Multiple Dimensions of Family Involvement and Their Relations to Behavioral and Learning Competencies for Urban, Low-Income Children

Relations between multiple dimensions of family involvement in early childhood education and classroom outcomes were examined. Participants included 144 urban, Head Start children. Parental report of family involvement was gathered in late fall using a multidimensional assessment. Relations between family involvement dimensions and end of the year outcomes of approaches to learning, conduct problems, and receptive vocabulary were investigated. Results revealed that Home-Based family involvement emerged as the strongest predictor of child outcomes. This dimension associated significantly with children\u27s motivation to learn, attention, task persistence, receptive vocabulary skills, and low conduct problems. The School-Based Involvement dimension was significantly related to low conduct problems in the classroom when combined with the influence of Home- Based Involvement. The School-Based Involvement and Home-School Conferencing dimensions did not predict later child outcomes when considered simultaneously with Home-Based Involvement

Employing community data to investigate social and structural dimensions of urban neighborhoods: An early childhood education example

The present study sought to define neighborhood context by examining relationships among data from city-level administrative databases at the level of the census block group. The present neighborhood investigation included 1,801 block groups comprising a large, northeastern metropolitan area. Common factor analyses and multistage, hierarchical cluster analyses yielded two dimensions (i.e., Social Stress, Structural Danger) and two typologies (i.e., Racial Composition, Property Structure Composition) of neighborhood context. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses revealed small but statistically significant associations between neighborhood variables and academic outcomes for public school kindergarten children

Investigation of Dimensions of Social-Emotional Classroom Behavior and School Readiness for Low-Income Urban Preschool Children

The present study identified higher-order relationships among teacher assessments of approaches to learning and emotional and behavioral adjustment constructs for urban, low-income preschool children. It examined the unique contribution of these dimensions to cognitive and social competencies and risk of poor academic outcomes. Analyses of a large, representative sample of urban Head Start children revealed two distinct and reliable, higher-order dimensions of classroom adjustment behavior: Regulated and Academically Disengaged Behavior. Both of the dimensions contributed unique variance to the prediction of early mathematics ability and general classroom competencies prior to kindergarten entry, controlling for child demographics. Each dimension also contributed independently to the prediction of academic risk, controlling for child demographics. Implications for practice and policy were discussed

Causes of Shoulder Pain in Women with Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema: A Pilot Study

∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2011 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licens

A qualitative national focus group study of the experience of living with lymphoedema and accessing local multiprofessional lymphoedema clinics

Aim. The aim of this study was to explore people’s experiences of living withlymphoedema and to assess the impact of access to local lymphoedema clinics ontheir condition and thus their lives.Background. A chronic condition caused by reduced lymphatic function,lymphoedema leads to swelling, pain and mobility problems and can adverselyaffect quality-of-life. It is of international concern as its prevalence is rising. Yetlymphoedema awareness is limited, diagnostic delay common and access tospecialist treatment restricted. The concept of local lymphoedema clinics isgaining support and in 2011 the All Wales Lymphoedema Service was founded.However, empirical investigation of local lymphoedema services remains limited.Design. A qualitative exploratory study consisting of focus group interviews inevery Welsh lymphoedema clinic (n=8).Methods. A convenience sample of adults living with lymphoedema in Wales wasrecruited. Data were collected in digitally recorded focus groups during July andAugust 2013. Interviews were fully transcribed and analysed using a qualitativecontent approach.Findings. Fifty-nine people participated in eight focus groups. Analysis revealedthree themes: Living with lymphoedema is a battle; delays in obtaining a correctdiagnosis and the positive impact of lymphoedema clinics on participants’ lives.Locally accessible clinics made meaningful differences to peoples’ lymphoedema,engendered positive outcomes and improved engagement with and adherence tolymphoedema self-management.Conclusions. Local specialist lymphoedema clinics can make a positive difference.They may be cost-effective and further investigation, including economicevaluation is necessary

Preschool competency in context: An investigation of the unique contribution of child competencies to early academic success

The present study combined developmental and ecological considerations within a resilience framework to examine the unique contribution of children\u27s multiple preschool classroom competencies to an indicator of early academic success. Participants in this study were 195 Head Start children recruited from 32 classrooms representative of a large, urban school district Head Start program. Participant children were between the ages of 4 ½ and 6 years old, and all were expected to transition to kindergarten the following fall. Teacher observations, teacher behavioral ratings, teacher assistant behavioral ratings, and independent assessments were conducted in the spring with the 195 Head Start children. Contextual information regarding children\u27s preschool classroom quality and neighborhood characteristics were obtained from administrative databases at the school district and through the Cartographic Modeling Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. In this study, two major categories of analyses were employed. Dimensional, or variable-centered analyses were utilized: (1) to ascertain distinct and reliable dimensions of classroom competency for low-income, preschool children, and (2) to determine the unique contribution of these evidence-based classroom competency dimensions to children\u27s early academic success, controlling for child and context characteristics. Typological, or person-centered analyses were then employed to determine the nature of child competency profiles as well as their differential relation to the early academic success indicator. Results from dimensional analyses revealed three reliable and distinct classroom competency dimensions: General Classroom Competencies, Specific Approaches to Learning, and Interpersonal Classroom Behavior Problems. Hierarchical setwise regression analyses revealed that two of the competency dimensions were uniquely associated with children\u27s early academic success, controlling for child and context factors. The Specific Approaches to Learning dimension accounted uniquely for 11% of the variance in the indicator, whereas the General Classroom Competencies dimension accounted for 8% of the variance. Typological, person-centered analyses with these three evidence-based competency dimensions produced seven distinct child competency profiles. Further results revealed that distinctive patterns of classroom competence related differentially to the indicator of early academic success. Implications of these findings for early childhood practice, policy, and future research are discussed