s, has put forth efforts to increase parental input into local school decision making. Despite efforts, parents struggle to gain the recognition and support required to be true stakeholders in school governance. Six members of parent-centred school partnership councils (PSPCs) were interviewed in this qualitative study to determine the role and potential of such councils in three rural Manitoba public schools. This study suggests that the strong efforts since the 1990s for Manitoba schools to have parents as true partners in shared governance has not fully been realized.

Young adults are moving back into their family homes and are now living with their parents. Common terms for the adult children include "previously launched adult" and "incompletely launched adult." I used data from Wave 3 (2001 to 2003) of the National Survey of Families and Households to analyze the relationship between different life course and family development variables and the launching status of young adults. This dissertation specifically uses the dependent variable "launching status" of either previously launched or failure to launch. I undertake two multinomial logistic regression models with the dependent variable "launching status." I then proceed to a replication of the original analysis with two other multinomial logistic regression models, using the dependent variable "launching status" and the data gathered from Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (1992 to 1994). I conclude with a descriptive analysis of the 2009 American Community Survey to describe current trends of adult child and parent co-residence. The first analysis uses various life course variables as independent variables and then introduces control variables into the models. The second analysis uses various family development and family structure variables and then introduces control variables into the models. After running the two models using the Wave 3 data, I determined that the life course variables had a significant relationship with launching status, and the family development variables did not prove to be very significantly related to launching status. The replication of the Wave 3 analysis with the Wave 2 data showed similar results. Like the original analysis, the life course variables were significantly related to launching status, whereas the family development variables were not significantly related to launching status. The descriptive results using the American Community Survey data show that a majority of young adults who are living at home are between the ages of 18 and 24, are male, are White and non-Hispanic, and have a high school education or less. The major contribution of this research is that it differentiates between those who have never left the family home and those who left and then returned. This is the first study, to my knowledge, to do so.