Synthesis Matrix Sources 1-5

Synthesis Matrix/Critical Appraisal for sources 1-5 :)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5F4oxJVVIoIUV96em9jUW1CZUE/view?usp=sharing

Research Journal #3

Article #1 (practice, example, anecdote)

1. Dishion, Thomas J.; Montana, Zorash; Shaw, Daniel S.; Smith, Justin D.; Wilson, Melvin N. (2015). Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity: Indirect effects of the family check-up in early childhood. Prevention Science. 16 (3), 408-419.

2. This is a great example source because it follows the answers to a question the authors had about child obesity and the link it connects to through family management which are two of my key terms. This article is directly relevant to my topic because it relates to not only the key terms, but the general question. Family-based approaches to child development are successful when all members are involved. This creates a circle of well-being and support for children to grow and thrive. Not only does this study prove that intervention and prevention of family management are great methods to minimizing/eliminating child obesity the facts are in the study itself. Although this is an indirect approach to ridding childhood obesity it is proven that early onset prevention and intervention successfully account for lower BMI numbers of the children who participated in the study early on in their youth. This is a great example of how childhood nutrition can be improved through family management which directly relates to my research question.

3. I intend on using this source to prove that to have good nutrition habits throughout one’s lifetime they have to learn good habits at home. I would like to keep this study as an anecdotal example to show that 1. Some families need this management to sustain a healthy environment for their children 2. It is not necessary for every family 3. To raise awareness about family management in the home and how it successfully relates to good nutrition habits that reflect on your children. However, as of now I don’t know which source to begin my research paper with this will most likely come in the early section of my review so I can relate my topic to a relevant source that created a strong message.

4. One interesting thing I learned is that there is a growing, and long-standing recognition that parenting and low interest/unsuccessful parent-child relationships are directly related to child obesity rates. This is interesting considering the fact that many adults relate depression and overeating. This is a direct sign of malfunction in the house, and although it should be addressed as such this happens every day all over America, and no one is doing anything about it, or even knows about it.

Article #2 (research, cohort, case control)

1. Serbin, Lisa A. (2014). The influence of parenting on early childhood health and health care utilization. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 39 (10), 1161-1174.

2. This is an article that is directly related to my research question, and it can be used as an example source. Good parenting in the early stages of childhood are inexcusably important to a child’s well-being. The source explains how good parent function is in direct relation to child functioning because they tend to both either be successful or neglectful. This article demonstrates an good use of criteria specifically pertaining to my key terms. It’s very relevant to my question as it analyzes the correlation between youth nutrition and family management in the home and not only the current socioeconomic status but the SES of the parents when they were children as well.

3. I plan to use this source to demonstrate the effects of SES on child development and family management in the home. While this is an extremely relevant source it gives me a lot of information that also doesn’t pertain directly to my question, because of this I plan to use sparingly as an example/reference of how 1. SES reflects on families for generations 2. usage of early child care in hospitals present valuable health habits for youth 3. Positive, healthy environments are key to a healthy lifestyle at all ages.

4. Something very interesting I learned from this article was that socioeconomic status affects the well-being of families for many generations. I never really thought of this, but the behaviors your grandparents learned are reflected throughout your family. This is something I would like to share in my literature review because it was very new and exciting information to read.

Article #3 (practice, research)

1. Adamo, Kristi B; Brett, Kendra E. (2014). Parental Perceptions and Childhood Dietary Quality. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 18(4), 978-995.

2. This is an article that I keep referring to when I think about the main topic of my literature review. Not only is it extremely relevant and resourceful the authors went above and beyond the literature review that also helped to accrue reflections and opinions that helped many families in need.  While they also discuss the variable factors that play an integral role related to child development this study emphasizes nutritional development and how common parental conceptions/misconceptions are directly related to their heath. This is a primary article I hope to stem a lot of information from and continue to reference back to get an overall view of my main topic.

