Predictors of Swimming Ability among Children and Adolescents in the United States

Swimming is an important source of physical activity and a life skill to prevent drowning. However, little research has been conducted to understand predictors of swimming ability. The purpose of this study was to understand factors that predict swimming ability among children and adolescents in the United States (US). This was a cross-sectional survey conducted between February and April of 2017 across five geographically diverse cities. Participants were accessed through the Young Christian Men’s Association (YMCA) and included parents of children aged 4–11 years old and adolescents aged 12–17 years old. Independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. Several factors were significant (p ≤ 0.05) predictors of swimming ability and explained 53% of the variance in swimming ability. Variables that were positively associated with swimming ability included: ability of parent(s) to swim, child/adolescent age, a best friend who enjoys swimming, water-safety knowledge, pool open all year, and encouragement to swim from parent(s). Variables that were negatively associated with swimming ability included: fear of drowning, being African American, and being female. Interventions and programs to improve the swimming ability of children and adolescents could be developed with these predictors in mind

Mindfulness meditation and improvement in depressive symptoms among Spanish- and English speaking adults: A randomized, controlled, comparative efficacy trial.

ObjectiveLatino immigrants experience acculturative stress and increased depression risk. Mindfulness meditation improves depressive symptoms, yet the vast majority of research has focused on English speaking populations.MethodsIn this randomized clinical trial with 2 parallel treatment groups, adults with moderate levels of perceived stress (n = 76) were recruited from the Los Angeles community from October 2015 to March 2016, stratified into Spanish- (n = 36) and English speaking (n = 40) language groups, and randomized for 6 weeks of treatment with standardized mindful awareness practices (MAPs) or health education (HE). Main outcome measure was depressive symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory.ResultsUsing an intent-to-treat analysis, the primary outcome, depressive symptoms as indexed by the Beck Depression Inventory, showed greater improvement in MAPs vs. HE, with a between-group post-intervention mean difference of -2.2 (95% CI -4.4 - -0.07) and effect size of 0.28; similar effect sizes were found in the the Spanish- (0.29) and English speaking (0.30) groups. MAPs showed significant improvement relative to HE on secondary outcome of mindfulness with between group difference of 10.7 (95% CI4.5-16.9), but not perceived stress.ConclusionThe comparable efficacy of Spanish and English formats of mindfulness meditation in improving depressive symptoms suggests that this community based intervention may mitigate depression risk in Latino adults who are experiencing social adversity.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03545074

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School closures in Ontario: A case of conflicting values?

Responding to financial pressures and declining school enrolments, the Ontario government in 2006 developed a new policy on school-closures establishing specific criteria to determine the value of a school to a community and requiring every school board to involve the local community in any school-closure decision. Despite these provisions, the implementation of this policy at the local level created anger and active resistance from community members. Focussing on two school-closures within an Ontario school board, using ethnographic methods, this study explores how one board implemented the provincial-policy, specifically the impact this had on those directly affected. Informed by neoliberalism-communitarianism debates, this critical policy-in-practice analysis of school-closures provides a detailed case study of policy development-implementation. By examining how school closure policies are actually implemented - how these policies affect the people and communities involved - this study contributes a new dimension to the literature which, to date, has focussed on providing advice on how to ease the school-closure process. My analysis centres on the interplay between public-policy and community, particularly how the values of key institutional decision-makers shape the agenda and its delivery, and what values shape the responses of local community. I demonstrate how the dominant policy paradigm, based on adherence to neo-liberal economics and new-managerialism adopted by school boards, underlines the conflict between institutional imperatives and community wishes. The research reveals a deep institutional-community dichotomy, where the social purposes of the local school as defined by the community are in constant tension with the school board’s economic-fiscal policy purposes

Measuring success in global health diplomacy: lessons from marketing food to children in India.

Global health diplomacy (GHD) focuses on international negotiation; principally between nation states, but increasingly non-state actors However, agreements made at the global level have to be enacted at the national, and in some cases the sub-national level. This presents two related problems: (1) how can success be measured in global health diplomacy and (2) at what point should success be evaluated? This commentary highlights these issues through examining the relationship between India and the WHO Set of Recommendations on the Marketing of Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages to Children, endorsed by Resolution WHA63.14 at the 63rd World Health Assembly in 2010

Social enterprise and the individual: an examination of a work-integration social enterprise (WISE) and its impact upon unemployed university graduate’s self-efficacy and attitudes to enterprise

Over the last two decades the failure of traditional work-integration measures to significantly reduce unemployment has led to a rise in the number of WISEs. Borzaga and Loss (2006) reported that WISE interventions had a beneficial impact upon the personal, social and employment skills of those individuals that they engaged. However, such research has so far only measured vaguely defined personal characteristics and more detailed analysis of the individual benefits of WISE interventions are required (Aiken, 2007). Prior psychological research has demonstrated that individuals with elevated levels of self-efficacy will accomplish higher educational achievements and have improved career prospects (Bandura 1977, 1997; Lent et al., 1991). Additionally, Delmar & Davidson (2000) report that self-efficacy has been shown by previous research to be an important component in self-employment as a career choice and thus as an indicator of a positive attitude to enterprise (ATE). This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study that examined a WISE in Northamptonshire cooperating with a local university in order to re-integrate unemployed graduates into the labour-market. The intervention combined studying a Masters level business module and engaging in a work placement, which together were designed to raise participant self-efficacy and ATE. Results reveal the impact of the intervention on participant levels of self-efficacy and ATE. The authors propose that robust and rigorous analysis of the potential positive impacts of WISE interventions utilising relevant academic instruments is important in order to demonstrate the benefits of WISE interventions to policy-maker