The purpose of the research reported here was the development of two paper-and-pencil instruments for the assessment of person-thing orientation in children. Interviews were conducted with 82 children who ranged in age from eight to 12 years. The interviews yielded two sets of descriptive statements, one set which pertained to the person domain and one set which pertained to the thing domain. The statements were rationally classified into content categories by three judges. The rational categories specified the universe of content to be sampled by the instruments and provided a quasi-empirical basis for item construction. Two parallel pools of items were written for the preliminary forms of the self-report measure. Half of these items were considered to be appropriate for grade four subjects in the interests and behaviors that were depicted, and the other half were considered to be appropriate for grade six subjects. A preliminary form which consisted of both pools was administered to a sample of grade four children. A preliminary form which consisted of the items prepared for the older group and the items from Little's (1972a) Thing Person Interest Questionnaire designed for adults was administered to a sample of grade six subjects. The itemmetric properties of the items were analyzed, and a sequential selection procedure was devised to permittthe selection of items which exhibited the best properties. These procedures resulted in two, age-related versions of the Person Thing Self Report. Both instruments are comprised of a 12-item person scale and a 14-item thing scale. The construction of items for a peer nomination measure was similarly based on the category sampling strategy. Two comparable preliminary forms were prepared and administered to samples of third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade subjects. Validity ratings from classroom teachers were also obtained. The item-analytic and selection procedures of Wiggins and Winder (1961) were followed, with modification, for the evaluation of the properties of the peer-report items. These procedures resulted in the development of the Person Thing Peer Report which is comprised of a 12-item person scale and a 14-item thing scale. The theoretical foundations for the development of specialized interests in the person domain and in the thing domain were discussed. A research program was outlined which concerned the investigation of the development of specialized interests and the relationships among these variables and the acquisition of cognitive and behavioral skills, temperament and personality variables. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A methodological investigation of maternal-infant bonding was undertaken with the purpose of developing instruments and measures for studying maternal attachment. The research was longitudinal, based upon the belief that the bond between a mother and her infant develops gradually, beginning before the infant's birth and continuing through the early postpartum period and on into infancy. Existing research on maternal behaviour, which has grown out of the three fields of developmental psychology, ethology and pediatrics, was found to be limited in scope and lacking in adequate tools for measuring naturally occurring maternal-infant interactive behaviour. The present research was an attempt to extend and improve upon existing research by making a preliminary exploration of both the wide range of influences upon the maternal-infant bond and the equally wide range of manifestations of that bond, attitudinal as well as behavioural. The implicit model used as a basis for this research was a cumulative one, in which maternal behaviour is viewed as a response not only to concurrent events but to past events as well, and present behaviour is in turn thought to influence events yet to come. The time span under study was the two-month period from the last month of pregnancy through the first month of the infant's life. Twenty-seven primiparous women were interviewed during their third trimester of pregnancy and questionnaires concerning prenatal attitudes were administered (Prenatal Questionnaire and Infant Temperament Prediction). Information about labour, delivery and the postpartum hospital stay was taken from hospital records after the birth. While in hospital, mothers filled out the Hospital Diary, in which the amount of time spent with the infant each day was recorded. At one month postpartum, questionnaires were again administered (Postpartum Questionnaire and Infant Temperament Report), and a naturalistic observation of mother-infant interactive behaviour was made in the' home (Behaviour Record). After the home visit the observer filled out a set of eighteen Maternal Care Rating Scales developed by Ainsworth. Of the seven instruments used in this study, six were developed specifically for this research. The Prenatal Questionnaire administered in the third trimester of pregnancy assessed maternal feelings toward the pregnancy, experiences in prenatal classes, support of the husband or partner, preparation for labour and delivery, child care arrangements and prediction of parent-infant attachment. The Postpartum Questionnaire, which was filled out when the infant was one month old, was concerned with labour and delivery experiences, support of husband or partner, self-confidence in caregiving ability, caregiving routines and report of parent-infant attachment. The Infant Temperament Prediction (administered in the prenatal period) was concerned with the anticipation of infant behaviour in specific situations; the Infant Temperament Report (at one month postpartum) was concerned with maternal report of actual infant behaviour in those same situations. The Behaviour Record was an observational system which employed fifteen-second time intervals; twenty-eight maternal and seven infant behaviours were recorded for one hour. These individual behaviour categories were subsumed under nine behavioural composites which were determined a priori. The Maternal Care Rating Scales served as a molar assessment of maternal attitude, emotional involvement and perception of infant capability. Data gathered using these instruments provided evidence that both change and continuity characterize the development of the maternal-infant bond. Amid a general lack of correlation in maternal attitudes between the prenatal and postpartum periods, some areas assessed showed evidence of continuity. Specifically, the prediction of parent-infant attachment in the prenatal period was found to be correlated not only with postpartum report of attachment but also with observed social-interactive; as opposed to simply caregiving, behaviour at one month postpartum. The lack of correlation between the Infant Temperament Prediction and Report provided additional support for the general evidence of change from the prenatal to the: postpartum period. Neither the information taken from hospital records, i.e., length of labour, perinatal medication, type of delivery or infant outcome, nor the time spent with the infant in hospital during the,post-partum hospital stay was found to be correlated with prenatal or postpartum attitudes or with observed maternal behaviour at one month postpartum. It was concluded that evidence has been provided to support the notion that maternal-infant bonding should be studied longitudinally in order to trace the gradual development of that bond; in addition, evidence has been provided that the mother-infant bond should be studied using assessments of both attitudes and actual, observable maternal behaviour. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Introduction: There are few studies describing colonisation with extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-PE) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) among children in subSaharan Africa. Colonisation often precedes infection and multi-drug-resistant Enterobacterales are important causes of invasive infection. Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, conducted between April and June 2017, 200 children in a tertiary academic hospital were screened by rectal swab for EBSL-PE and CRE. The resistance-conferring genes were identified using polymerase chain reaction technology. Risk factors for colonisation were also evaluated. Results: Overall, 48% (96/200) of the children were colonised with at least one ESBL-PE, 8 of these with 2 ESBLPE, and one with a CRE (0.5%, 1/200). Common colonising ESBL-PE were Klebsiella pneumoniae (62.5%, 65/104) and Escherichia coli (34.6%, 36/104). The most frequent ESBL-conferring gene was blaCTX-M in 95% (76/80) of the isolates. No resistance- conferring gene was identified in the CRE isolate (Enterobacter cloacae). Most of the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam (86.2%) and amikacin (63.9%). Similarly, 94.4% and 97.2% of the Escherichia coli isolates were susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin, respectively. Hospitalisation for more than 7 days before study enrolment was associated with ESBL-PE colonisation. Conclusion: Approximately half of hospitalised children in this study were colonised with ESBL-PE. This highlights the need for improved infection prevention and control practices to limit the dissemination of these microorganisms.

Background Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with global developmental delays (GDD) have complex health care needs that span long periods. Affected families in low resourced countries face substantial barriers in accessing care. Challenging behaviours in children with ASDs further complicates their service encounters and may result in forgone care, resulting in poor outcomes. Aim The aim of the study was to compare health service use (HSU) by preschool children with ASD and GDD attending developmental services at a tertiary hospital, and to explore the major factors impacting patterns of access. Methods A retrospective cohort study was done, where 240 children with ASD and GDD (Non -ASD) were enrolled at a ratio of 1:1. HSU was determined by a retrospective review of their medical records, in the preceding 1 year. A structured questionnaire administered sought information on socio-demographics, child characteristics, perspectives, family distress level, experiences, and level of service satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate primary study questions. Ethical approval was obtained by the University of Cape Town Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC: 397/2019). Families gave informed consent prior to enrolment. Results A total of 240 children were enrolled,116 had ASD and 124 had GDD. Their median age was 5.2 years, and male: female ratio was 2:1. Higher co-occurring syndromic diagnoses were documented in GDD vs ASD at (46/124, 37.1% versus 14/116, 9.5%); (p<0.01) as well as higher comorbid diagnoses in GDD vs ASD at (51/124, 41.0% vs 14/116, 12.1%); (p=0.0001). A higher mean total health care visits was reported in those with GDD vs ASD (13.3 versus 11.5 (p=0.02), primarily due to higher specialist visits at 4.0 (2.0-5.5) vs 2.0 (2.0-3.0) (p<0.0001). Attendance for other services were similar in both groups, including therapy 6.0 (2.0-10.0), auxiliary services xiii 0 (0-1.0), emergency visits 1.0 (1.0-2.0), and primary care visits 0 (0-1.0). Respiratory infections (91/240;37.9%) and unspecified fever (57/240; 23.8%) were the leading reasons for emergency visits in this cohort. Hospitalization was higher among children with GDD (38/124, 31%) than ASD (16/116, 14%), p=0.02. Factors associated with higher HSU included primary diagnosis of GDD (p=0.02), female (vs male, average 1.59 more annual visits, p=0.04), being younger at first diagnosis (<2 vs ≥ 2 years, 1.72 more annual visits, p= 0.02), and having a concurrent syndromic diagnosis (vs none, 2.19 more annual visits, p=0.01). On logistic regression, controlling for these confounders, parental employment emerged as the strongest residual predictive factor for increased HSU (β 1.49, 95% CI -0.02 to 3.00, p=0.05). Conclusion: Children with GDD had greater service use than those with ASD, primarily due to higher specialist visits for their higher syndromic and comorbid diagnoses. Core therapy services were underutilized despite being key interventions in both groups. Parental employment, an enabling factor, predicted greater service use. This calls for systemic reduction in access costs to optimize care.