3. Along with article #2 I plan on using this as a primary source to help begin and explain my research project. Child development is a critical growth period for all youth, and during this time they need to learn many habits that will help lead them to live successful and healthy lives through adulthood. The results in this study prove that dietary/nutrition of youth is essential to good overall health, it improves quality of life, and is essentially detrimental to each human being. Results also show that parent and family management play a key role in defining health for their little ones, and must provide the necessary costs to help their child reach their full potential. Throughout different cultures, levels of income and socioeconomic status, and varying age of parents their personal knowledge of health and well-being is reflected onto their children. Parents have the potential to either have either a powerful positive influence or a negative one. It is imperative to be a good role model for your children, and whether they follow your lead or not they need to be taught what is right from wrong and a parent is a child’s best teacher.

  

4. One very interesting fact I learned from this article is that many parents don’t believe that their personal actions reflect on their children. Many parents admitted to disagreeing that their children picked up different food habits along the way, that their child is picky, or they believe they simply formed their own habits/food knowledge.

Article #4 (cohort, research, mixed methods, participatory action)

1. King, Kristi McClary. (2015). Results of a 3-year nutrition and physical activity intervention for children in rural, low SES elementary schools. Health Education Research. 30, (4). 647-659.

2. In the United States children’s physical health and nutrition have become a topic of interest due to the numbers of obese or overweight children in the country. This article is directly related to my research topic as the research shows early intervention/prevention methods help children learn healthy nutritional habits early in life, they want to be healthy and eat well, and they learn the difference between healthy/unhealthy acts and can choose the correct choice for themselves. This mixed methods research study correlates extremely well to my question because it relates childhood nutrition, socioeconomic status, and family management. Children spend 5 out of 7 days in school so it’s no wonder that they’re influenced by not only their family but their teachers and peers as well. While providing an intervention program in problem schools it significantly raised nutrition rates among children over the three years, and improved not only their nutrition health but physical and mental as well. This study proves that improvement within the family home, and even outside of it, can show results among children and the knowledge they’re provided with on a daily basis.

3. I’m a big fan of school intervention projects because children spend so much of their time in school it’s easy to be influenced and pick up bad habits one normally wouldn’t in a good home despite socioeconomic status. I think this is a great article to use because it gives an example of how intervention can be used to change daily habits over time especially because many children stay in the same school for years. Over the course of this time school management can integrate many kinds of activities that will follow the children through their schooling and into adulthood. I hope to use this article to reiterate the importance of positive peers in a child’s life. Also, many rural schools cannot find the funding for such projects and already being in a low-income area can help reduce positive outcomes an elementary school in a middle-income neighborhood would have. I think it’s important to present these studies so more parents/volunteers/community members become aware or involved in their local elementary school to help ensure children are gaining the experience to reach high potentials, no matter their family’s income level or neighborhood.

Article #5 (research, cohort)

1. Berge, Jerica M.; Hanson, Carrie; Jagaraj, Kimberly; Braaten, Kent; Won Jin, Seok; Doty, Jennifer. (2015). Play it Forward! A community-based approach to childhood obesity prevention. Families, Systems, and Health. 34(1). 15.  

2. I would like to use this source as a direct example of how intervention/prevention programs are proven to reduce childhood obesity and increase nutrition health. Through community-based/family intervention activities and engagement exercises children can reach optimal well-being and feel support from their family and community. Many parents also said that “Play It Forward!” was a way to help them feel involved in community planning while the citizen action group (CAG) who coordinated the event said it was quite the positive experience to be a part of a great cause. This is exactly the kind of outcome we need to reduce obesity prevalence in young children and it’s encouraging to see communities taking action. I want to refer to “Play It Forward!” as an action plan that any community could take part in. Although there’s a lot of work that comes with planning community events there are many more beneficial aspects that override the time and cost spent. When you look at the outcome of these events it plays a crucial role in long-time community successfulness when observing child potential and family management. The only things this article doesn’t contain is the SES factors which is why I plan on using it sparingly as an example source.  

3. I plan on using this article solely as a reference to positive engagement between families and their children in their community. Because programs like this tend to consume a lot of time, energy and money the response they need to continue the program needs to be influential, beneficial, and positive. I believe I was use this article to emphasize the important of parent roles and activity in their children’s lives. In the United States childhood obesity rates have been on the rise due to several first world country alternatives to activity such as technology, fast-food, costs of living, required number of work hours, ad required number of school hours for each family member. I want to stress the importance of living a healthy life by oneself and with children. I’m hoping to use this article as a guide to another source that will further emphasize the importance of parental roles, most likely article #2 above.

4. An interesting thing I learned from this article was that most obesity interventions are carried out in specialty clinics or health care clinics. I think this is an unfair to all children because only the ones who are exposed to obesity are learning from this intervention, it isolates overweight/obese children, and it takes a lot of time for a parent to get the help they need for their child.

In-class activity 2/6-2/8

In class activity 2/6-2/8

1. Morrissey, Taryn W.; Oellerich, Don; Meade, Erica. (2016). Neighborhood poverty and children’s food insecurity. Children and Youth Services Review. 66. 85-93. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.05.006

2. Case Control

3. The authors use the case control method to examine data of food insecurity in different levels of poverty ranging from extreme to moderate, and use this information to find where the most vulnerable children are located and how they can be helped. By using this method, they are able to make associations between food insecurity, level of poverty, and household characteristics that create variable differences in low-income homes and relate it back to their insecurity level.

4. The study presents conclusions that if a child lives in a “food desert” this does not correlate with food insecurity in the household. Also, when household characteristics of adults are controlled this directly correlates with food security no matter the level of poverty.

5. One thing I already know is that states fund poverty rich communities through soup kitchens, food drives, etc. and there are always options for people who have trouble supplying food for themselves and their children. What I wasn’t aware of and is interesting to me is the fact that regardless of poverty level, food security is directly related to household characteristics i.e. the parents, who put their children directly at risk of starvation and malnutrition knowingly.

1. Watt, Toni Terling; Appel, Louis; Lopez, Veronica; Flores, Bianca; Lawhon, Brittany. (2015). A Primary Care-Based Early Childhood Nutrition Intervention: Evaluation of a Pilot Program Serving Low-Income Hispanic Women. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
 2(4), 537-547. doi: 10.1007/s40615-015-0102-2

 2. Cohort- Causation/association

 3. The five authors used their knowledge of the associated risks that comes along with low income status, race, and location to aid pregnant mothers and teach them about caring for their child prenatally and well into birth. They named the study a “process and outcome” evaluation to see whether their efforts helped the women and how much they benefitted. The women were given nutrition classes, free food vouchers for farmer’s markets, social support, lactating classes, and more. Although the results didn’t have causal effects on the children’s’ weights at birth, the overall conclusion of the study showed to improve the mother’s knowledge of the importance of their child’s nutrition and their own, it also improved their knowledge of diet, exercise, and showed decreased signs of depression in comparison to the other group of mothers who did not receive care.

 4. An interesting fact I discovered was the fact that so many women do not how to properly care for themselves and their child during pregnancy. Growing up my mother taught me how to do all these things, she taught me how to cook, clean, and take care of myself, but I never thought about who would have taught me all these things if it wasn’t for her. The importance of knowing how to care for yourself before getting pregnant is so detrimental because everything you experience you child will experience.

 1. Adamo, Kristi B; Brett, Kendra E. (2014). Parental Perceptions and Childhood Dietary Quality. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 18(4), 978-995. doi: 10.1007/s10995-013-1326-6

 2. Practice

 3. The authors used a variety of methods to reach conclusions in their literature review. Along with research trials they observed lab-based studies, cohort studies, topical reviews, government reports and interaction and review from families that fit the criteria in question. The authors are trying to find correlations between the concern between child growth and diet quality, parental awareness and attitudes, and parental perceptions of health for themselves and their child. The goal of this study is to determine susceptible children and mothers and provide necessary interventions to help them improve their health. The other primary goal is prevention- if we can find exactly which factors are related to poor parental perceptions related to youth nutrition then there’s a possibly we can teach mothers how to care for their young before their health begins to decline or flatline as such a young age. Prevention is an extremely important aspect of the community health sciences because so much time and funds are used to aid in the recovery of health. If we begin to teach everyone, not just mothers and children, about health strategies at any age then we can reverse these negative effects in their lives and in our communities.

 4. Conclusions found that parents play an integral role in the “development and maintenance” of their child’s nutritional health. Parental perceptions are directly associated with the way their child views nutritional health, and how they learn to take care of themselves. Many parents believe they take care of their own children the way they see fit even the families who could use improvement such as family management in the home. All parents should take their kids grocery shopping with them to teach them the difference between healthy foods and not so healthy foods (supermarket aesthetics), show them how to shop on a budget especially because many of the families whose children express poor nutrition tactics are low income or struggle to make ends meet, and they should be more aware of the family’s health. Parents should also encourage their children to make changes if needed, and they should reiterate to their children that changes don’t happen overnight but over time if that is their goal.

5. It shouldn’t come as such a surprise to me that many families don’t care about or focus on their health as much as they should. This is exactly the reason why I want to work in this field to help educate and teach others how important their health is and how it translates to all aspects of their lives. I think many families begin when the parents are young and still learning to take care of themselves, and this translates later in life when they must care for their children. You find more low income families to be of young age and struggling because they weren’t in a stable position in their lives, financially, to start a family and take care of all the expenses that come along with it. This study showed that an important part of having a family is caring for each aspect of each other’s lives, and when you do this it creates wholesome lives for each member.

 1. Bradley, RH., Corwyn, RF. (2002). Socioeconomic Status and Child Development. Published Annual Review of Psychology. 53(1).doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233

2. Research

3. The author use this text to spread awareness of the critical time period of growth within a child’s life. Not only do babies need to be taken care of while in embryo what follows afterwards is just as important. The juxtaposition not social economic status and child development are so often studied because the variables that link them together effect all aspects of children’s health. In this study the specific areas of children development that are correlated to SES are health, cognitive, and socialemotional outcomes. I believe this method was chosen so he could explain a variety of outcomes that are related directly to low income families. I also believe this literature review was written to share person knowledge on the research findings that could also aid in intervention as well as prevention methods.

 4. Socioeconomic status in the United States is directly correlated with a multiple aspects of child development. Although these findings are evident it’s remains difficult to directly assess SES to all types of child development or stunts in development. Many other factors translate to poor child development including genetic makeup, income level, environmental circumstances, and relations to ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Many results found in the study came from years of research put together into one literature review. While we’re lucky enough to find all this information in one place the fact is because it generally takes a long time to generate such information. While we’re working on creating intervention/prevention plans there are multiple studies taking place replacing the information we know now. Conclusions also show that because there are so many other factors related to SES and child development there are technically no causes/cures for such interactions. The only thing we can be sure of is taking full advantage of health programs, courses, etc. and educating oneself to the best of their ability to live to our full potential at any age.

5. One thing interesting I learned was that socioeconomic status of a person causes more mental illnesses regardless of race, sex, or age and although SES is not a direct cause in this position there is nothing that can be done to reverse the effects on the brain. Most mental illnesses begin in early childhood although they’re extremely hard to detect, and usually follow a child well into their teenage years before anyone detects the illness.

Explaining your project to someone wiser than you

This homework assignment was so beneficial to me- I don't think I would have done this on my own and it helped me see my project from a different perspective it was awesome.

Research Journal #1

What was the process by which you narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones? And how were these decisions made on the basis of either class discussion, or our required, course textbook (Aveyard 2014), or both?

 During my time at UNR I’ve taken many CHS (community health science) and CAS (substance abuse) courses. Overtime I’ve learned how important all aspects of health are and how detrimental situations we face can damage our health i.e. substance use, too much stress, depression, etc. However, we as humans are most influenced in our young years from infancy into our late teenage years, and we learn lifestyles and behaviors from our parents and caretakers. It was relatively easy to come up with a few ideas that I was interested in-being a CHS major has directly influenced how I take care of myself and makes me analyze the type of unhealthy childhood I had. Narrowing down an exact research question is typically more difficult because it needs to be something concise, of relative importance to the class, and thinking about the question should automatically generate little trains of thought and interest.

What research question did you choose, and how are I can be sure you're making a reasoned, academic judgement on the basis of chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?

My research question is, "How does socioeconomic status affect the nutritional health of children in these cultures across the lifespan?" According to my research topic, Aveyard says I’m making a reasonable academic question based on the evidence that it is not complex, it’s straightforward, my level of interested and motivation related to my research question is high, and the question is clear and unambiguous. I have decided to reevaluate my question and change it to something along the lines of “How does poverty affect the nutritional health of children during development?” I’m still in the process of rewording it but I will keep these ideas/factors in my question.

What article (or articles) are you basing this question on, and what type of article is it (research, theory, policy, practice) (citation[s] in APA, please)?

 Erwin, Paul Campbell. (2008). Poverty in America: How Public Health Practice can make a difference. American Journal of Public Health, 98(9). 1570-1572.doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.127787 This is practice literature method. This is where I left off last time:

Bradley, RH., Corwyn, RF. (2002). Socioeconomic Status and Child Development. Published Annual Review of Psychology. 53(1).doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233 This is a research literature method. This is where I will leave off this time:

How can I be sure that the key vocabulary of the question corresponds not only to literature in the field, but also to chapter 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?

 I know Aveyard can help guide me through the literature process, but I need to be able to use the information effectively throughout my research and in the beginning stages of writing my paper. By using the “language” of the experts I was able to use keywords to find great articles online. This reassures me that I’m on the right path to becoming a profession myself, and gives me confidence that I’ll be able to successfully hone in on these skills in my own research one day.

Based on what your question is, what kind of literature are you going to need? Again, please explicitly reference the text (Aveyard 2014). What is your hierarchy of evidence? In order from most important to include/research to least importantly relevant:

 1) Research 2) Practice 3) Cross-sectional 4) Participatory Action

 How exactly did you research question arise out of "practice"?

 I never imagined myself working with children or in social care or anything among the “family” sector of public health. However, the further I get into my life, my schooling, my research question there is a need for professionals in the field. It’s so important to take care of your children and provide them with the necessary care they need to become healthy adults. I would be lucky to work with the public and teach them all different aspects of health if I can learn it so can anyone.

How do you define your key terms, and how do these definitions link to key journals in the field?

Nutritional health
Community health
Child development AND poverty
“Child nutrition” AND “poverty”
“Nutritional health” AND “child development”
 “childhood nutritional development”
“practice” AND “nutrition”

 Did anything unexpected happen? From you initial search, does it appear as though your research question will work? Or does the vocabulary and/or type of research sought need to be changed?

Nothing very unexpected happen during the initial research, but I am having finding trouble finding articles that correlate with the exact topics I’m trying to pull together into one research question: SES (socioeconomic status), nutritional health, and children. To continue to further the literature process and keep a solid question I’m thinking about rewording my question and perhaps eliminating one of the subtopics such as just referring to SES- maybe changing it to poverty. I seem to be finding a lot of different articles about the separate topics either childhood/poverty/nutrition or simply childhood/nutrition. Any final thoughts? More evidence is certainly required, and while I continue to research hopefully I’ll be able to create a solid, grounded question that won’t lead me to numerous articles about the different topics. I think I may have a slight problem narrowing my research question because there are so many different things I would like to touch on and talk about, and there are many ways I could reword my question to take a different approach. Here is my audio containing some final thoughts as well: