Objective: To systematically review the feasibility and effectiveness of recent school lunch interventions in primary schools and whether they instil positive changes to childhood dietary habits and help prevent obesity. Background: Childhood obesity is a growing concern affecting 42 million children (2010) and increasing daily, and may be linked to adult obesity. Lunch contributes 24% of daily energy, making school lunch interventions monumentally important in reducing consumption of high fat and/or sugar foods, and increasing fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake. Methods: A literature search was conducted for studies with interventions in primary school environments that aimed to alter the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and unhealthy foods high in fat or sugar. Studies were only suitable if they utilized randomized controlled trial (RCT) or cluster RCT designs, and included relevant outcome measures for F&V or macronutrient consumption. Relevant studies published between January 1st 2000 and May 31st 2013 were identified through PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane Trials, and bibliographies of relevant studies. Results: Nine studies were included in this systematic review from the US or UK, with varied direct and indirect interventions to alter school lunch nutrition either through F&V or improved macronutrient content. Environmental changes to child attitudes towards F&V, such as verbal encouragement, classroom curriculums and audio-visual stimuli, were significantly effective in all 4 studies, whereas 2 studies with changes to F&V availability without involving students had mixed results. Direct reductions to fat content in school lunches produced significant results in 2 of 4 studies, with increased carbohydrate intake compensating for lower fat, resulting in non-significant total energy changes. One of 3 environmental interventions also had similar trends in macronutrient intake. Total energy change was only significant in 1 of 6 studies. Conclusion: Overall interventions for childhood obesity had moderate success, and most were unable to meet primary dietary goals set out by researchers. Ineffectiveness of interventions may be due to parental influences at home, early childhood dietary habits, disproportionately low SES in study samples, among other factors. Further research on targeting calorie intakes, parental involvement, snack food reduction, and related fields is recommended. / published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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The development of reflexive and voluntary shifts of visual attention, as well as relations between the two forms of shifting was examined in three groups of children (5-, 7-, and 9-years-old), one group of young adults (24-years-old), and two groups of senior adults (young seniors: 69-years-old, old seniors: 81-years-old). The task entailed the detection and response to the presentation of a target (black dot) in one of four possible locations in the visual field. The dependent measure was reaction time (RT). The extent to which flash cues facilitated or inhibited reflexive orienting was determined through presentation of nonpredictive abrupt onset peripheral flash cues prior to the target. Arrow facilitation and inhibition was measured by shifts of attention initiated in response to predictive central arrow cues. Relations between reflexive and voluntary shifts of attention were gauged by the degree to which flash and arrow facilitation and inhibition were observed in response to the presentation of both arrow and flash cues together in one trial. Conditions varied with regard to the validity of the location cues (accurate or inaccurate information regarding the location of the subsequent target) and the length of the interval between the cue and the target (SOA: 185 or 875 ms). All age groups demonstrated flash facilitation with the flash cue alone, demonstrating similar patterns of reflexive orienting across the lifespan. However, the three groups of children demonstrated the largest flash cue effects suggesting that they had the most difficulty ignoring the nonpredictive flash cues. With the arrow cue alone, young adults, and young and old senior adults were more efficient (faster RTs) in their execution of voluntary shifts, however, all age groups utilized the arrow cues to orient attention strategically and in doing so experienced similar patterns of arrow facilitation. When both flash and arrow cues were presented together, the 9-year-old children, young

The relationship between hopelessness and depression in a non-clinical sample of children (mean age = 10.75 years) was examined. A systematic comparison of three models of the role of hopelessness and global self-worth in childhood depression was conducted. The Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1983), the Self-Perception Profile for Students with Learning Disabilities (Renick & Harter, 1988), and the Hopelessness Scale for Children (Kazdin, French, Unis, Esveldt-Dawson, & Sherick, 1983) were administered. Results suggest that depressed children are hopeless but that hopeless children are not necessarily depressed; global self-worth and hopelessness are highly overlapping constructs; and no gender differences are present in childhood hopelessness. Results are interpreted with reference to the theoretical implications regarding the relative support of a new theory of depression and hopelessness, versus Greene's (1989) theory of the independence of hopelessness and depression as constructs, Beck's (1967) cognitive triad theory, and Haaga, Dyck, and Ernst's(1991) single dimension model of depression.

