Research Proposal “Knowledge and attitudes of Head Start workers in relation to smoking and infant mortality rates in African American population”
Bhanat Eldrin Lalitchandra
Research Techniques DPH 680 Research Proposal
Introduction: A lot has been said about the relation between maternal smoking and infant mortality in the recent past. According to a report from CDC, the infant mortality rate for 2013 was 5.96 infant deaths per 1000 live births. Sudden infant death syndrome was found to be the 4th leading cause of infant mortality (Kochanek, Xu, Murphy, Miniño, & Kung, 2011). Maternal cigarette smoking is an
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From the year 1960 to 2005 the infant mortality rates among the African Americans has increased by 1.6 to 2.4 times more than the whites. The infant mortality rates in this population is mainly because of the five causes that are, congenital malformations, short gestation, sudden infant death syndrome, maternal complications and placental membranes problems. Maternal smoking is considered to be a risk factor for all of these problems. The African American population is prone to these complications because of various problems like, a young age at pregnancy, decreased education status, decreased …show more content…
When they themselves do not understand the importance to quit smoking, how is it possible that they can educate the general population. The multiple barriers faced by the health workers usually are, cultural, personal social and environmental cofactors. Stress might act as a personal facilitator to continue smoking. Sometime they do not have the knowledge or access to join smoking cessation programs. Sometimes according to the article, “The midwife’s role in providing smoking cessation interventions for pregnant women: The views of midwives working with high risk, disadvantaged women in public sector antenatal services in South Africa “, (Murphy, Steyn & Mathews, 2016) the health workers know about the risks of smoking but are not capable enough of disseminating that information to the general public due to lack of knowledge, skills and personal confidence. The correlation of these with my study is that the proper education of the head start workers will involve the brushing up of their counselling skills and their level of education should be up to
Head Start is a federally funded, education development program that was created in 1965. The program provides education and services for eligible children from low-income families. Head Start 's philosophy focuses on the development of social-emotional, physical and mental health, nutrition, and working with families and the community and stated “low-income people should help plan and run their own programs” (p. 41-42). Head Start has truly expanded their resources over the years by providing a full school year for ages 3-6 years old and offering services such as health screenings, referrals, and social services (p. 42). Most importantly, each and every Head Start program must follow the federal Head Start Program Performace Standards that address all areas of development (p. 42). The program is truly committed to support low-income families and creating an education system that supports all aspects of the child.
Research for Head Start has found many lasting benefits for learning and educational achievement for its attendees. Including school progress and educational attainment, social behavior, and reduction of delinquency and crime that is usually found within disadvantaged families. Head Start addresses all the guidelines within the Family Impact checklist on providing all adequate services to low income families. As mentioned above, under Family Support and Responsibilities, Head Start is a federally funded program, which also receives donations and grants. Therefore, the federal government must increase funding to the Head Start program so children from low-income families, get early education services to help them succeed in school. Since Head Start programs have minimal funding there are not enough spots available to include every child in need of the services provided by this program, especially within certain regions.
meeting educational, health, social service, and parental needs. “Head Start also wants to help bring about a greater degree of social competence in these children (Mallory and Goldsmith,
Infant mortality rate constitutes the death of a baby before their first birthday. Mortality rates around the world differ tremendously with America leading the first world countries at an alarming rate of 6.1 deaths per 1,000 births. Conversely, Finland and Japan secure the last, most desirable position, with deaths totaling 2.3 per 1,000 births, as of 2010. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) In 2014, over 23,000 babies died in the United States. (CDC, 2016) Exploring the mortality rates in America brings light to a dire need for additional interventions and research as to why this developing nation has the highest rate of infant deaths before the age of 1 year old. African Americans face the worst outcomes of infant death compared to whites, Latino, and their Native American peers in North Carolina. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) This paper will explore why African American are the leading race for infant mortality and the steps that health communities need to take to address this devastating occurrence.
Head Start is a federally funded government agency, that provides low income youth with pre-school and health services (Barnett, 2007). However, the long term effects of Head Start are extremely difficult to measure (Lee, Zhai, Brooks-Gunn, Han, & Waldfogel, 2013). Subsequently, Head Start has become one of the most controversial government agencies (Nathan, 2007).
