RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Home visitation has been shown to be effective in reducing rates of child maltreatment and in enhancing psychosocial outcomes in children and their parents. Even when available, however, it is underutilized by parents in some urban settings. We tested a supplemental 10-session group intervention for its ability to increase active participation in home visitation, enhance the quality of caregiving behavior of parents, and improve social developmental outcome in children. METHOD: A randomized controlled design was utilized, involving two separate cohorts of parents of 3- to 18-month old infants, totaling 148 parent-child dyads. The intervention focused on practical experience in promoting parent-infant attachment relationships. RESULTS: At 6 months follow-up, there was a substantial increase in the proportion of intervention group parents participating in home visitation, compared to parents in the control group (Fisher's exact p = .008). Parents in the intervention group exhibited a trend for improvement in their capacity to appropriately interpret infants' emotional cues (p = .08), independent of the effects of home visitation itself. Attrition in both the treatment and control groups was inversely associated with income and level of education. CONCLUSIONS: Group meetings may constitute an effective means of engaging stressed urban families in home visitation.
Asunto(s)
Maltrato a los Niños/prevención & control , Educación en Salud , Servicios de Atención de Salud a Domicilio/estadística & datos numéricos , Madres/educación , Apoyo Social , Adulto , Maltrato a los Niños/psicología , Estudios de Cohortes , Femenino , Humanos , Lactante , Missouri , Madres/psicología , Apego a Objetos , Evaluación de Resultado en la Atención de Salud , Relaciones Padres-Hijo , Responsabilidad Parental/psicología , Población UrbanaRESUMEN
Groundwater from a xylene-contaminated acquifer was enriched in the laboratory in the presence of toluene, xylenes, ethylbenzene, and benzene. A pure culture that degrades toluene and m-xylene under nitrate-reducing conditions was isolated. Fatty acid analysis, 16S rRNA sequencing, and morphological traits indicate that the isolate was a strain of Azoarcus tolulyticus. The kinetics of toluene degradation under nitrate-reducing conditions by this isolate was determined. Nitrate reduction does not proceed beyond nitrite. Nitrate and toluene are substrate limiting at low concentrations, whereas toluene, nitrate, and nitrite are inhibitory at high concentrations. Several inhibition models were compared to experimental data to represent inhibition by these substrates. A kinetic model for toluene and nitrate degradation as well as for cell growth and nitrite production was developed and compared to experimental data. The results of this work may find important application in the remediation of groundwater aquifers contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons.
RESUMEN
The over-time relation between 3 aspects of authoritative parenting--acceptance, psychological autonomy, and behavioral control--and school achievement was examined in a sample of 120 10-16-year-olds in order to test the hypothesis that authoritative parenting facilitates, rather than simply accompanies, school success. In addition, the mediating role of youngsters' psychosocial maturity was studied. Results indicate that (1) authoritative parenting facilitates adolescents' academic success, (2) each component of authoritativeness studied makes an independent contribution to achievement, and (3) the positive impact of authoritative parenting on achievement is mediated at least in part through the effects of authoritativeness on the development of a healthy sense of autonomy and, more specifically, a healthy psychological orientation toward work. Adolescents who describe their parents as treating them warmly, democratically, and firmly are more likely than their peers to develop positive attitudes toward, and beliefs about, their achievement, and as a consequence, they are more likely to do better in school.