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At least 919 records · Page 51Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Reflections on two decades of research on teen sexual behavior and pregnancy.

During the past 20 years, both researchers and program developers made great progress in their efforts to reduce adolescent unprotected sex and prevent teen pregnancy. Research studies are now more likely to employ experimental designs with random assignments, to have large sample sizes with adequate statistical power, to measure actual sexual and contraceptive behaviors, to measure longer term effects, to employ proper statistical methods, and to report results in an unbiased manner. As a result of this body of research, large advances have occurred in our understanding of: 1) the incidence of teen pregnancy, and its consequences; 2) the effects of improving adolescent knowledge, increasing access to contraception, and improving parent/child communication; and 3) the characteristics of effective programs. The on-going evaluation of sex and HIV education programs coupled with creativity and perseverance on the part of program developers led to two groups of effective programs--sex and HIV education programs that reduce sexual risk-taking behavior, and youth development programs that reduce teen-age pregnancy and childbearing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Teenage pregnancy prevention programs.

Teen pregnancy is a multifaceted problem closely connected to economic, education, social, cultural, and political factors. Adolescents in the United States have the highest pregnancy rates in the Western world. Teen parenthood is associated with discontinued or delayed education, reduced employment opportunities, low wages, unstable marriages, and prolonged welfare dependency. Prevention of teen pregnancy has become an important national agenda. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of teen pregnancy prevention programs and strategies and to highlight some of the most promising interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

An electronic study guide for problem-based learning.

This paper describes the development and structure of an Electronic Study Guide for Oncology (LETSGO) for undergraduate medical students. LETSGO is aimed at clinical students learning about cancer. The subject of the guide is breast cancer and learning objectives cover structure and function, behavioural science, public health and epidemiology and professional and personal values. LETSGO is designed to follow the steps used in problem-based learning. The student is encouraged to carry out individual brainstorming around cases with the issues identified acting as the first step in an educational audit loop. Clear definition of prior knowledge is available by way of interactive features, and hyper-text links to core text and diagrams (including microscopic sections) precede definition of both broad aims and objectives for the module and specific objectives for assessment purposes. Core knowledge is available via hyper-text links. Assessment has three components: open ended questions asking for free text responses linking to 'model' answers; extended matching items linking to 'model' answers and providing peer-referenced feedback as a bar-chart distribution, and an educational audit loop referring back to the original issues identified at the beginning of the package in brainstorming. Clear mapping throughout the guide is a major feature and the student's progress is clearly displayed at each stage of the guide. The program provides dynamic access to the student's existing knowledge base and stimulates new learning based on the student's own learning needs.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Genomes to Life "Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems": a research program for identification and characterization of protein complexes.

Goal 1 of Department of Energy's Genomes to Life (GTL) program seeks to identify and characterize the complete set of protein complexes within a cell. Goal 1 forms the foundation necessary to accomplish the other objectives of the GTL program, which focus on gene regulatory networks and molecular level characterization of interactions in microbial communities. Together this information would allow cells and their components to be understood in sufficient detail to predict, test and understand the responses of a biological system to its environment. The Center for Molecular and Cellular Systems has been established to identify and characterize protein complexes using high through-put analytical technologies.A dynamic research program is being developed that supports the goals of the Center by focusing on the development new capabilities for sample preparation and complex separations, molecular level identification of the protein complexes by mass spectrometry, characterization of the complexes in living cells by imaging techniques, and bioinformatics and computational tools for the collection and interpretation of data and formation of databases and tools to allow the data to be shared by the biological community.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

School sexuality education and adolescent risk-taking behavior.

School sexuality education programs have been studied as a means to prevent sexual behavior that puts adolescents at risk for incurring an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. This review examines and critiques research that measures effects of school sexuality education programs on the sexual risk-taking behavior of adolescents. First, methodological problems common in the literature are discussed. Second, studies measuring effects of school sexuality education programs are examined. Finally, suggestions for future research are made.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Designing interventions to prevent HIV-1 infection by promoting use of condoms and spermicides among intravenous drug abusers and their sexual partners.

This paper summarizes the results of a 2-day workshop to identify the most effective educational strategies to promote use of condoms and spermicides for preventing heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 virus from intravenous drug abusers (IVDA) to their steady, nonintravenous drug abusing (NIVDA) sexual partners. Representatives from health departments, drug abuse treatment centers, academic institutions, service organizations, and the community discussed issues relating to population characteristics, educational strategies and recruitment techniques. A consensus document that identifies the most effective recruitment and intervention strategies was developed. Recruitment issues include locations, recruitment targets, anticipated difficulties, and ethical considerations. The majority of workshop participants agreed that an intervention should target the couple (both IVDA and NIVDA). Intervention concerns encompass obtaining trust, maintaining participation, and identifying guidelines to maximize program impact.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1996

Promotion of breast feeding in the community: impact of health education programme in rural communities in Nigeria.

