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At least 1,189 records · Page 66Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Dentists' professional satisfaction with adolescent dentistry and its association with adolescent dental health behavior.

This study examines dentists' perceptions of behaviors felt to interfere with providing adequate dental care to adolescents. We analyzed gender differences, and whether the dentists' perceptions of adolescent patients were associated with their professional satisfaction. A stratified random sample of 227 graduates (males = 180, females = 47) from a Southern dental school were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing professional satisfaction. Based on Kruskall-Wallis analysis of variance tests, female dentists expressed generally higher levels of satisfaction than males with adolescent dentistry, diagnosis and treatment planning, patient education, preventive procedures, and the adolescent dentistry curricula during dental school. Male dentists felt that the male adolescents' failure to keep appointments, communication problems, seeking dental care only in emergency situations, and resentment of authority interfered more with their providing adequate dental care than did female dentists. Male dentists also felt that the female patients' menstrual period, communication problems, low tolerance of pain, seeking dental care only in emergency situations, and resentment toward authority were more significant problems than did the female dentists. Communication problems with both male and female adolescents were more strongly correlated with the dentists' satisfaction with adolescent dentistry than any other variable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Caries prevalence, oral health behavior, and attitudes in children residing in radiation-contaminated and -noncontaminated towns in Ukraine.

INTRODUCTION: Several studies investigating the oral health status of children living in Ukraine after the Chernobyl catastrophe revealed an increase of caries in children residing in radionucleotide-contaminated areas. PURPOSE: (1) To compare prevalence of dental caries in contaminated and noncontaminated towns; and (2) to determine if there is a difference between dental behaviors and attitudes of children residing in contaminated and noncontaminated areas that may have contributed to differences in caries prevalence. METHODS: Children aged 13-14 were randomly selected in two towns of approximately the same population size (33 000): Ovruch (n = 119) from a contaminated area and Mirgorod (n = 100) from a noncontaminated area. Data on behaviors and attitudes were collected via a self-administered questionnaire having six domains: (i) family background; (ii) dental anxiety; (iii) dental utilization; (iv) oral hygiene; (v) use of fluoride toothpaste; and (vi) sugar consumption. Oral examinations included information on carious lesions, restorations, missing teeth, and soft tissue abnormalities. Caries prevalence was compared using a t-test. Regression analysis was conducted to determine the independent contribution of oral hygiene behaviors and dental utilization. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in caries prevalence in the contaminated town (mean DMFT = 9.1 +/- 3.5) versus the noncontaminated town (mean DMFT = 5.7 +/- 1.4; P < 0.000). Oral hygiene practices, age, and utilization of dental services were not found to be associated with differences in DMFT score between the two communities. CONCLUSION: There was a significantly higher caries prevalence in a radiation-contaminated town compared to a noncontaminated town of Ukraine. The difference was not explained by differences in oral health knowledge, attitudes or behaviors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Gender differences in patients' attributions for myocardial infarction: implications for adaptive health behaviors.

Attributions for myocardial infarction were studied in a patient sample (N = 157). Men and women were comparable at intake on age, health status, and lifestyle factors. Attributions to diet, chi2 (1, N = 157) = 8.83, p = .003, and exercise, chi2 (1, N = 157) = 6.60, p = .01, were less common among women than men. After 3 months (n = 136), women were less likely than men to report improving their diets or increasing exercise. Initial attributions predicted subsequent reports of behavior change in relevant domains. These findings suggest that gender differences in causal attributions for myocardial infarction may contribute to subsequent differences between men and women in health-related behavior change.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1997

An ecological paradigm for a health behavior analysis of "konzo", a paralytic disease of Zaire from toxic cassava.

Konzo is an irreversible paralytic disease afflicting tens of thousands of women and children in rural Zaire and throughout sub-Sahara Africa. The disease can occur where bitter, high-yield varieties of cassava that thrive in arid soils provide the basic nutritional staple. The paraparesis is related to upper motor neuron damage stemming from the consumption of insufficiently processed toxic cassava roots (manioc) and a diet poor in the sulfur-based amino acids necessary for the body to detoxify the cyanide in this plant. The ecological paradigm [Kelly (1968) Toward an ecological conception of preventive interventions, in Research Contributions from Psychology to Community Mental Health, ed. J. W. Carter, pp. 75-99, Behavioral Publications, New York] is adapted as the evaluative model for evaluating the potential effectiveness of a proposed health behavior/education intervention for konzo. This qualitative research model involves a consideration of the cycling of resources (human labor and material), adaptation (of personal and social practices related to the health issue), succession (of social institutions, values, customs), interdependence (of human social units), and feasibility (or the congruency of the proposed intervention and cultural traits of the host environment). Based on this evaluative model, a health behavior/education level of intervention focusing specifically on using focus groups and multichannel communication techniques to discourage unsafe manioc short-soaking tendencies among village women farmers seems feasible. Such an approach is not dependent on sophisticated technical or material inputs and is therefore readily sustainable without outside agency support once it is effectively initiated within that culture.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1992

Health-risk behaviors and health concerns among young adolescents.

This study examined the health concerns and behaviors of 563 adolescents (aged 11 through 14) from a variety of social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. Behaviors associated with adolescent morbidity and mortality were examined, including sexual behavior, substance use, and injury-related behaviors. Although young adolescents are often viewed as unlikely participants in these risk behaviors, the results of this study suggest that greater attention should be paid to this younger group and their health-risk behaviors. A majority of the sample had tried alcohol and tobacco, and almost a third had used marijuana. Twenty-one percent were sexually active. Prevalence rates varied by social class, race-ethnicity, gender, and age. More than 75% of the sample had visited a physician during the prior year, suggesting an important role physicians may serve as sources of information and positive role models for these young adolescents. The results suggest that we stop viewing young adolescents as naive children and begin to view them as observers of and participants in a changing social environment that has important implications for their current and future health status. Without a realistic appraisal of the young adolescent, we can expect to have little overall effect on the status of adolescent health in the United States.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Rewards and adolescent health behavior.

Research has indicated that contingent rewards can increase students' acceptance of novel preventive health activities. In the current research on adolescents' use of a fluoride rinse over two school years, however, the rinse habit tended to end when reward contingencies were withdrawn. Although participation in the rinse program was higher with a saturated schedule of reward contingencies in effect, the comparison partial schedule of rewards showed less immediate attrition when the reward contingencies were withdrawn. As a result, the long-term effects of the two schedules were largely equivalent. Other major findings included higher participation levels for girls compared to boys and for urban compared to suburban students. Self-management instruction, a strategy intended to compensate for the withdrawal of tangible rewards, worked temporarily among urban students but at the same time resulted in lower levels of post-reward rinsing among suburban students. This study confirmed the efficacy of contingent rewards for initiating new health habits among adolescents, but neither a partial schedule of reward nor instruction in self-management was sufficient to establish long-term continuation of the behavior. Implications of these findings for health psychologists and public health professionals are discussed briefly.

Adolescent↗