A statistical analysis of a Haitian Mothercraft Center

Mothercraft, or Nutritional Rehabilitation, Centers have been instituted throughout the Third World, in order to alleviate malnutrition in preschool populations. Analysis of Centers, however, is complicated by problems with evaluative methods. There is controversy over the best measure of a child's nutritional status, while confusion has also arisen from the use of static methods for dynamic data. And this author noted that maintenance of any certain Percent Standard Weight (PSW) is often wrongly interpreted as a 100 Percent Standard Weight Gain. From 1964 through 1969, when the Center in Fond Parisien was operating, agricultural improvement programs were also being conducted there. Improvements seen in the nutritional survey could not, therefore, be credited to any single program. The community child health survey indicated that the health of the preschool children who never attended the Center worsened during this period. But both surveys were subject to sampling bias, and no clear conclusions could be drawn. Fond Parisien Center data indicated initial age and PSW as statistically significant influences on the percentage points a child gained in his PSW (percent gain). Regression equations based on these two variables were found to predict the percent gain after three and four months in the Center. Indications from this data are that most children do not profit in their percent gain from a fourth month in the Center. Follow-up data was inconclusive. Comparisons between non-Center and Center children indicated no long-term benefits of the Center. Detailed long-range study of a few Centers is needed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Statistics

Department dc:contributor.department

Statistics

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1974

Author dc:creator

• Cengel, Karla VanMeter

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54842

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54842