Grandmothers As Child Caregivers: A Unique Child Care Arrangement

This paper draws attention to grandmothers who provide child care and the parents and children they serve, by sharing the results of a study of a group of employed mothers from rural, low-income families who used grandmother care on a regular basis. Although their experiences cannot represent those of all mothers who use grandmother care, they are valuable in understanding the perspective of many women with few feasible options who depend on this type of care

Muscle Activity Comparisons In Dental Hygiene Students When Using Different Fulcrums While Scaling

The high incidence rate of cumulative trauma disorders in dental hygienists attests to the musculoskeletal problems experienced by dental hygienists. Research is ongoing to investigate ergonomic practices that will minimize muscle trauma when providing scaling and root debridement. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in the activity of four forearm muscles, (extensor carpi radialis longus, flexor carpi ulnaris, biceps brachii and pronator teres) when using five different finger fulcrums while scaling in dental hygiene students. A convenience sample of 29 consenting senior dental hygiene students participated in the study. Using a 4 x 5 counterbalanced research design, participants used a Gracey 11/12 curet to scale artificial calculus from each permanent first molar tooth on a typodont. While scaling, each participant had sEMG sensors attached to each muscle under investigation to measure muscle activity via electromyography. Participants scaled using one of 5 finger fulcrums (opposite arch, standard intra-oral, basic extra-oral, cross arch and finger on finger) on 5 different typodonts resulting in a total of 20 sEMG readings per participant. The highest amount of muscle activity was observed in the pronator teres (X=28.73) and the least in the biceps brachii (X=13.39). Data analysis with two-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference only in the activity of the biceps brachii muscle when a change in fulcrum occurred. (p=0.0002). Using an average of all four muscles ANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences when comparing scaling with different fulcrums and the amount of muscle activity generated (p=0.0776) In this clinical study that measured the activity of four forearm muscles when scaling, only the biceps brachii was affected by a change in fulcrumming technique. Results suggest that similar muscle activity is produced when scaling regardless of the muscles measured and the type of fulcrum used. More research is needed to clarify the role of fulcrums and individual muscle activity in the ergonomic practice of dental hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

From the Forest to the River: Citizens\u27 Views of Stakeholder Engagement

Since the early 1990s collaboration and consensus processes have become associated with success in the environmental policy and natural resource policy arenas. Interest in collaboration and consensus processes have emerged, in part, out of a frustration with more conventional efforts used to involve stakeholders, to work though conflicts, and to make decisions in the environmental and natural resource policy arenas. Collaboration and consensus processes, when designed well and applied appropriately, provide opportunities for meaningful stakeholder engagement. This essay features aspects of two government-led or agency-based (Koontz et al. 2004; Moore and Koontz 2003) planning efforts that consider collaboration and citizens/stakeholder engagement. Both projects, a forest management plan revision on the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, and a regional sediment management planning effort at the mouth of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, have considered a Collaborative Learning (CL) approach (Daniels and Walker 2001) for stakeholder involvement. As part of these CL applications, citizens/stakeholders have been asked for their views of the kind of participation processes they value and how they prefer to be involved. This essay presents a summary of citizens\u27 ideas. In doing so, it addresses the question: How do stakeholders want to be engaged in agency-led planning efforts? Data reveal that stakeholders prefer active engagement, access to information and events, and clearly defined decision space. Prior to presenting the project data germane to this question, the paper highlights the trinity of voice and Collaborative Learning

