This study investigated the effects of proximal and distal constructs on adolescent's academic achievement through self-efficacy. Participants included 482 ninth- and tenth- grade Norwegian students who completed a questionnaire designed to assess school-goal orientations, organizational citizenship behavior, academic self-efficacy, and academic achievement. The results of a bootstrapping technique used to analyze relationships between the constructs indicated that school-goal orientations and organizational citizenship predicted academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, school-goal orientation, organizational citizenship, and academic self-efficacy explained 46% of the variance in academic achievement. Mediation analyses revealed that academic self-efficacy mediated the effects of perceived task goal structure, perceived ability structure, civic virtue, and sportsmanship on adolescents' academic achievements. The results are discussed in reference to current scholarship, including theories underlying our hypothesis. Practical implications and directions for future research are suggested.
The present study was conducted to provide a nationwide survey of acceptance of nonabstinence goals and related alcoholism treatment practices by Canadian alcoholism treatment services.
A random sample of 335 Canadian alcoholism treatment service agencies were mailed a 4-page questionnaire designed to assess acceptance of moderate drinking as a drinking goal and related alcoholism treatment practices.
Acceptance varied by type of service, with considerably more acceptance by outpatient programs (62%) and mixed inpatient/outpatient programs (43%) than inpatient/detoxification/ correctional facilities (27%) and halfway houses (16%). Two-thirds of the respondents who reported moderate drinking as unacceptable in their own agencies categorically rejected moderation for all alcoholism clients.
Individuals seeking services in Canadian alcoholism treatment agencies are more likely to have a choice of drinking goals if they present to an outpatient program than a residential institution, and Canadian agencies appear more accepting of moderation goals than American programs, but less accepting than British and Norwegian service agencies.
To compare the effects of goal directed functional therapy (GDT) to activity focused therapy (AT) for preschool children with cerebral palsy (CP) on everyday activities and gross motor function. Another aim was to evaluate goal attainment in the GDT group.
A prospective intervention study comparing two types of intervention carried out in ecological settings. Forty-four children with CP, (25 boys, 19 girls; mean age 4 year 1 month [SD 1 year 5 month]), Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) levels I-IV participated. Twenty-two children were recruited to the GDT group and 22 to the AT group. Outcome measures were the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), and the Gross Motor Function Measure-66. Furthermore, goal attainment scaling (GAS) was used in the GDT group. The assessments were performed before and after an intervention period of 12 weeks.
The children in the GDT group improved more in most aspects of everyday activities measured by the PEDI than the children in the AT group (p
Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, Lyle S. Hallman Institute, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1. sharoncm@healthy.uwaterloo.ca
There is strong scientific evidence from clinical and epidemiological studies that tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is linked to periodontal disease as well as other serious but less common oral health diseases. Given the strength of this evidence, dentists must include tobacco cessation services (TCS) as part of their routine care. This paper describes barriers to the adoption of TCS as identified by Alberta dentists participating in a randomized intervention trial and discusses strategies for overcoming these barriers. As well, suggestions are made to professional associations and educational institutes on ways to increase the incorporation of tobacco cessation into professional practice standards.
