Change in health knowledge of Bangladeshi children: five years experience.

This article explores the improvement in the level of health knowledge of Bangladeshi children over a five year period 1993-1998. Data were generated from two nationally representative sample surveys covering respectively 2520 and 3360 children aged 11-12 y. Six health knowledge items, relevant to life in Bangladesh, were considered. Analyses revealed a significant improvement in the knowledge over the period. However, significant socio-economic variations also persisted in the performance. Rural children improved much faster compared to their urban counterparts. In both the surveys, children's performance varied significantly by items. To equip children with necessary health knowledge this study suggested strengthening health education at primary level in Bangladesh.

Role of education in reducing child labour: evidence from rural Bangladesh.

This paper explores the hypothesis that the level of education of children and their parents plays a major role in reducing child labour. Data were generated from a sample survey of 3809 children aged 10-14 years living in 150 villages in two rural districts of Bangladesh. A significant inverse relationship was found between child labour and years of schooling. Age and education of children, parental education, land ownership of household and fathers' occupation were the determinants of child labour force participation. Child's years of schooling is the variable that has most influence on the probability of participation in the labour force, followed by father's and mother's education.

Conceptualizing mental disorders in children: where have we been and where are we going?

Conceptions of mental illness in children are bound by cultural and social conventions of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy development. To understand current conceptualizations of disorders in children, we review the history of these conceptualizations from three intertwined perspectives: a sociopolitical history of American children and families, the history of the mental health fields and scientific disciplines involved in diagnosing children, and the evolution of children's role in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. We review where the field has been in its conception of childhood mental illness throughout the past century, where we believe it is now, and raise questions about the direction in which child diagnosis may be headed as we enter the new millennium. We conclude with social policy recommendations based on theory and research regarding mental disorders in children.

Normative comparisons for the evaluation of clinical significance.

Normative comparisons are a procedure for evaluating the clinical significance of therapeutic interventions. This procedure, consisting of comparing data on treated individuals with that of normative individuals, is described, and a step-by-step statistical methodology for conducting normative comparisons in the context of treatment-outcome research is presented. Four examples of the methodology are outlined in detail. Attention is paid to potential theoretical, statistical, and methodological challenges to the implementation of normative comparisons, as well as to the advantages of normative comparisons in providing evidence for the beneficial gains of treatment.

Health knowledge of children in Bangladesh: an exploratory study.

This article explores the relationship between selected socio-economic factors and health knowledge of children in Bangladesh. Data was generated from a representative sample survey of 2520 children aged 11-12 y and resident throughout the country. A total of six health knowledge items, all of which are very relevant to Bangladesh, were assessed in this study. Both bivariate and multivariate analysis were used for this purpose. Analysis revealed that the urban/rural residence of the child, the length of the child's schooling in years, the parental level of education and the economic status of the household was associated with the level of health knowledge of the children. To achieve the required improvement in health knowledge of Bangladeshi children this study concluded that adequate schooling of all children must be ensured by removing social barriers to this. Greater educational investment as well as quality education related to everyday life should be provided in rural areas.

PIP: A representative sample survey of 2520 children 11 and 12 years of age from all administrative districts in Bangladesh identified serious deficiencies in these children's knowledge of health issues. 76.7% of children were enrolled in school at the time of the survey; 13.8% had never attended school. Children were asked six health-related questions. The overall percentages of correct responses, by items, were as follows: treatment for diarrhea, 74.7%; place for defecation, 75.0%; benefits from vaccination, 36.3%; prevention of night blindness, 36.0%; water purification, 56.8%; and first aid for high fever, 57.2%. On average, the children correctly answered 3.4 items. This statistic was 4.5 among urban children compared with 3.1 among rural children. The increment in the proportion of children correctly answering each of the items was highly associated with additional years of schooling. As parental levels of education and the economic status of the households increased, so did knowledge scores. To achieve adequate levels of health knowledge, the social barriers that prevent school attendance in Bangladesh must be resolved, especially in rural areas.

Influence of socioeconomic factors on basic competencies of children in Bangladesh.

The effects of selected socioeconomic factors on basic competencies of children in Bangladesh were studied using primary data on 2520 children from all over the country. The residence of the child, years of schooling, parental education and economic status of the household were found to be important determinants of basic competencies of children.

PIP: This study examined the impact of selected socioeconomic factors on the competency of 11- and 12-year-old schoolchildren in reading, writing, arithmetic, and life skills knowledge in Bangladesh. The sample included 2520 children aged 11-12 years drawn from 30 clusters and selected with a staged systematic probability sampling technique. Reliability of responses was checked and found to be consistent in over 90% of cases. 49.8% of the sample were boys and 51.2% were girls. 76.7% were currently on a school roll, 9.5% had been to school but had dropped out, and 13.8% were never enrolled. 66% of rural mothers had no formal education; 1% of rural mothers and 10% of urban mothers had completed 10 or more years of education. Almost 50% of rural fathers and 22.6% of urban fathers had no formal education. Almost 50% of all children came from households that were in debt. 26.7% of children satisfied all four assessment criteria for competency. The children performed poorly in life skills and excelled the most in arithmetic. The logistic model indicates that residence of the child, the child's years of schooling, maternal level of education, father's level of education, and economic status were statistically significantly related to competency. Increased parental levels of education were related to an increased number of years of children's schooling. Urban children performed better than rural children in all skills. Economic status was significantly related only to reading and writing skills. Increases in years of schooling, parental level of education, and economic status were associated with higher scores on all skills.

Growth analysis by the first, second, and third derivatives of the Richards function.

The Richards function serves as a tool for growth (W) analysis by means of absolute growth rate (AGR), i.e. dW/dt, and relative growth rate (RGR), i.e. d(loge W)/dt. More information may be gained using the second derivative d2W/dt2, and the third derivative d3W/dt3 of the Richards function to determine the times when the second derivative time curve achieves a maximum, minimum, and zero. The latter separates growth acceleration and retardation. Exponential growth occurs as long as (RGR)2 is less than the relative acceleration rate added to a tolerance value. This period of growth does not extend to the point of maximum acceleration of the growth curve. The points of maximum and minimum acceleration are at equal time distances from the point of inflection. A straight line phase of growth is approximated between the times when d2W/dt2 is maximum and minimum. Thus, a mathematical model for the analysis of aging changes is presented. Methodology described here should be applicable to any biological system or subsystem. As an application, derivatives of the Richards function are used to provide information on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber kinetics.