Participants' perceptions of their involvement in a cardiovascular disease risk factor reduction program

A cardiovascular disease risk factor reduction program was implemented in the Niagara region. To gain an understanding of this program from the participants ' perspective, 10 participants of the program were interviewed to document their perceptions of what they learned in the program, their perceptions of their behaviour change and their perceptions of factors that facilitated or impeded any behaviour change. The learning style inventory and PET test were also given to the participants to further understand their perceptions. Findings unique to this study highlighted aspects of the andragogical model, self-directed learning theory, learning style preference and psychological type that were prominent in the participants' comments and perspectives. Implications for practice, theory development and further research are suggested.

Early detection and intervention for infants at risk of autism spectrum disorders

Autism is a developmental disorder that is characterized by abnonnal social interactions and communications as well as repetitive and restricted activities and interests. There is evidence of a genetic component, as 5% of younger siblings are diagnosed if their older sibling has been diagnosed. Autism is generally not diagnosed until age 3 at the earliest, yet it has been shown that early intervention for children with autism can greatly increase their functioning. Because of this, it is important that symptoms of autism are identified as early as possible so that diagnosis can occur as soon as possible to allow these children the earliest intervention. This thesis was divided into two parts. The first looked at the psychometrics of two proposed measures, the Parent Observation Checklist (POC), administered monthly, and the Infant Behavior Summary Evaluation (mSE), administered bimonthly, to see if they can be used with the infant population to identify autistic symptoms in infants who are at high risk for autism or related problems because they have an older sibling with autism. Study 1 reported acceptable psychometric properties of both the POC and IBSE in terms of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and predictive validity. These results provide preliminary evidence that parent report measures can help to detect early symptoms of ASD in infants. The POC was shown to differentiate infants who were diagnosed from a matched group that was not diagnosed by 3 years of age. The second part of this thesis involved a telephone interview of parents who reported developmental and/or behavior problems in their high-risk infants that may be early signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). During the interview, a service questionnaire was administered to see what interventions (including strategies recommended by the researchers) their at risk infants and affected older siblings were receiving, how satisfied the parents were with them and how effective they felt the interventions were. 3 Study 2 also yielded promising results. Parents utilized a variety of services for at risk infants and children with ASD. The interventions included empirically validated early intervention (e.g., ABA) to non-empirically validated treatments (e.g., diet therapy). The large number of nonempirically validated treatments parents used was surprising, yet parents reported being involved and satisfied, and thought that the services were effective. Parents' perceptions of their stress levels went down slightly and feelings of competence rose when they accessed services for their infants. Overall, the results of this thesis provide new evidence that parent-report methods hold promise as early detection instruments for ASD in at-risk infants. More research is needed to further validate these instruments as well as to understand the variables related to the parents' choice of early intervention for their at risk and affected children.

Risk-taking behaviours in adolescent boys and girls : sexuality and dietary health

This study examined adolescents' reported sexual and dietary health-risk behaviours and perceptions. Specifically, this study analyzed the data of 600 students (300 male~ 300 female) in grades 9, I 1, and OAC (mean, standard deviation). The mean age of the students in the sample is 16 with a standard deviation of 1.6. The study was a secondary analysis ofthe first-year data of a 3-year longitudinal study conducted by Youth Lifestyle Choices-Community University Research Alliance (YLC-CURA) on adolescents. To explore sexuality and dietary health, this study purposefully selected sections of the survey that represented sex and dieting behaviours of adolescents. Separate gender and age data analyses revealed different patterns among the variables. Specifically., findings revealed that adolescents who engaged in recent sexual activities were more likely to have a relatively more positive body image perception and were relatively more likely to engage in disordered eating. Across both genders and 3 age levels, adolescents reported that despite their unhealthy dietary habits they felt that dieting was not a high-risk behaviour. Results were discussed in terms of educational implication for sexual health programs.

Unpacking Pieces of a Puzzle: Understanding Obesity-Related Health Risk through Lifestyle Behaviours and Well-Being

The primary objective of this non-experimental study was to examine the differences based on obesity-related health risk in terms of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and well-being in adults. Participants (N = 50; Mage = 38.50, SDage = 14.21) were asked to wear a SenseWear Armband (SWA) across a seven day monitoring period followed by a questionnaire package. Using the National Institute of Health’s (1998) criteria, participants were classified as either least, increased, or high risk based on waist circumference and Body Mass Index scores. Differences between these classifications were found in the amount of time spent in active energy expenditure for bouts of ten minutes or more (p = .002); specifically between least and high risk (p < .05). No other differences (p > .05) emerged. Participants’ also perceived the SWA as a practical and worthwhile device. Overall, these findings provide practical applications and future directions for health promotional research.