BackgroundThis study seeks to determine if implementing a culturally-appropriate early childhood caries (ECC) intervention reduces dental disease burden and oral health inequalities among Indigenous children living in South Australia, Australia.Methods/DesignThis paper describes the study protocol for a randomised controlled trial conducted among Indigenous children living in South Australia with an anticipated sample of 400. The ECC intervention consists of four components: (1) provision of dental care; (2) fluoride varnish application to the teeth of children; (3) motivational interviewing and (4) anticipatory guidance. Participants are randomly assigned to two intervention groups, immediate (n = 200) or delayed (n = 200). Provision of dental care (1) occurs during pregnancy in the immediate intervention group or when children are 24-months in the delayed intervention group. Interventions (2), (3) and (4) occur when children are 6-, 12- and 18-months in the immediate intervention group or 24-, 30- and 36-months in the delayed intervention group. Hence, all participants receive the ECC intervention, though it is delayed 24 months for participants who are randomised to the control-delayed arm. In both groups, self-reported data will be collected at baseline (pregnancy) and when children are 24- and 36-months; and child clinical oral health status will be determined during standardised examinations conducted at 24- and 36-months by two calibrated dental professionals.DiscussionExpected outcomes will address whether exposure to a culturally-appropriate ECC intervention is effective in reducing dental disease burden and oral health inequalities among Indigenous children living in South Australia.
This study extends the validity and replicability of the Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) scale, a novel instrument for adults with childhood adversity. The BCEs scale assesses 10 favorable childhood experiences, yielding a total score similar to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) scale (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017; Felitti et al., 1998). The current study examined the BCEs scale in a sample of homeless parents and hypothesized that higher levels of total BCEs would predict lower odds of psychological distress, sociodemographic risk, and parenting stress after accounting for ACEs. Participants were 50 ethnically diverse parents (42 birth mothers, 5 birth fathers, 1 stepfather, and 2 grandmothers in the primary caregiver role; M = 32.50 years, SD = 9.29, range = 21–62 years; 66% African American, 12% White, 12% American Indian, 10% biracial/other) residing at a homeless shelter with their children. Parents completed the BCEs and ACEs scales and instruments on psychological distress, sociodemographic risk, and parenting stress. Higher levels of BCEs predicted lower odds of psychological distress, as expected. Higher levels of ACEs predicted higher sociodemographic risk. However, neither BCEs nor ACEs predicted parenting stress. Mean levels of total BCEs and item frequencies were strikingly similar to the pilot sample, although homeless parents reported significantly lower predictable home routines in childhood. BCEs and ACEs were only modestly negatively associated, underscoring the independence of adverse and positive early experiences. The BCEs scale is a promising, brief and culturally sensitive index of childhood experiences linked to long-term resilience.
Nicaise, Admiral Dundas, &c., the ground can hardly be made too deep or too rich. The latter varieties will fail utterly where the Wilson or the Agriculturist would do tolerably well. The President Wilder exhibits in many respects its relationship to La Constante, and, like that fine berry, it is fond of good feeding. While many kinds of strawberries will do well, although poorly fed, there is hardly one that will not do better on well-manured land ; and in general, we may say, as in the case of other crops, the more manure the more strawberries. The Germans are fond of saying of their vineyards, " Well dug is half manured ; " but deep cultivation and fine working the land for strawberries, although of exceeding value, will not take the place of manure. It is hard to name the fertilizer that cannot be used to advantage, either in preparing the soil for a strawberry plantation, or as a top-dressing for it. Stable manure, compost, unleached ashes, superphosphate of lime, guano, fish manure, and hen dung, may each and all be used with profit. Market gardeners, who can command an abundance of stable manure, generally give that the preference, using Peruvian guano, however, as a tonic, or special means for bringing up to the mark any part of a field that seems to be behind the rest in vigor or health. Lime alone is considered by some injurious, but superphosphate of lime is certainly beneficial. Guano alone, scattered broadcast half a dozen times through the summer, before a rain in each case if possible, using in all eight hundred or a thousand pounds to the acre, produces wonderful results, and may take the place of all other manures. I have used it in this way with excellent results. Guano composted in the fall, with say fifty times its bulk of peat earth, and allowed to remain through the winter in a pile, well covered with a few inches of soil, makes, in the opinion of many, the best possible of all composts.
The present study examined developmental antecedents of angels and ghosts in the nursery during the pregnancy and postnatal periods. Higher levels of benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) were hypothesized to predict higher levels of angels in the nursery at both periods, whereas higher levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were expected to predict higher levels of ghost in the nursery at both periods. Participants were 101 low-income, ethnically diverse pregnant women (M = 29.10 years, SD = 6.56, range = 18-44; 37% Latina, 22% African American, 20% White, 13% biracial/multiracial, 8% other) planning to deliver at an urban general hospital. During their second or third trimester, they reported on ACEs, BCEs, and demographic information. During pregnancy and 3-4 months of postnatal, they completed the Angels in the Nursery Interview (Van Horn, Lieberman, & Harris, 2008), coded by trained raters for quality of loving memories with childhood caregivers (angel memories) and traumatic intrusions of childhood adversity (ghost memories). Results revealed moderate stability of angel and ghost memories across the perinatal period. Higher levels of BCEs directly predicted higher levels of angel memories during pregnancy, and indirectly predicted higher levels of angel memories during the postnatal period through angel memories during pregnancy. Higher levels of ACEs directly predicted higher levels of ghost memories during both periods. BCEs did not predict ghost memories and ACEs did not predict angel memories. Findings support independent pathways of risk and resilience through the pregnancy period with distinct origins in women's childhood adversity versus positive childhood experiences. Implications for promoting intergenerational resilience by linking and leveraging BCEs and angel memories and recovering from ACEs and ghost memories are discussed.
Despite empirical evidence documenting the role of positive childhood experiences in predicting adaptation over the lifespan and across generations, this research has not yet been fully integrated into public health and policy efforts. We argue that adults' benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) should be measured in large-scale data collection efforts, such as statewide surveys, alongside more routinely collected adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). We also outline several recommended strategies in which the assessment and screening of positive childhood experiences could be implemented as a counterpart to community health and primary care screening for childhood adversity in adults, with short-and long-term benefits. Pediatric physicians should screen children and adolescents for their current positive childhood experiences as well. The assessment of positive childhood experiences is essential to empirically identifying resilience resources linked with better long-term adaptation, understanding how positive experiences may counteract the longterm effects of childhood adversity in underserved and traumatized individuals, informing medical providers' knowledge about patients' strengths in addition to challenges, and instilling hope in individuals and families experiencing stress.
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