Our study adds to the understanding of dental caries prevention in underserved populations. Dental caries is the most common disease of childhood but can be easily prevented. It is therefore essential that policy makers use evidence to promote policies that will help reduce the burden of caries in high-risk children. We collected socioeconomic and demographic data through written surveys from parents of children at the Lyford Consolidated Independent School District in Willacy County. We got a 60% response to our survey. The survey data was matched with dental examination data from a teledentistry project. Only 19% of children in our matched sample had any sealant but 43% had at least one dental caries. Of those without sealants, almost half (49%) had caries while of those with sealants only 19% had any caries. We also found that while half (48%) of those from low-income households (ie, annual income <$25,000) had caries, only a third (34%) of those in high-income households had any caries. Our data analysis involved econometric modeling to study the impact of various factors including dental sealants on the occurrence of dental caries. We assumed dental sealant application to be a proxy for past preventive dental care. We used multivariate probit regression to test for endogeneity in our model. The estimation results from univariate probit models showed a strong and robust preventive effect of dental sealants on dental caries. We used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), logit, probit, and logistic regressions to confirm the results and obtained similar findings. We used our fitted model to simulate the effect of providing sealants to all children in our sample and found that there will be a 52% - 68% decrease in the mean predicted probability of caries in different scenarios. Finally, we used cost estimates from published studies and the annual survey of dental fee by the American Dental Association to calculate cost-benefit of providing sealants through school-based programs. We found school-based sealant programs to be cost-beneficial. Our analysis leads to a recommendation to promote school-based sealant programs in underserved populations. / text

The purpose of this study is to discover, through a survey of beginning Latin-American children, their status and their outstanding problems during the school year of 1939-1940 with the hope of bettering their conditions in future years.

Two studies investigated the characteristics of high-risk Hispanic parents with young children who were enrolled in a primary prevention home visitation program targeting first birth families. In the first study, more and less acculturated high-risk Hispanic families were compared to high-risk non-Hispanic White families on differences in demographic characteristics, risk factors associated with poor child outcomes, and parent behaviors related to infant health. Using the General Linear Model Univariate procedure, these characteristics were then related to level of parenting skills, measured after approximately one year of service. A total of 1005 families were included in the study. There were important differences in parent psychosocial characteristics, health risks, and outcomes among Hispanic families. Hispanic mothers who were more acculturated, as measured by use of English in the home, were more likely to be at risk for substance abuse, mental illness, and family conflict. They were more likely to smoke and less likely to breastfeed. Less acculturated Hispanic mothers were less educated and more likely to be isolated. Controlling for pretest scores and education level, there were significant between group differences on parenting skills after one year of service, however the effect was small and overshadowed by the significant interaction effect between partner status and household category. Scores for single Spanish-speaking Hispanic mothers were significantly lower than scores of Spanish-speaking Hispanics in partner households. Risk factors that were positively associated with program progress included breastfeeding and mother's education level. Smoking, mental illness, and unrealistic expectations for the child were negatively associated with program progress. The second paper addressed the efficacy of an age-paced parenting newsletter as part of a home-visiting program for Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents. Family Service Workers serving these families delivered the newsletter and used it as a curriculum guide and teaching tool for families. Parents reported reading the newsletter, learning from it, and changing their behavior in response to newsletter content. Home visitors reported that it was a useful tool to reach high-risk parents with important parenting information. They found that it was particularly useful to combat inappropriate or unhealthful parenting advice from well-meaning family members and friends. / Graduation date: 2004

No description available.

A descriptive study was conducted using a modified approach to Guided Reading and Mini-Shared Reading to improve the reading comprehension levels of bilingual second graders in their second language, English.

This research examined the effects of using a mediated reading strategy called "Mini Shared Reading" with five first graders, male bilingual students identified as struggling readers. These five students were all instructed in their primary language, which was Spanish.

Graduation date: 1993

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Vaccinations are an important step in preventing childhood illnesses and disease outbreaks in the community. Complete immunizations before school assure eligibility for enrollment and protect children against severe illness. The fact that foreign-born children of Latino immigrants face health disparities in receiving vaccinations is well documented. However, there is little information in the literature about the actual experience of immigrants facing the complexities of the health system, and through their eyes, which factors ultimately affect vaccination rates of immigrant Latino children. The purpose of this study is to give voice to Latino immigrant families who have recently immigrated to the United States, in terms of the issues they encountered when engaging the health care system for vaccinations.