The purpose of this study was to compare two conflicting theoretical perspectives on the relationship between intelligence and sustained attention. The cognitive resources theory assumes that lower IQ subjects are required to allocate greater amounts of their limited attentional resources during information-processing tasks than higher IQ subjects. The arousal theory assumes that there is an optimal level of arousal associated with task performance, and that an increase or decrease in arousal produces impairment in performance. Additionally the arousal theory predicts that increased time on task leads to a decrement in arousal as a function of IQ levels. Signal detection theory applications were used to operationalize and compare the two theories. Specifically, the signal detection parameters of sensory acuity ( d’), the decision criterion (a), correct detections, and false alarms were used to determine subject performance across three time periods ( 2, 4, and 6 mm.) on a visual continuous performance task. Twenty-nine teacher-nominated at-risk for learning difficulties and twenty-nine normally achieving kindergarten students were adminstered the Stanford-Binet:Fourth Edition (SB:FE) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI.R), as well as the Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) Vigilance Task. The GDS is a standardized behaviour-based measure of sustained attention. The results of this study were interpreted as suggesting that ability group differences reflect attentional capacity. Two findings were important in this interpretation. First, regardless of IQ, the groups varied on the signal detection discrimination index. Second, these measures did not vary over time in either group. Thus, the arousal theory was not supported. IQ and attention intercorrelation patterns were higher for the at-risk group compared to the normally achieving group. Exploratory maximum-likelihood factor analyses indicated that intelligence plays a greater role in relation to vigilance for the at-risk for learning difficulties group than the normal achieving group.

Background: The diagnostic and clinical differentiation between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and children with pragmatic language impairments (PLI), two populations that share a similar linguistic profile, was examined in school-aged children. Charting the behavioral and cognitive profiles of these populations can serve to aide diagnostic differentiation and educational intervention. Objectives: The objectives of this study were two-fold. One, to compare scores on diagnostic measures of autism between school-age children with ASD and those with PLI Two, to investigate differences between children in these groups and typically developing children in the areas of social cognition and executive function (EF). Methods: The participants included 22 school-age children diagnosed with ASD (mean age = 10.2; 18%female), 19 children with PLI (mean age = 9.6; 11% female) and 35 typically developing (I'D) comparisons (mean age =10.5, 23% female) matched on non-verbal IQ and language age. All of the participants had fluent language and an IQ above 80. In study 1, the participants with ASD and PLI were tested on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). In study 2, the participants in all three groups were tested on the measures of three hierarchical levels of Theory of Mind (ToM), a planning measure, and a response inhibition measure. Results: There was a significant difference between diagnostic groups in the level of the severity of behaviors represented by the Communication and Reciprocal Social Interaction subdomains on both diagnostic measures. However, in the sub domain of Repetitive and Rigid Behaviors, the difference between groups was subtler and not useful as a differentiating factor. While both the children with ASD and those with PLI violated more rules on the 'planning in problem solving' task than the typically developing group, only the children in the ASD group demonstrated impaired functioning on the planning measure. Performance on the inhibition task was significantly impaired in both atypical groups compared to the typically developing group. The findings of the study suggest that children with PLI may be more vulnerable than children with ASD to developmental lags in understanding false belief but less vulnerable in planning and monitoring behavior. Conclusions: The diagnostic differentiation between ASD and PLI is complex, especially in school-age populations. Behavior symptoms may be more subdued in school-age children and thus should not be used as a tool for diagnostic differentiation. Social communication delays are generally more severe in children with ASD, with some children with PLI presenting with comparable levels of severity. Educational planning for these two populations must be informed by both group similarities (e.g., difficulty forming theories about the false beliefs and desires of others in order to predict future behavior) and group differences (e.g., planning in problem solving) in cognitive and social development. Thus, the development of individual education plans should be created within the general framework of known areas of strengths and weaknesses related to diagnostic categorization and then further tailored to childrens' personal profiles based on an assessment of skills.