Enhancing personal effectiveness : the impacts of Costa Rica Outward Bound on students in an independent school in southwestern Ontario

This project examines students in a private school in southwestern Ontario on a 17 -day Costa Rica Outward Bound Rainforest multielement course. The study attempted to discover whether voluntary teenage participants could increase their self-perceptions of life effectiveness by participating in a 17-day expedition. A total of9 students participated in the study. The experimental design that was implemented was a mixed methods design. Participants filled in a Life Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ) at four predesignated times during the study. These time intervals occurred (a) before the trip commenced, (b) the first day of the trip, ( c) the last day of the trip, and (d) 1 month after the trip ended. Fieldnotes and recordings from informal group debriefing sessions were also used to gather information. Data collected in this study were analyzed in a variety of ways by the researcher. Analyses that were run on the data included the Friedman test for covariance, means, medians, and the Wilcoxon Pairs Test. The questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively, and the fieldnotes were analyzed qualitatively. Nonparametric statistical analysis was implemented as a result of the small group size of participants. Both sets of data were grouped and discussed according to similarities and differences. The data indicate that voluntary teenage participants experience significant changes over time in the areas of time management, social competency, emotional control, active initiative, and self-confidence. The types of outcomes from this study illustrate that Outward Bound-type opportunities should be offered to teenagers in Ontario schools as a means to bring about self-development.

Physical activity of children with developmental coordination disorder in the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder : does gender matter?

Baerg, S., Cairney, J., Hay, J., Rempel, L. and Faught, B.E. (2009). Physical Activity of Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder in the Presence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Does Gender Matter? Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, CANADA. Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have difficulties in motor coordination. Attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is considered the condition most co-morbid with DCD at approximately 50%. Children with DCD are generally less physically active (PA) than their peers, while children with ADHD are often considered more physically active. It is not known if the physical activity patterns of children with DCD-ADHD resemble those of children with primarily DCD or that of their healthy peers. The primary objective of this research was to contrast physical activity patterns between children with DCD, DCD-ADHD, and healthy controls. Since boys are generally reported as more physically active than girls, a secondary objective was to determine if gender moderated the association between groups and physical activity. A sample of males (n=66) and females (n=44) were recruited from the Physical Health Activity Study Team (PHAST) longitudinal study. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (2nd Ed.) was used to identify probable cases of DCD, and Connor's Revised Parent Rating Scale- Short Version to identify ADHD. Subjects (mean age=12.8±.4 yrs) were allocated to three groups; DCD (n=32), DCD-ADHD (n=30) and control (n=48). Physical activity was monitored for seven days with the Actical® accelerometer (activity count, step count and energy expenditure). Children completed the Participation Questionnaire (PQ) during the in-school session of data collection for the PHAST study. Height, weight and body mass index (BMI) were also determined. Analysis of variance showed significant group differences for activity count (F(2,56)=5.36, p=.007) and PQ (F(2,44 )=6. 71, p=.003) in males, while a significant group difference for step count (F(2,37)=3.55, p=.04) was found in females. Post hoc comparison tests (Tukey) identified significantly lower PQ and activity count between males with OCD and controls (p=.004) and males with DCD-ADHD and controls (p=.003). Conversely, females with DCD-ADHD had significantly more step counts than their controls (p=.01). Analysis of covariance demonstrated a gender by DCD groups negative interaction for males (activity count) (F(2,92):;:3.11, p=.049) and a positive interaction for females (step count) (F(1,92)=4.92, p=.009). Hyperactivity in females with DCD-ADHD appears to contribute to more physical activity, whereas DCD may contribute to decreased activity in males with DCD and DCDADHD. Further research is needed to examine gender differences in physical activity within the context of DCD and ADHD.

The association between blood pressure and vascular characteristics in children

Hypertension is thought to exist in up to five percent of children. A select number of studies have investigated the role elevated blood pressure plays in pediatric atherosclerotic progression. However these studies contain significant methodological flaws and fail to recognize important confounding factors. Therefore, the influence of elevated blood pressure on arterial health in children remains to be clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between blood pressure (BP) and arterial thickness and stiffuess in children. Common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT) and distensibility (Dist), as well as systemic pulse wave velocity (PWV) were measured in 21 elevated blood pressure (EBP; BP ~ 95th percentile) and 83 normal blood pressure (NBP; BP < 90th percentile) children 11-14 years of age. Both EBP and NBP groups demonstrated BP within the normal clinical range, but EBP showed significantly elevated BP as compared to the NBP group. Independent t-tests failed to show significant differences between the EBP and NBP groups for CCA IMT (0.43 ± 0.05 mm and 0.42 ± 0.06 mm, respectively) and Dist (0.0058 ± 0.0024 mmHg-1 and 0.0064 ± 0.0019 mmHil respectively). In contrast, a significantly elevated PWV (pcovariance controlling for the effects of maturation, age, sex and obesity. This study shows for the first time that children with elevated BP do not have significantly altered central arterial structure and function as measured through CCA Dist and IMT, but do possess significantly altered systemic arterial stiffuess as measured through PWV. This may be the result of sympathetic predominance and its significant influence on the peripheral vasculature. More studies are needed to clearly illustrate the temporal sequence of pediatric atherosclerotic progression in response to elevated BP.