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Comment In: J Can Dent Assoc. 2001 Mar;67(3):12711315384
INTRODUCTION: Significant health problems encountered in adulthood often have their roots in health behaviours initiated during adolescence. In order to reverse this trend, school and health personnel, as well as parents and other community members working with high school students, need to be aware of the health-related beliefs and choices that guide the behaviours of teenagers. Although a wide variety of research has been conducted on this topic among urban adolescents, less is known about the health beliefs and behaviors of adolescents residing in rural areas, particularly in Canada. In general, rural Canadians are less healthy than their urban counterparts. Building on the knowledge and understanding of their own community, key stakeholders were invited to engage in the design and implementation of a participatory action research project aimed at understanding and improving the health of rural adolescents.METHODS: A group of parents, teachers, students, school administrators and public health nurses engaged in a participatory action research project to better understand determinants of the health of rural adolescents at a high school in Western Canada. Group members developed and administered a health survey to 288 students from a small rural high school, in an effort to identify areas of concern and interest regarding health practices and beliefs of rural adolescents, and to take action on these identified concerns.RESULTS: Results indicated some interesting but potentially worrying trends in this population. For example, while frequent involvement in a physical activity was noted by 75.9% of participants, close to half of the females (48%) described their body image as 'a little overweight' or 'definitely overweight', and approximately 25.8% of respondents noted that they skipped meals most of the time. Differences between the genders were apparent in several categories. For example, more girls smoked (16.2%) than boys (12.3%), and more males (55.0%) than females (41%) had tried illegal drugs. Participants indicated awareness of other health-compromising behaviours, including unsafe driving habits and high stress levels, and acknowledged several steps they wanted to take to improve their health, as well as the barriers to taking those steps. Students identified improved nutrition, stress reduction, and increased levels of physical activity as particular important health goals. Students also recommended ways in which information and support could be provided within the school environment to enable them to achieve their health-related goals. Several activities developed in collaboration with students have incorporated the recommendations, and have spawned other activities in response to the ongoing identification of new concerns.CONCLUSIONS: The process of including the rural community in the identification of health assets and needs from the perspective of students -- as well as the planning and implementation of appropriate strategies to address those needs -- demonstrates the strengths inherent within a small rural population. Community members' awareness of the need to create a healthy environment for youth is reflected in their willingness to participate in activities leading to improved health. Greater awareness of the health needs of rural adolescents, and of the influence of gender in some aspects of health behaviors, will help researchers to explore ways in which the unique culture of rural communities can be harnessed to help shape health-focused interventions.
We investigated how adolescents' and parents' future beliefs, i.e. their goals and probability estimations (regarding future career, social and family life) were (1) structured, (2) interrelated, and (3) whether adolescents' perceived family interaction mediated parents' and adolescents' beliefs, among 239 11-16-year olds and 197 parents. Using structural equation models we found that (a) goals were similarly structured, but unrelated, suggesting cultural transmission of goals and autonomous goal setting for adolescents, (b) probability estimations were differently structured, and related, suggesting different perceptions of opportunities, and (c) family interaction mediated the relationship between parents' probability estimations and adolescents' future beliefs, reflecting the role of the family for adolescents' future co-planning.
The purpose of this study was to describe adolescent subjective well-being and realized values, and to examine the relationships between socio-demographic variables, realized values and subjective well-being from the adolescent perspective.
Adolescent subjective well-being was conceptualized by means of four different dimensions: satisfaction, ill-being, knowledge and activities related to well-being. The values were operationalized by eight core ideas from which a principal components analysis identified 10 factors representing the realized values.
Data were gained by self-report questionnaires from 245 adolescents from 7th and 9th grades, with a mean age of 14 years, in 13 secondary schools in southern Finland. The data were analysed statistically.
According to the findings, most of the respondents were satisfied with life. However, one out of 10 did not experience the joy of life. There was no statistically significant difference in global satisfaction between girls and boys. Total ill-being among the adolescents was rare, but one out of four participants had fairly often worried about money and 17% were frequently unusually tired. Girls and pupils from the 9th class experienced more ill-being than boys and pupils from the 7th class. The findings suggest that certain values such as personal equilibrium, safe family relations, and family type are predictors of adolescent global subjective well-being.
While assessing and promoting adolescent well-being it is important to pay special attention to the realization of values in life and not merely to appreciation of things. Implications for practice include the need to create opportunities for the realization of values when adolescents require health care services.
This study is about what adolescents with cancer think about their life situation, the support they get, and the information they receive about their illness. The data for this qualitative and descriptive study were collected in 3 focus group interviews with 20 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years attending a cancer adjustment camp. Interpretation was based on the method of inductive content analysis. The adolescents' experiences of their current situation were analyzed into 5 categories: views on life here and now, negative experiences of self because of the illness, resources recognized in self, difficulties caused by the illness in relation to life around them, and resources identified in the world around. They made very little, if any, conscious effort to plan ahead for the future. The information received by the adolescents concerned their illness and its treatment here and now, various practical matters, as well as the future impacts of the illness and its treatments. Most of this information focused on the here and now, whereas the adolescents' information needs were mainly oriented to the future. As for the adolescents' chances to take part in making decisions about their care and life, the analysis yielded 6 categories: joint decision making, inadequate chances for decision making, independent decision making, illusion of decision making, reluctant to make decisions, and excluded from decision making. Finally, the adolescents' hopes for improvement were focused on staff activities, physical care facilities, chances to discuss and work through their experiences of the illness, and the support received from society.
