Thesis--University of Oklahoma. / Bibliography: leaves 70-75.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1984.

Thesis--University of Oklahoma. / Bibliography: leaves 97-100.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The genesis of many cardiovascular diseases is obesity. Physical activity is considered a protective factor for obesity. The way the time and intensity in which physical activity are performed are important variables for this protection. It is important to understand precisely when in life physical activity begins to determine health benefits. Children born with inadequate weight seem to be at higher risk for disease in adulthood. The aim of this study was to compare in preschool children (four years) from a birth cohort of 2005 the city of Aracaju-SE adequacy of birth weight interferes with the activity level. This study is a nested case-control in this cohort and had a sample of 72 children, 43 Adequate for Gestational Age (AGA) and 29 Large for Gestational Age (LGA). For both groups there was no association between adequacy of birth weight and physical activity level. Significant differences were found when genders were compared (boys more active than girls). It was not possible to observe a statistically significant difference in the Body Mass Index between groups. Measurement of physical activity by accelerometer Actigraph device GT1M was considered feasible and more valid than the questionnaire. Pre-school is the age at which children are establishing habits, turning crucial for intervention aiming to incorporate physical activity into their routines. As this is an important and sensitive to intervention, more research is needed with larger samples and other age groups to study more thoroughly this relationship. / A gênese de inúmeras doenças cardiovasculares é a obesidade. A atividade física é um fator protetor comprovado para a obesidade. Como o tempo e a intensidade em que a atividade física é praticada são importantes variáveis para esta proteção, torna-se importante entender precisamente em que época da vida a atividade física começa a determinar benefícios à saúde. Crianças nascidas com peso inadequado parecem estar em maior risco de desenvolver doenças na vida adulta. O objetivo do presente estudo foi comparar, em crianças pré-escolares (4 anos) de uma coorte de nascimentos de 2005 da cidade de Aracaju-SE, se a adequação do peso ao nascer interfere no nível de atividade física. O presente estudo é um caso-controle aninhado numa coorte, teve uma amostra de 72 crianças, sendo 43 do grupo Adequado para a Idade Gestacional e 29 do Grupo Grande para a Idade Gestacional. Foi possível observar que nos grupos estudados de crianças na idade pré-escolar não há associação entre adequação do peso ao nascer e nível de atividade física; foram constatadas diferenças significativas quando os gêneros foram comparados. Não foi possível observar diferença estatisticamente significante entre o Índice de Massa Corpórea e os grupos GIG e AIG. Houve diferença significante de atividade física entre os sexos (meninos mais ativos que meninas) nos dois grupos. A medida objetiva da atividade física através do aparelho acelerômetro Actigraph GT1M mostrou-se possível de ser realizada e de maior validade que o questionário. A fase pré-escolar é a época em que as crianças estão estabelecendo os hábitos, portanto, nesta fase é fundamental que haja intervenção no sentido de incorporar a prática de atividade física em suas rotinas. São necessárias mais pesquisas, com maior amostra e em outras faixas etárias, para estudar de forma mais exaustiva esta relação, principalmente por ser um fator passível de intervenção em qualquer época da vida.

The thesis is focused on phenomenon of free play in preschool age children. Theoretical part of this work explains game itself and its context. Focus is aimed at capturing specifics of preschool age child's play, its importance for kids and division to several types. Major part of this thesis also explains concept of free play in preschool child development. Practical part contains research investigation of free play in children from three to four age in kindergarten. Goal of this investigation was set as follows: give description at free play phenomenon in preschool aged kids in preschool environment. Chosen methods for this research were observation together with non-structured interviews with participants of research - the kids themselves. Research findings describes prevailing types of play and themes that children chose during the free play. Results indicates which toys and tools children use to play with and what kind of relationship they had with them. In addition, children's interactions with others are described and also another features of the free play of preschool children. Key words phenomenon of play, free play, preschool child, preschool enviroment

