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Introduction: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a serious public health concern globally especially in developing countries like South Africa. The main source from which infants acquire the causative bacteria - Mutans Streptococci (MS) is their mothers. The mothers with high levels of MS have a greater chance of transmitting the bacteria, particularly if they are involved in practices such as tasting the infant’s food and/or sharing eating utensils. Current research indicates that dental public health programmes fail to prevent ECC because of late intervention. Objective: This study sought to determine the existing knowledge, attitudes and perceptions (KAP) of pregnant women about ECC in a population in Tshwane district, Gauteng province, South Africa and to compare these KAP across socio-economic groups (SES). Methodology: A cross-sectional analytical study involving consenting pregnant women recruited from selected private and public antenatal healthcare facilities in the Tshwane District area was conducted. This study involved the use of a validated self-administered structured questionnaire and an oral epidemiological clinical examination (modified by WHO Oral Health Assessment 1997 Guidelines). One calibrated examiner using a dental explorer and a mouth mirror under natural light carried out the oral examination. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, principal component analysis to obtain a composite score for participant’s attitude towards ECC; and chi-square and independent student’s T-test to compare different groups. Significance level was set at p<0.05. Results: Response rate was 88.9% (n=353). Respondents’ age ranged from 18-44years (Mean age=31years). Only 18.7% of the respondents had complete knowledge of the cause of dental caries i.e. both sugar (diet) and biologic agent (bacterial plaque) whilst over half of the respondents (55.5%) mentioned only one factor. The participants’ knowledge of the cause of ECC was significantly associated with SES. A few mothers-to-be (13.9%) believed in the caries transmission from mother to child. Reported mean age for the child’s first dental visit was 2 years and 8 months. Only a quarter of respondents received oral health education for their unborn child during the antenatal visits. The majority of the pregnant women (93.8%) expressed the desire to receive information during the antenatal visit. The participants’ attitudes towards ECC was significantly associated with SES. The caries prevalence of the pregnant women was high at 64.3%, with mean DMFT of 2.97(SD 3.20). High participant DMFT was significantly associated with reports of ‘rotten teeth’ in their other children. Only 19.3% mothers-to-be had visited a dental care provider in the last 6-months. Conclusion: The knowledge of the pregnant women studied on ECC is incomplete and limited, while their attitudes and perceptions towards ECC was satisfactory. Therefore there is a need for the integration of oral health education with maternal and child health activities in both antenatal and post-natal clinics. There is a need for the oral health professionals to collaborate with other health works to reduce the prevalence of ECC. / Dissertation (MSc Dent)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Community Dentistry / MSc Dent / Unrestricted

In a Northern California elementary school, school personnel were concerned that the math proficiency levels were low for 2011-2014 for low-Social Economic Status, SES, students and math teachers were not using the math professional development strategies provided nor consistently implementing the new math curriculum adopted by the district to support Common Core, CC, state standards. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore teacher perceptions regarding the math instruction related to students' performance. Vygotsky's social development theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. The study included interview data from 10 elementary teachers purposefully selected from Grades 2 through 5 who were known to meet the selection criteria of being a math teacher with 2 or more years of experience working with low SES students. Data from interviews, and archival documents were analyzed using inductive analyses and were analytically coded. The results of the analysis showed that the teachers wanted quality professional development that would prepare them to effectively teach math to struggling low-SES students. The identified themes were strategies teachers used to support low-SES students, instructional resources, effectiveness of professional development, and additional factors affecting low-SES students. Thus, the resulting project, Guiding Struggling Math Students Toward Success PD, provides math strategies for working with low-SES students and implementing the new math curriculum. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change by reforming PD opportunities to support teachers' practice and use of modifications during math instruction, ultimately increasing student performance in the elementary campus.