Dental Hygienists\u27 Perspectives on Four Periodontal Instrument Handle Designs

Problem: Developing new instrument designs to address the ergonomics of instrumentation and to decrease repetitive strain injuries in the dental hygienist is an ongoing area of development. Changing the weight and diameter of instrument handles has been suggested to reduce risk for trauma in the practitioner but minimal research has been conducted to determine design preferences of practicing dental hygienists. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess dental hygienists opinions on the weight, diameter, balance and maneuverability of four different instrument handles. Methodology: After IRB approval, a convenience sample of 27 practicing dental hygienists from Virginia participated in the study. Four typodonts were set up for each participant with a different instrument randomly assigned for use on each. Subjects scaled first molars coated with artificial calculus using a Columbia 13/14 curet with four commercially available handle designs that varied in weight and diameter: A) 16 grams and 12.7 mm diameter; B) 23 grams and 11.1 mm diameter; C) 21 grams and 7.9 mm diameter and D) 18 grams, and 6.35 mm diameter. Following scaling participants used a 6 item survey to rate their comfort level on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (very comfortable) to 5 (uncomfortable) with regard to balance, weight, diameter, maneuverability and overall preference. A Friedman test determined significant differences between participants\u27 perceptions. A Wilcoxan signed rank test followed if differences were found. Results: Handle designs had significant effects on dental hygienists\u27 instrument preferences while performing simulated scaling. Results revealed significant differences for participants\u27 preferences concerning diameter (x2(3)=50.584, p=0.000), weight (x2(3)=24.650, p=0.000), balance (x2(3)=69.504, p=0.000) and maneuverability (x2(3)=67.728, p=0.000). When comparing comfort based on diameter grip, results reveal instrument D was least comfortable compared to A, B and C (p=0.000, p=0.000, p=0.000). Instrument A was most comfortable in weight when compared to all other instruments (p=0.008, p=0.000, p=0.000). In regards to balance significant differences were found between instrument A when compared to both C and D (p=0.000, p=0.000), with instrument A having the highest mean score (x=4.7). Finally, instrument A was rated most comfortable for maneuverability (p=0.003, p=0.000, p=0.000). Sixty-three percent of participants preferred instrument A, 26% instrument B, 11% instrument C and none preferred D. Conclusion: When performing simulated scaling, results indicate most participants preferred using a lighter weight, larger diameter instrument handle. Diameter affected preference more than weight. The smallest diameter handle was always ranked the lowest with regards to balance, weight, diameter and maneuverability although it was not the heaviest

Halting indigenous biodiversity decline: ambiguity, equity, and outcomes in RMA assessment of significance

In New Zealand, assessment of ‘significance’ is undertaken to give effect to a legal requirement for local authorities to provide for protection of significant sites under the Resource Management Act (1991). The ambiguity of the statute enables different interests to define significance according to their goals: vested interests (developers), local authorities, and non-vested interests in pursuit of protection of environmental public goods may advance different definitions. We examine two sets of criteria used for assessment of significance for biological diversity under the Act. Criteria adapted from the 1980s Protected Natural Areas Programme are inadequate to achieve the maintenance of biological diversity if ranking is used to identify only highest priority sites. Norton and Roper-Lindsay (2004) propose a narrow definition of significance and criteria that identify only a few high-quality sites as significant. Both sets are likely to serve the interests of developers and local authorities, but place the penalty of uncertainty on non-vested interests seeking to maintain biological diversity, and are likely to exacerbate the decline of biological diversity and the loss of landscape-scale processes required for its persistence. When adopting criteria for assessment of significance, we suggest local authorities should consider whose interests are served by different criteria sets, and who will bear the penalty of uncertainty regarding biological diversity outcomes. They should also ask whether significance criteria are adequate, and sufficiently robust to the uncertainty inherent in the assessment of natural values, to halt the decline of indigenous biological diversity

Effects of 5 Different Finger Rest Positions on Arm Muscle Activity During Scaling by Dental Hygiene Students

Purpose. This study was conducted to determine the effects of 5 different finger rest positions: opposite arch, standard intraoral, basic extraoral, cross arch, and finger on finger on the muscle activity of 4 forearm muscles (extensor carpi radialis longus, flexor carpi ulnaris, biceps brachii, and pronator teres) during a simulated periodontal scaling experience. Methods. A convenience sample of 32 consenting senior dental hygiene students who met inclusion criteria participated. Using a 4 x 5 counter-balanced research design, each participant used a Gracey 11/12 curet to scale one cc of artificial calculus from first permanent molar typodont teeth (#3,14,19,30). Five different typodonts were set up for each participant with fulcrums randomly assigned for use on each typodont. While scaling, the participant’s muscle activity was measured by surface electromyography. Two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to determine if significant differences existed in the amount of muscle activity generated with each fulcrum. Results. Results revealed no statistically significant interaction effect between area of the mouth scaled, muscle activity, and fulcrum used. Similar muscle activity was produced throughout the mouth regardless of the fulcrum used. The upper right quadrant produced the most muscle activity (p= 0.0101) and the lower left quadrant produced the least (p=\u3c .0001). When comparing the overall muscle activity generated with each fulcrum, only the cross arch fulcrum when compared to the opposite fulcrum produced statistically significant results (p=0.0110). Conclusions. Based on the results, similar muscle activity is produced when using any of the 5 fulcrums in each quadrant of the mouth. Clinicians appear to experience minimal ergonomic advantage in terms of fulcrums used and area of the mouth scaled during a simulated scaling experience