For our other target audience of pregnant women, we dedicated two slides to smoking during pregnancy and the repercussions of smoking around their new young baby. We gave them information such as a low birth weight, smaller organs, likelihood of cot death and an increased risk of miscarriage. After they have had their baby, we gave them other information. This information included things such as meningitis, hearing loss, cot death, asthma and breathing problems. As well as this, we also wanted to emphasise the mothers health and how it would effect them.
In the United States, the process of childbirth is far more dangerous for African American women than it is for White women. For African American women, the path to a healthy birth is riddled with barriers. There are many health disparities between the two races. African American women face much higher low-birth and infant mortality rates; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published that although infant mortality rates in the U.S. have dropped by over 10% in the past ten years, a large gap continues to exist between the health of the races during the entire childbirth process. (World Health Organization, 2010) In the United States, Black infants are more than twice as likely to die within the first year of life as a White infant, and this disparity has not seen advancements in the last century. Many of these deaths can be attributed to low birth weight, and preterm birth among black infants.
Standards of the Head Start program are to deliver comprehensive, healthy development of low income families, and individualized services to support school readiness. The new change within the Head Start program was made according to research for what has been known to work in Early Education to help develop children’s healthy development and schools readiness. The new standards are to maintain and help strengthen child safety, family engagements which are meant to help children to succeed. Head Start has 1,400 performance standards. Head start has become an outcome focus group within the head start program. The Head Start program has updated, removed, and reorganized standards to make it easier on providers. The last time the standards was advised was
The mission of Petite Genie, is to provide an atmosphere where developmentally appropriate assessment, and active learning is key. Through hard work and play students have the ability to learn at their own pace, and in their own way. We provide a culture that believes that education is fun. Plant your little seedlings on steady educational ground. We will provide an atmosphere that is rich with learning opportunities at every corner, and caters to the different learning styles education is fun, the children of Petit Genie will play with a purpose.
Quitting smoking before becoming pregnant is the ideal situation. For women that are already pregnant quitting early can still give your baby a chance of healthy development. Some mothers and adults may think it is ok to start smoking after the baby is born, but secondhand smoke is still harmful to the baby’s health. Intervention programs start with your primary care physician and the nursing staff. They screen for tobacco usage in the adult’s home where the baby with life or currently living. Will give brief advice on how to stop smoking, provide counseling referrals for behavioral interventions. Also, pharmaceutical intervention in non-pregnant adults living in the same household, to reduce the risk of second-hand smoke exposer. Community
According to Hill, Young, Burley, Carter & Lang (2013), smoking amongst teenage girls is the most popular risk factor during pregnancy. The numerous effects of smoking while pregnant are (a) premature births (b) still births (c) miscarriages and (d) low birth rates. There are fifty seven percent of teenage mothers that smoke
Over the years, statistics show that smoking cigarettes can cause many serious health issues. These issues compound when the smoker is expecting. Fourteen percent of U.S. mothers smoke while pregnant despite knowing the fact that smoking causes harm to both mother and child. In younger mothers, age 25 and under, that number rises significantly to 20 percent. If a woman smokes then becomes pregnant, she must decide whether or not to quit. Woman are aware that cigarettes are not good for them or their baby, but do they understand the severity of smoking while carrying their unborn child in their womb? In this paper I will evaluate how women who smoke while pregnant are at high risk for early miscarriage, preterm birth, and birth defects. Is smoking a cigarette worth risking the life of your unborn child?
Infants born from mothers that smoked are three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a condition in which babies who appears healthy die suddenly while sleeping, as are babies whose mothers do not smoke during pregnancy. This is also a point of contention between researchers as well. "Children born to mothers who smoked while pregnant, and possibly children whose grandmothers smoked while pregnant, have a higher risk of developing childhood asthma (Child)." Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be born with birth defects such as cleft lip or palate and to have low birth weight.
Secondhand smoking causes many defects for children as they grow up. As parents of young children smoke in the car, these children are exposed to this secondhand smoke frequently. According to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infection, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)." As these children group up, the health problems resulting from the secondhand smoke exposure affects their lifestyle and future.
Smoking starts causing harm, even to the unborn. A mother is a baby`s only form of life support through the umbilical cord. So,