This research studied two predominantly rural counties in Virginia to understand whether residents have equal access to uncontaminated drinking water by socio-economic status. Statistical associations were developed with the total value of each residence based on county tax assessment data as the independent variable to explain levels of nitrate, the presence of bacteria (total coliform and Escherichia coli), and specific household well characteristics (well age, well depth, and treatment). Nearest neighbor analysis and chi-square tests based on land cover classifications were also conducted to evaluate the spatial distribution of contaminated and uncontaminated wells. Based on the results from the 336 samples analyzed in Louisa County, rural residents with private wells may have variable access to household drinking water free of bacteria; particularly if lower-value homes in the community tend to be older with more dated, shallower wells. This study also suggested that, in Louisa County, the presence of water treatment devices was also significantly related to total home value as an index of socio-economic status. Analysis of the 124 samples taken from household wells in Augusta County did not result in any significant associations among selected well characteristics, total home value, and water quality. Lower community participation in Augusta County as a result of a more expensive water quality testing fee may have contributed to the lack of hypothesized relationships in that county's case study. / Master of Science

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

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The major objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between achievement motivation, autonomous and social achievement values, study habits and attitudes, locus of control and socio-economic status (SES) as independent variables on the one hand and the level of achievement as dependent variable on the other. The subjects were 548 second and third year social science students who were studying in seven different directions at the University of the Western Cape during 1990. The following measuring instruments were used in the investigation: The Ray-Lynn (1980) Achievement Orientation questionnaire; Strumpfer's (1975) questionnaire for the measuring of autonomous and social achievement values; Rotter's (1966) internal/external locus of control scale, as adapted by Collins (1974); The study habits and attitudes subscales of the Brown and Holtzman (1955) Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) questionnaire, as adapted for South African conditions; A brief biographical questionnaire The achievement criterion consisted of the average achievement point, which is constituted of a proportion of achievement obtained in continuous evaluation, and a proportion of achievement obtained in the final examination. The following findings were made: Achievement motivation plays a much smaller role in achievement than can be expected and its influence is gender specific. It explains only about 5% of the variance in the achievement of males, and non in the case of females. Academically successful and unsuccessful students could also not be distinguished from each other in terms of level of achievement motivation. The measuring instrument for achievement motivation, although valid and reliable, probably does not succeed in measuring aspects of achievement motivation which are related to a specific situation such as the academic. While social achievement value is not related to achievement, autonomous achievement value explains 4,8% of the variance in achievement of males but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students also do not differ from each other with regard to their achievement value orientation. Study habit and attitude do not differ in their ability to predict the achievement criterion and explain 4,1% and 5,3% of the variance in achievement of males respectively, but none in the case of females. Successful and unsuccessful students can be distinguished in terms of their study habits and attitudes. Socio-economic status has a differential influence on achievement. While higher SES females achieve at a higher level than low SES females, males do not differ in this regard. The subjects are predominantly internally orientated as far as locus of control characteristic is concerned. Although internal individuals display more "positive" characteristics compared to external individuals, the two groups do not, however, differ as far as level of achievement is concerned, irrespective of gender or socio-economic status. African students have a more positive attitude towards study compared to English and Afrikaans speaking, as well as bilingual (English and Afrikaans speaking) students. Females in this study are generally more homogenous than males. It is recommended that: The suitability of the average achievement point as a criterion of achievement be studied; A broad investigation be launched into practices and problems which might centre around the system of continuous evaluation at uwc, with specific reference to possible problems that students, lecturers and big departments may experience; The nature of differences which might exist between higher and low SES female, and low SES female and low SES male students be investigated; The nature of debilitating factors which affect the achievement of low SES female students be investigated; The tendency towards greater homogeneity among female influence thereof on university study; The adjustment of African students at uwc be studied with the objective of identifying factors that obstruct their academic progress

