Vicarious Birth Experiences and Childbirth Fear: Does It Matter How Young Canadian Women Learn About Birth?

In our secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey, we explored predictors of childbirth fear for young women (n = 2,676). Young women whose attitudes toward pregnancy and birth were shaped by the media were 1.5 times more likely to report childbirth fear. Three factors that were associated with reduced fear of birth were women’s confidence in reproductive knowledge, witnessing a birth, and learning about pregnancy and birth through friends. Offering age-appropriate birth education during primary and secondary education, as an alternative to mass-mediated information about birth, can be evaluated as an approach to reduce young women’s childbirth fear.     

School-based prevention: effects on obesity and physical performance after 4 years

Juvenile obesity is increasing worldwide. Preventive strategies are warranted. The school-based Children's Health Interventional Trial (the CHILT Project) combines health education and physical activity for children. The effect on obesity and physical performance was studied after four years in 12 primary schools compared with five control schools. Anthropometric data were recorded. Physical performance was measured by a coordination test for children (balancing backwards, one-legged obstacle jumping, lateral jumping, sideways movements) and a 6-min run (endurance). No difference in the prevalence and incidence of overweight and obesity was found between the intervention and control schools before and after the intervention. Remission of overweight was higher in the intervention schools (23.2 vs. 19.2%), but not significant. An increase in coordination related to lateral jumping and balancing backwards was apparent in the intervention schools (30.6, s = 10.8 vs. 26.1, s = 10.8, P = 0.005; 21.8, s = 11.8 vs. 19.4, s = 11.7, P = 0.007), and the increase in endurance performance tended to be higher in intervention schools (100.8, s = 122.7 vs. 92.8, s = 126.0, P = 0.055), adjusted for age, sex, baseline test result, and body mass index at final examination. Therefore, preventive intervention in primary school offers the possibility to improve physical performance in children. The prevalence and incidence of obesity were not affected.     

Young people's readings of a political cartoon and the concept of multimodal literacy

This article uses young people's responses to a newspaper cartoon as a way of exploring the concept of multimodal literacy. The discussion draws on data from a study which aimed to elicit the geopolitical views of 16–19-year-olds in a multi-ethnic British city by using cartoons as a way of encouraging them to talk about their thoughts and feelings towards recent political events. We argue that, contrary to popular perceptions, political cartoons are complex and polysemous and require a particular form of literacy. This not only encompasses the ability to read visual grammar, but also an understanding of the cartoon genre and how it is constructed, with a view to conveying particular meanings within a specific social and cultural context.