Purpose: This study examined public school (PS) speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') perceived confidence in managing pediatric feeding disorders (PFDs). Perceived confidence is a rater's self-reported assurance level to manage PFDs. The study then looked for relationships between personal and professional factors that might account for perceived…

This study was planned to determine the effects of school-based exercise practices (SBEP) on obesity and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in 9-11 year old girls. Participants consist of girls students from 9-11 years old in two state schools in Kars. Intervention Group (n: 85) courses of games and physical activities (CGPA) and SBEP…

Ten million children in the United States have asthma. Since children are in school about 6 hr a day, school nurses are positioned to intervene and influence asthma outcomes. A descriptive correlational study was designed to investigate performance of school nurses' asthma management behaviors in relationship to asthma knowledge, asthma attitude,…

The epidemic of childhood obesity, and its subsequent impact on negative health outcomes, continues to plague the United States. Better health outcomes have been linked to increased child achievement in school. Due to the strong influence parents have on children's healthful behaviors particularly in younger years, it's imperative to examine the…

Background: Food insecurity may negatively impact children's nutritional status by affecting parenting quality. Because parents have a strong influence on their children's eating and food choices, examining the effects of food insecurity on parenting may provide important insights into obesity prevention efforts. Objectives: This study explored…

Childhood obesity remains a problem in the United States. Preschool teachers can help to attenuate it but need to have the confidence or self-efficacy to provide healthy practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to (a) develop and validate a preschool teacher self-efficacy tool to examine teachers' confidence in addressing the nutrition…

Background: Asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness among children in the United States, with a disproportionately higher incidence among minority children. In an attempt to increase understanding of the factors that may influence self-management of chronic disease, the study examined the relationship between self-efficacy belief and asthma…

Enhancing health literacy is a keystone in health promotion. Yet, most studies on health literacy are limited to functional literacy levels. Furthermore, little evidence is available from children. Based on Nutbeam's outcome model for health promotion, this study aims (i) to elaborate a set of short scales to measure important health literacy…

Purpose: Chances for a healthy life are not equally distributed across society. Instead, genetic, social, and environmental factors help determine the probability that a child will be healthy and active. We investigate the probability that youth will be physically active by examining 3 consistent correlates of physical activity. The individual and…

Higher rates of smoking initiation and continuation by female compared with male adolescents, as found in many developed countries, may call for gender-specific prevention programs. Risk factors of smoking initiation and continuation were examined prospectively (1997-2002) among 3205 Dutch elementary schoolchildren (mean age 11.64) in an…

Children's physical inactivity is an important health concern, and, as suggested, school efforts can be important in increasing activity. The purpose of this study was to use collective efficacy as a framework to examine elementary classroom teachers' and principals' perceptions about integrating physical activity. Three hundred fourteen…

The present study examined the relationship between sub-clinical depressive symptoms and children's anticipated cognitive and behavioral reactions to two written vignettes depicting emotion-eliciting stressors (i.e., fight with one's best friend and failure at a roller blade contest). Participants (N = 244) ranging in age between 10 and 13 were…

In this study, it was tested whether attitudes, self-efficacy, social influences and the perception of the school and home environments had different associations with intentions for adolescent non-smokers, occasional smokers and daily smokers. A regression model allowing for separate slopes of social-cognitive and environment variables accounted…

A large national study of schoolchildren aged 6-18 years was conducted to assess nutritional and socio-cognitive factors associated with body mass index (BMI). A questionnaire was used to assess nutritional quality of breakfast, importance of physical activity and food variety score, among 4441 students from randomly selected schools in all states…