Breast feeding has been recognized as a child survival strategy, while breast feeding programmes have been increasingly implemented in many communities. This study assesses the effectiveness of a breast feeding education programme launched through the primary health care programme in the rural communities of Nigeria. Late trimester pregnant women were enrolled into the study and given a questionnaire on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about breast feeding. Women in the study group (n = 126) received breast feeding counselling before and after delivery, while those in control group (n = 130) did not receive any counselling. Both groups were monitored after delivery and followed with the KAP questionnaire. The results of the study showed marked improvements in the intervention group for colostrum feeding (p = 0.0000). Moreover, 31.6% of the mothers in the intervention group practised timely initiation of breast feeding compared to 5.6% of the controls, and the prevalence of exclusive breast feeding at 4 months was 39.8% in the intervention group compared to 13.9% for the controls. Multivariate analysis showed that the intervention was a powerful and the only significant predictor of the increase in breast feeding behaviours (p = 0.0000), and that an early initiation of breast feeding is a strong predictor of exclusive breast feeding at 4 months of age. It is concluded that breast feeding promotion in rural communities is feasible and can lead to behavioural changes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Adapting EcoCyc for use on the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web (WWW) offers the potential to deliver specialized information to an audience of unprecedented size. Along with this exciting new opportunity comes a challenge for software developers: instead of rewriting our software applications to operate over the WWW, how can we maximize software reuse by retrofitting existing applications? We have developed a Web server tool, written in Common Lisp, that allows existing graphical user interface applications written using the Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM) to hook easily into the WWW. This tool-CWEST (CLIM-WEb Server Tool, pronounced "quest")-was developed to operate with EcoCyc, an electronic encyclopedia of the genes and metabolism of the bacterium E. coli. EcoCyc consists of a database of objects relevant to E. coli biochemistry and a user interface, implemented in CLIM, that runs on the X-window system and generates graphical displays appropriate to biological objects. Each query to the EcoCyc WWW server is treated as a command to the EcoCyc program, which dynamically generates an appropriate CLIM drawing. CWEST translates that drawing, which can be a mixture of text and graphics, into the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and/or the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), which are returned to the client. Sensitive regions embedded in the CLIM drawing are converted to hyperlinks with Universal Resource Locators (URLs) that generate further EcoCyc queries. This tight coupling of CLIM output with Web output makes CLIM a powerful high-level programming tool for Web applications. The flexibility of Common Lisp and CLIM made implementation of the server tool surprisingly easy, requiring few changes to the existing EcoCyc program. The results can be seen at URL http: @www.ai.sri.com/ecocyc/browser.html. We have made CWEST available to the CLIM community at large, with the hope that it will spur other software developers to make their CLIM applications available over the WWW.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed1994

Recent European trends in disability and related programs.

In most countries and especially in industrialized societies, social insurance disability programs and beneficiaries are often affected by external factors that can exert a profound impact over which there is little control. Among these factors are the effects that recessionary economies and aging populations can have on program financing as well as on application and award rates. Although these factors influence other social insurance programs too, this article particularly examines the impact on disability benefits and other related programs, such as health care and rehabilitation, in 5 European countries--France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom--with information on the United States provided for comparative purposes.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The effect of a culture-specific education program to promote breastfeeding among Vietnamese women in Sydney.

The rate of breastfeeding among immigrant Vietnamese women in Western countries is low compared to those in Vietnam. To counteract this trend, a language and culture specific education program was developed. An experimental design was used to test the effectiveness of this program. The sample consisted of 182 prenatal Vietnamese women. Data collection included questionnaires and interviews. Results suggested that the education program had significant effects on knowledge, attitudes, planned and actual behaviour towards breastfeeding. However, the effect did not sustain until 6 months postpartum. Implications for nursing practice and further research are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Teen pregnancy prevention: do any programs work?

This paper begins with a review of the problem of teen pregnancy in the United States. Domestic trends are compared with those of other developed countries. Antecedents of the problem are discussed. New developments in addressing the problem are then described, including the following: (a) a renewed emphasis on abstinence on the one hand; (b) a move toward a more positive view of teen sexuality on the other; (c) the development of new prevention initiatives such as STD/HIV/AIDS prevention programs, community-wide teen pregnancy prevention collaboratives, broad-based youth development programs, and state and local government initiatives; and (d) the lauching of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. An analysis of the different ways in which the problem can be framed and the implications for solutions of the problem follow. Examples of promising teen pregnancy and STD/HIV/AIDS prevention programs are provided. The paper ends with a recommendation for an eclectic approach to framing the problem and possible solutions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Motivation and fertility control behaviour in Pakistan.

Using data from the Population, Labor Force, and Migration (PLM) Survey of 1979-80, this paper examines the component of potential motivation for fertility limitation among Pakistani married women and then determines what factor are important in explaining the contraceptive use differentials among the potentially motivated subgroup of women. The analysis is conducted using logit regression models. The findings show that, among women wanting no additional children, a substantial proportion is reluctant to adopt fertility control behavior, confirming the existence of latent demand for contraception in all strata. A majority of those women report no exposure to the program or no contact with a family planning worker, and a large majority of those who have had exposure or have been contacted do not report contraceptive use, indicating a considerable shortfall of the program. Among the urban women wanting no more children, the important factors affecting contracepting use positively are education (both primary and secondary), household income, living in a nuclear family, exposure to the program, and contact with a family planning worker, for rural women, only nuclear family living and the program factors are significant in promoting contraceptive use. The suggestions likely to increase contraceptive prevalence are, first, to reach those women who have the potential motivation for contraception, and, second, to increase the quality and sources of the motivation efforts of the program to crystallize the latent demand among those who need it.

Age Factors↗