The research described here was inspired by a national review which concluded that too many children come into our primary schools with unmet speech and language needs (Bercow, 2008). Teachers are in a position to identify language difficulties but many have expressed uncertainty regarding their role in this process. I believed that the LAMP (Linguistic Assessment for Mapped Provision) screen for language and communication which I had developed would help teachers to identify language concerns and would also increase their professional confidence in this complex area. I had developed the LAMP screening instrument and piloted it over a 2 year period prior to this study. It is employed here as a universal screen that is used in a whole school approach in order to enable teachers to identify language need. The use of the LAMP as a universal screen applied to all the children in a school lessened the likelihood of preconceived notions impacting upon teacher’s perceptions of need in the classroom. The LAMP data allowed schools to track the progress of individual children within a class and whole school context. Teachers need to be aware of any pre-conceptions they may have in relation to the performance of children from different socio economic circumstances. The hypothesis that poverty continues to provide the weightiest detrimental effects upon children’s language development was examined and within the parameters of this study was found to be contestable. Study design: A systematic survey was conducted over 4 Primary schools using the LAMP. Rich picture data was accessed from teacher questionnaires and focus groups involving participants from the schools in the study. The repeated measures design provided information on what teachers had learned in the period of reflection between the screenings. The use of a mixed methods repeated measures design helped me to understand what was difficult for teachers and what the teachers felt would help them. The 4 schools in the study were chosen to reflect varied social contexts in order to explore any impacts of SES on the results. Analysis of data: In a repeated measures design, a LAMP screen was completed for every child across the 4 schools by their teachers in February and then June in one school year. Results of screening were analysed and compared on a range of variables using SPSS. Questionnaires were used to collect teacher perceptions before and after using the LAMP screen. Focus groups were held in the schools at the end of the study to add more information on how helpful teachers felt the process had been in raising their awareness, confidence, and skills in the identification of SLCN. Findings: The main trend observed was a decrease in levels of teacher concern related to children’s speech and language needs from the first to second screening survey. Differences were found at a statistically significant level on a range of variables. The expected differences between high and low socio-economic status (SES) schools were not found. Teachers reported increases in their awareness, confidence, and skill in identifying children’s speech language and communication concerns by the end of the study. Some changes to classroom practice were reported. Conclusions: I propose that use of the LAMP screen increased teacher awareness of the nature of language difficulty and that this heightened awareness was a key variable in the observed changes to language concern scores. The LAMP screening process was seen by schools’ staff to have had a positive effect on teacher’s skills and to be relatively easily assimilated into the school system. However some participants identified a number of challenges relating to time constraints and maintaining the use of LAMP as high profile in the context of competing time demands in their schools. It is suggested that EP services would be in a position to support schools to implement and embed the LAMP screening model as part of their Service provision. It is also proposed that economic deprivation or disadvantage did not appear to be the only important factor to consider when making funding decisions intended to support children’s linguistic competency in schools.

In 1994, Tennessee, the third largest tobacco-producing state in the U.S., preempted tobacco regulation. However, in 2005, higher educational institutions were exempted from this preemption and the 2007 Non-Smoker Protection Act required educational facilities to create smoke-free environment. To this date, while all higher educational institutions have some sort of smoke-free policy, East Tennessee State University is the only public institution with a tobacco-free policy. We investigated attitudes and behaviors of the university personnel, the most stable segment of the population, toward the policy and compliance with it using an internet-based survey. All employees (2,318) were invited to participate in a survey; 58% responded. Bivariate analyses found 79% of the respondents favored the policy. Multiple variable logistic regression analyses found support for the policy was higher among females [OR = 3.14; 95% CI (1.68, 5.86)], administrators/professionals [OR = 3.47; 95% CI (1.78, 6.74)], faculty [OR = 2.69; 95% CI (1.31, 5.53)] and those affiliated with the College of Medicine [OR = 4.14; 95% CI (1.45, 7.85)]. While only 67 employees (5.6% of sample) reported they have not complied with the policy, around 80.8% reported observing someone engaged in non-compliance. The high level of support for the policy suggests it should be promoted throughout the higher education system and nationwide. At the same time, in preemptive states, higher educational institutions should be targeted as venues for strong tobacco-free policies. The gap in compliance, however, implies in tobacco-friendly environments, a tobacco-free campus policy with no reporting and enforcement mechanisms could lead to high levels of non-compliance.