Validation of the Turkish Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire.

AIM: The most common cause of death in childhood is unintentional injury. Most childhood injuries occur when children are under the supervision of caregivers. There is no valid and reliable instrument for measuring the parents' supervision attributes in Turkey. The aim of this study was to adapt the Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire to Turkish. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This research was methodological. The data were collected through a questionnaire that consisted of 11 questions about the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the family and the Turkish Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire. The Questionnaire, developed by Morrongiello and House, is a 5-point Likert-type scale and consists of 29 items. High scores obtained from the scale, which has no cut-off, indicate a high supervisory behavior. The language adaptation and content validity of the scale were completed by experts. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for construct validity. Reliability was tested by internal consistency coefficients. RESULTS: Five hundred sixty people participated in the study, 81.9% of whom were mothers. The mean age of the mothers was 33.8±4.6 years and the mean age of the fathers was 37.2±5.1 years. The percentage of university graduates was 56.8% among mothers and 53.9% among fathers. According to the confirmatory factor analysis, the fit index values were as follows: Standardized Root Mean Square Residual =0.097, Goodness of Fit Index =0.80, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation =0.089, Comparative Fit Index =0.88, Non-Normed Fit Index =0.87. The fit index values were moderate and confirmed 4-factor structure. It was found that the internal consistency coefficient calculated for reliability was 0.75 for the whole scale and ranged between 0.57 and 0.79 for the subscales. CONCLUSION: The Turkish Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire is a valid and reliable measurement tool. Further research is needed to determine the current situation regarding supervisory behaviors.

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke by healthy children aged below five (Preliminary study).

AIM: Children are commonly affected by environmental tobacco smoke. The presence of exposure can be deduced from urinary urine kotinine/creatinine ratio and history. The aim of this study was to investigate passive smoking in healthy children between one-month and five year old, and to determine the adverse effects of passive smoking on child health. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Children between one-month and five year old who were regularly monitored for health were included following informed consent given by their parents. The questionnaire method was used. Demographic variables, respiratory tract infections, recurrent infections were questioned. The levels of cotinine, creatinine were measured and the cotinine/creatinine ratios were calculated in urine specimens taken from the children. Growth status and infection frequency were determined using demographic data, cotinine/creatinine ratios in urine, exposure rate to second-hand tobacco smoke of the children. RESULTS: The ratio of household smokers was 70.3%, the ratio of non-smokers was 29.7%. Fifty percent of the mothers were smokers. Urinary cotinine/creatinine ratios were found to be significantly higher in children of smokers compared with children of non-smokers (p=0.011). One third of the children was evaluated as passive smokers. The presence of a smoker at home and the increase in the number of cigarettes smoked during the day increased the frequency of acute respiratory infections (p=0.047). CONCLUSION: In these regularly-monitored preschool children, we found frequent exposure to cigarette smoke. This study contributes to national data and will aid in increasing the awareness for the deleterious effects of passive smoking on child health.

A retrospective study with ICAST-R (ispcan child abuse screening tools-retrospective) questionnaire for determination of child abuse in first year medical students in Turkish population.

Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) is an important problem both in Turkey and worldwide. Unfortunately, we still don't have enough and reliable data on this important subject. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of childhood maltreatment in a population of first year medical students in a Turkish university using the retrospective version of the ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool (ICAST-R). One hundred seventy three first year medical students, aged between 18 and 24 years, who agreed to complete the ICAST-R questionnaire, were recruited in our study. Of 173 students who completed the survey, 51.4% are found to be subjected to at least one type of child abuse (physical, emotional or sexual). The prevalence is higher in male gender and the difference is statistically significant. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse exposure rates are found to be 23.1%, 40.5% and 11% respectively. Physical and emotional abuse rates are higher in male gender and the difference is statistically significant. We did not find any statistically significant association between gender and sexual abuse. Efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect are growing in our country, as they are worldwide. However, child abuse is still common and a problematic issue. It is important to determine the prevalence of child abuse in order to raise awareness. We need further studies investigating not only prevalence but also risk factors to have reliable data for our country.

Factors influencing outcome of inpatient pediatric resuscitation.

The aims of this study were: 1) To define the rate of long-term survivors (LTS) after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in children; 2) To identify the predictors of survival in pediatric resuscitation; and 3) To assess the outcome six months after discharge. Three groups of patients were identified based on outcome: 1. Long-term survivors (LTS), who were discharged, 2. Short-term survivors (STS), who survived longer than 24 hours after CPR but not until discharge, and 3. Nonsurvivors (NS), who died within 24 hours after their arrest. Of the 67 patients, 10 (14.9%) children were STS, while 46 (68.7%) were NS. Only eleven (16.4%) were LTS who were eventually discharged from the hospital and six were alive six months after discharge. Four patients had neurological sequelae. Less than 5 minutes' duration of CPR and reactive pupils at the onset of cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) were the most important factors that predicted long term survival. We suggest that a positive pupillary light reflex at the onset of CPA and the duration of CPR should be considered as important predictors of survival in children with CPA.