While epidemiological research has generated new knowledge about the treatment and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through smoking secession, the socioeconomic status (SES) of people with the disease has been under investigated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the predictability of association between SES and COPD. This study was based on the ecological theory, which states that health and disease may have multiple underlying factors. This study was a secondary analysis of archived data from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). The dataset was collected for the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS)" study. Variables were measured at the nominal, ordinal, and continuous levels. In this cross-sectional quantitative analysis, logistic regression was used to inform the research questions. The results showed that neither education, income, nor occupation was a predictor of COPD. The logistic regression reported the significance of the predictability of education, income, and occupation to be Ï? = 1.000, Ï? = .498, Ï? = .581, respectively, with odd ratios and confidence interval of 1.007 (.987, 1.028), 1.018 (.948, 1.094), 1.429 (.684, 2.988). Neither education, income, nor occupation yielded a significant statistic value for a Ï? Ë? .05 or a p Ë? .01. These non-significant results regarding the relationship between the SES of a person and COPD reaffirmed that cigarette smoking remains the known determinant of the disease. The social implications of these research findings are that more stringent laws and mandates need to be enacted to discourage easy access to the proven determining factor of COPD: cigarettes smoking.

The evidence supporting the common instructional method of daily calendar group time to teach math skills to prekindergarten children has been inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of exposure to daily calendar group time on prekindergarten children's math score gains in a private early-childhood program located in the suburban Southeast. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory guided this quantitative, causal comparative design wherein archival data from 104 prekindergarten students' pre- and posttest numeracy skill scores on the Young Children's Achievement Test were analyzed. Data from 6 classrooms over 2 school years were compared using multiple linear regression. Four classrooms offered daily calendar group time (n = 72), and the other 2 did not (n = 32). Results from multiple linear regression analyses showed that when pretest scores, English language learner status, and socioeconomic status were controlled for, posttest scores of prekindergarten students who were instructed using the calendar were not significantly different from posttest scores of students with no calendar exposure. The results from this study can be used by prekindergarten administrators and teachers to inform classroom math instructional practices. This study contributes to social change by demonstrating that the instructional practice of prekindergarten daily calendar group time does not assist young children in attaining additional math skills prior to kindergarten entry; other methods of instruction may be more effective.

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The purpose of this study was to determine if socioeconomic status for the ethnic groups of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian is a significant indicator of mathematical performance and student participation in higher level courses. The SOL test scores of all high school mathematics students in Virginia for the 2005-2006 school year, their ethnic group membership, and their economically disadvantaged classification were as used to determine if such an association exists. Data provided by the Virginia Department of Education consisted of 113,786 Algebra I scores, 95,898 Geometry scores, and 68,944 Algebra II scores. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and a Two-way ANOVA were used to determine the variables that were highly significant indicators of mathematical performance and enrollment (p<.001).

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Den språkliga miljön som barnet vistas i har visat sig ha stor betydelse för utvecklandet av barnets ordförråd. Bredden i ordförrådet är ett kvantitativt mått och beskrivs vara de antal ord en person kan och har kännedom om. Forskning har visat att den språkliga miljön skiljer sig åt mellan familjer som är hög- respektive lågutbildade och att det i sin tur leder till skillnader i ordförrådsutvecklingen hos barnet. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om vårdnadshavares utbildningsnivå har en inverkan på bredden i svensktalande barns expressiva ordförråd i åldrarna 7;0 – 12;0 år. Ett nykonstruerat benämningstest användes för att mäta bredden i barnens expressiva ordförråd. Ett frågeformulär användes för att ta reda på vårdnadshavares högsta utbildningsnivå. 157 barn mellan åldrarna 7;0–12;0, med minst en vårdnadshavare med svenska som modersmål, testades med ett benämningstest. Deltagarnas resultat på benämningstestet ökade med ålder. Det återfanns en svag positiv signifikant korrelation mellan barnens resultat på benämningstestet och vårdnadshavares utbildningsnivå. Ålder och vårdnadshavares utbildningsnivå förklarade tillsammans 27,8% av variansen i resultatet på benämningstestet. Vårdnadshavares utbildningsnivå hade störst betydelse vid de lägre åldrarna för att sedan utjämnas. Studien bidrar med kunskap om i vilken omfattning utbildningsnivå påverkar bredd i barns expressiva ordförråd. Resultatet kan tänkas bero på skillnader i den språkliga input som barn exponeras för. Det skulle behöva studeras fler barn och longitudinella studier för att kunna dra mer långtgående slutsatser gällande i vilken omfattning vårdnadshavarnas utbildningsnivå påverkar deras barns expressiva ordförråd över tid.