This study was designed to discover parents' experience following a stillbirth or early infant death. The conceptualization of the research problem was based on Kleinman's (1978) cultural system model which directed the researcher to elicit directly from clients their explanatory models, or their way of viewing the experience. The specific research questions were (1) How do couples perceive and interpret their experience following stillbirth or early infant death? and (2) How do couples view the social support they have received at the time of their infant's death? Six couples, who were recruited primarily from bereavement support groups, participated in the study. Each couple had experienced a stillbirth or early infant death between four months and four years prior to the study. Data were collected from the subjects with the use of unstructured interviews, allowing the experiences to unfold as they were perceived by the participants. Four main themes that evolved from the data were (1) anticipation of parenthood and the shattering of hopes with the death or knowledge of impending death of the infant; (2) a multidimensional personal grief experience; (3) an interpersonal grief exerience influenced by the social support of health care professionals, of friends and family and of the spouse; and (4) reflection and search for meaning in the experience. The discovery of couples' perceptions of their bereavement experience and their view of the support received will assist in enhancing the ability to provide more effective nursing care to bereaved families. Implications for nursing practice, research and education are delineated. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Landau and Gleitman's experiments investigating a blind child's meaning for look, as it applied to herself, were replicated with a three year old boy who was totally blind, and had no concomitant disorders. Several commands to look were presented within informal play sessions. Responses to the look commands were compared with responses to instructions to touch, listen and taste. Experiments were video recorded for subsequent analysis. It was found that the blind child associated the haptic perceptual modality with the visual verb, in that an instruction to look at an object elicited manual exploration of the object. His meaning for look was distinct from his meanings for the other perceptual verbs. These findings were consistent with Landau and Gleitman's findings. Landau and Gleitman's interpretation, of how a blind child's mastery of visual terms bears on the word/meaning mapping problem, is critically discussed. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

This study was designed to investigate the experience of having arthritic pain from the children's perspective. Previous research on how Canadian children perceive and manage arthritic pain and how it affects their daily lives is nonexistent. Therefore the purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore and describe the arthritic pain experience of school age children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and to understand the impact/influence of various factors on the construction of that experience. Ten children, aged 10 to 13 years, with either early (at 2 to 4 years) or late (at 7 to 11 years) onset arthritis participated in this study. Descriptive data were obtained during two open-ended in depth interviews with the children in their homes. Using content analysis, data were analyzed for themes and their elements. An analytical framework of themes and their elements was developed that reflected the children's descriptions of and explanations for arthritic pain in the context of their day to day in the context of their day to day living with arthritis, both in the past and currently. The children perceived pain to be synonymous with arthritis and the mediating factor in how they functioned. They described arthritic pain in relation to distinguishing factors: intensity, duration, and frequency. Intermittent arthritic pain was attributed to cessation of medications, arthritis "flare-ups," inactivity, and activity. A current concern for most children was pain attributed to activity because it meant limitations in activities with peers. The children identified strategies they used to manage pain and cope with pain's unpredictability. The findings of this study were discussed in relation to selected research studies that either supported or refuted the findings of this study. Implications for nursing practice and research were addressed. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Deaux and Lewis (1984) have proposed that stereotypes be viewed as linked components, each encompassing specific content domains (such as beliefs about appearance, preferences, occupations and traits). Each component has a masculine and a feminine version. Adults are able to use the stereotyped associative links between items in the same component and those between items in different components to make judgments about individuals' behaviors and characteristics based on minimal information. The present study examined the acquisition of these associative connections in the gender stereotypes of 6 to 10 year olds. Seventy-six children (38 boys, 38 girls), aged 6, 8 and 10 years, were asked to make a number of judgments about an individual's clothing, occupational aspirations, toy preferences, and personality traits based on a single piece of cue information (a masculine or feminine item from a component). The types of associative links that children could use in making of interpersonal judgments changed with age. The 6-year-old children were able to make stereotyped judgments about both masculine and feminine items within the same component but were only able to make between-component stereotyped judgments when items of their own-sex typing (i.e. masculine items for boys, feminine items for girls) were presented as cues. The older children were be able to make within- and between-component stereotypic judgments about both masculine and feminine items. The results supported the propositions of schematic-processing theory (Martin & Halverson, 1981) and demonstrated the value of the Deaux and Lewis (1984) component-link model as a heuristic for the study of complex cognitive structures. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

A review of the literature identified that few research studies have been published which examined the post-operative pain of children, particularly those between the ages of 4 and 7 years. As a result, theoretical literature has been the major contributor to the understanding of the concept of children's post-operative pain. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the post-operative pain of hospitalized children aged 4 to 7 years on the first postoperative day, through a self-reported measure of pain intensity levels as well as descriptions of the children's overt behaviours used to express pain. Data were gathered on the pain intensity levels (using the PCT) and overt behaviours of 11 children between the ages of 4 and 8 years on the first post-operative day between the hours of 0800 and 2000. In addition, data regarding parental presence and the administration of analgesics were also collected for these children. Findings related to pain intensity scores provided the basis for three important conclusions. First, all of the children were able to place a value on their pain using the PCT. Second, all of the children were experiencing some degree of post-operative pain possibly related to the lack of consistent administration of analgesia. Third, parental presence did not influence the pain intensity scores reported by the children. Findings related to the overt behaviours exhibited by children also provided the basis for three important conclusions. First, the most frequent behaviours identified were not those normally associated with feelings of pain. The researcher believed that this lack of expected response was as a result of the children's ability to adapt and cope with the pain. Second, behavioural measurement of pain may not be a reliable and valid measure of post-operative pain. Third, parental presence or absence did not influence the overt behaviours exhibited. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate