Body mass index trajectory throughout adolescence: a comparison of maltreated adolescents by maltreatment type to a community sample.

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is associated with adult obesity, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between childhood maltreatment and obesity during adolescence. OBJECTIVES: To compare the body mass index (BMI) trajectory of adolescents with a specific type of maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect) to adolescents with another type of maltreatment (maltreated sample n = 303) and to a comparison group (n = 151). METHODS: Individual growth models were used to estimate average growth trajectories of BMI percentile separately by sex (ages 9 to 22 years). Unconditional and conditional linear and quadratic growth models were estimated and maltreatment types were added before including covariates (ethnicity, anxiety, depression and pubertal stage). RESULTS: BMI growth trajectories of sexually abused girls and neglected girls were significantly different from comparison girls. Comparison girls had a growth trajectory that reached its apex at 15 years and then began to decline, whereas sexually abused girls and neglected girls had lower BMI than comparison girls until age 16-17 years when their BMI was higher than comparison girls. CONCLUSIONS: Late adolescence appears to be the developmental period during which differences in BMI percentiles become pronounced between girls with sexual abuse or with neglect vs. comparison girls.

Senior centers. Shifting student paradigms.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an innovative service learning experience for new nursing students involving senior citizen centers. Junior nursing students (n = 128) were assigned in cohorts to one of five centers for a 5-week rotation. A questionnaire was administered post hoc to the students, teaching assistants, center directors, and a sample of senior citizens at each site. The majority of students believed the experience was a valuable part of the curriculum and saw prospects for community health nursing roles. However, they had concerns regarding losing time in acute care and relevance and number of assignments, and reported some difficulty in applying classroom content in the setting. Directors and senior citizens were universally positive about the experience. Student and teaching assistant reports were key in revising the curriculum. Revisions include logistics of the placement of the experience and assignments as well as incorporation of this experience within the community context.

Postpartum nursing for Korean mothers.

PIP: Growing numbers of Korean-Americans require US health care workers to become knowledgeable of and sensitive to the cultural beliefs and customs of Korean patients. To further such understanding, health behaviors related to infant care and family involvement in the postpartum period were observed in a Los Angeles, California, hospital located in a Korean community. Notable in unassimilated Korean families were the power of the mother-in-law to assume control of decisions regarding infant care and the tendency of new mothers to defer to their mothers-in-law rather than ask nurses for advice. There is a cultural perception that the new mother is sick and unable to handle her infant. Other practices identified include a special diet of seaweed soup, avoidance of cold (including the rejection of ice packs against pain), resistance to breast feeding, preference for a male child, and modesty in the presence of men. In some cases, clinical considerations conflicted with cultural traditions. Respectful teaching, in nonverbal ways if there is a language barrier, and modeling of infant care techniques are recommended. Disregard for childbirth-associated cultural traditions on the part of medical staff can only increase the stress for the infant and family.^ieng