Adolescent mothers in an intervention study a qualitative analysis of variables relating to their teaching interactions with their infants

The intent of this thesis was to study, in depth, the experiences of four adolescent mothers who underwent a home intervention program. I studied two mothers who did well with teaching their 12-month old children during play, and two mothers who did not do as well. All four mothers received weekly intervention from the time of their child\u27s birth through 12-months of age. I studied the following variables: 1) how much time the home visitors spent on selected child development and parenting topics; 2) the mother\u27s perceived social support; 3) how many community resources the mother used; and 4) if the infant was healthy and within normal developmental range. All of the mothers struggled in their lives, yet varied in the quality and time of most of the variables. It was striking how different each one was from the other. The implications of the study are important for child development specialists who can use the qualitative data within this document to better understand first time adolescent mothers in order to improve the outcomes of the home visitation services that they provide to mothers and infants. After spending time studying these four adolescent mothers, I would recommend that adolescent women not get pregnant. Adolescence is a time that is meant for experiences and self-discovery and should be spent free from a dependent child who critically needs them. Future research and funding should be spent on preventing adolescent pregnancy and ensuring that flexible curriculum be utilized by the home visitors in order to meet the varying needs of adolescent mothers

Graphic Medicine as Physician Tool to Understand Their Patient’s Experience of a Medical Condition

BackgroundEngaging patients in their healthcare, listening to their stories, and improving the quality of their experience also depends on physicians understanding their patient’s experiences of a medical condition.Physicians have little time to converse with patients about this in the visit. Graphic Medicine – Comics – pictures and words together in sequence to tell a story – is a way to gain insight into a patient’s experience of what it’s like. MethodsA small, mixed-method study to test the effect on physicians of reading a comic book, “My Degeneration: Parkinson’s Disease.” The 13 participants, including 11 physician-editors (representing 10 disciplines), answered a 7-question pre-survey before receiving and reading the book, and a 10-question post survey. Also, the 12 participants present at the recent Permanente Journal Editorial meeting commented on their experience of reading the book, its attributes, and their recommendations for the comic book as an educational tool for residents and patients. ResultsGreatest Improvements were: “know patients’ wants,” (54%), “know treatments” (37%), “know patients’ needs” (34%) and “know patients’ experience” (30%). 82% recommended the comic book for resident education, and 73% for patients. Comments included: “My patients say:‘Doc, you guys really need to understand what’s going on for me. It’s really hard for me.’” “The things that people do to deal with their condition are remarkable!” “For a patient to have a conversation with his disease, as in the book, is a wonderful idea. “Combining pictures with words has triple the educational value for millennial residents who demand high yield.”

Effect of Cure Protocol on Network Formation and Properties of Epoxy-Diamine Thermosets

The understanding of thermoset cure has, traditionally, been limited to the analysis of a single degree of cure value obtained via techniques such as dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC). These analyses limit the scope of understanding of network development during cure. The continued development of rapid cure matrix chemistries necessitates the advancement of analytical techniques capable of quantifying how thermal cure profiles influence crosslinked network architectures throughout cure. This dissertation investigates and elucidates the mechanisms of polymer network growth through glassy epoxy/diamine thermoset to improve the way network growth is tracked and inform the role of cure protocol on network formation. The primary tool used to study the effect of cure protocol on network development was Real-Time Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy in the near infrared wavelength region (RT-NIR). Through the course of this work great strides were made in the considerations needed to accurately monitor functional group conversion in RT-NIR when using variable temperatures. A temperature dependence on the absorbance of NIR overtones was identified and a methodology to correct for the effect was developed. The improved RT-NIR analytical technique was applied to study how a thermal ramp rate affects the network formation pathway of high glass transition temperature (Tg), glassy thermosets during cure. It was determined that highly crosslinking networks based on the tetrafunctional epoxide tetraglycidyl-4,4\u27-diaminodiphenylmethane (TGDDM) have their pathway of network formation effected by the rate if thermal ramp to a constant cure temperature. Finally, the material properties of epoxy diamine networks cured with varied thermal ramp rate was studied. This dissertation improved upon the application of RT-NIR as a quantifiable characterization tool to accurately study the formation of epoxy/diamine networks during cure. The RT-NIR technique was then applied to study a cure protocol effect on the pathway of network formation during cure of epoxy/diamine thermosets

Analysis of factors affecting mode choice for the journey to work trip case study, Windsor, Ontario.

Dept. of Geography. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1983 .M576. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1983

Anticipatory Breach and the Unilateral Contract: A Decade of the Status Quo

The law on anticipatory breach has been called “difficult” for students and referred to as “pure joy to teachers intent upon persecuting their students.” With such characterizations, these writers could not resist the temptation to inspect decisions of the last decade to discover if additional nuances in the law of anticipatory breach have been revealed. Such is the objective of this paper. It is an inquiry into case decisions of the past decade to determine whether what might be called an “exception to the exception” to the rule governing anticipatory breach has gained further support

Obesity, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Weight Loss in a Population of Adult Mexican Americans

The study of obesity has evolved into one of the most important public health issues in the United States (U.S.), particularly in Hispanic populations. Mexican Americans, the largest Hispanic ethnic subgroup in the U.S., have been significantly impacted by obesity and related cardiovascular diseases. Mexican Americans living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (the Valley) in the Texas-Mexico border are one of the most disadvantaged and hard-to-reach minority groups. Demographic factors, socioeconomic status, acculturation, and physical activity behavior have been found to be important predictors of health, although research findings are mixed when establishing predictors of obesity in this population. Furthermore, while obesity has long been linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia; information on the relationships between obesity and these CVD risk factors have been mostly from non-minority population groups. Overall, research has been mixed in establishing the association between obesity and related CVD risk factors in this population calling attention to the need for further research. Nevertheless, identifying predictors of success for weight loss in this population will be important if health disparities are to be addressed. The overall objective of the findings presented in this dissertation was to attain a more informed profile of obesity and CVD risk factors in this population. In particular, we examined predictors of obesity, measures of obesity and association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in a sample of 975 Mexican Americans participating in a health promotion program in the Valley region. Findings suggest acculturation factors to be one of the most important predictors of obesity in this population. Results also point to the need of identifying other possible risk factors for predicting CVD risk. Finally, initial body mass index is an important predictor of weight loss in this population group. Thus, indicating that this population is not only amenable to change, but that improvements in weight loss are feasible. This finding strengthens the relevance of prevention programs such as Beyond Sabor for Mexican populations at risk, in particular, food bank recipients