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Abstract Background Having breakfast, eating food 'cooked from scratch' and eating together as a family have health and psychosocial benefits for young children. This study investigates how these parentally determined behaviours relate to children's dietary quality and uses a psychological model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), to investigate socio-cognitive predictors of these behaviours in socially disadvantaged mothers of young children in Scotland. Method Three hundred mothers of children aged 2 years (from 372 invited to participate, 81% response rate), recruited via General Practitioners, took part in home-based semi-structured interviews in a cross-sectional survey of maternal psychological factors related to their children's dietary quality. Regression analyses examined statistical predictors of maternal intentions and feeding behaviours. Results Mothers of children with poorer quality diets were less likely than others to provide breakfast every day, cook from 'scratch' and provide 'proper sit-down meals'. TPB socio-cognitive factors (intentions, perceived behavioural control) significantly predicted these three behaviours, and attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioural control significantly predicted mothers' intentions, with medium to large effect sizes. Conclusions Interventions to improve young children's dietary health could benefit from a focus on modifying maternal motivations and attitudes in attempts to improve feeding behaviours.

Abstract Background Response rates in surveys have been falling over the last 20 years, leading to the need for novel approaches to enhance recruitment. This study describes strategies used to maximise recruitment to a home interview survey of mothers with young children living in areas of high deprivation. Methods Mothers of two year old children received a letter from their GP inviting them to take part in a survey on diet. Participants were subsequently recruited by a researcher. The researcher first tried to contact potential participants by telephone, to discuss the study and make an appointment to conduct a home interview. Where telephone numbers for women could not be obtained from GP records, web searches of publicly available databases were conducted. After obtaining correct telephone numbers, up to six attempts were made to establish contact by telephone. If this was unsuccessful, a postal request for telephone contact was made. Where no telephone contact was achieved, the researcher sent up to two appointments by post to conduct a home interview. Results Participating GPs invited 372 women to take part in a home based interview study. GP practices provided telephone numbers for 162 women, of which 134 were valid numbers. The researcher identified a further 187 numbers from electronic directories. Further searches of GP records by practice staff yielded another 38 telephone numbers. Thus, telephone numbers were obtained for 99% of potential participants. The recruitment rate from telephone contacts was 77%. Most of the gain was achieved within four calls. For the remaining women, contact by post and home visits resulted in 18 further interviews, corresponding to 35% of the women not recruited by telephone. The final interview rate was 82%. This was possible because personal contact was established with 95% of potential participants. Conclusion This study achieved a high response rate in a hard to reach group. This was mainly achieved by first establishing contact by telephone. The use of multiple sources identified the telephone numbers of almost all the sample. Multiple attempts at telephone contact followed by postal approaches led to a high home interview rate.

The article focuses on the findings of archaeologists regarding the presence of silver in ancient Roman pottery. It mentions that archaeologists studied common pottery from excavation sites in various ancient places including Greece, Jerusalem, Beth Shean, Sepphoris and Dor to evaluate the presence of silver concentrations in pottery. The study on the presence of silver in pottery was realized because archaeologists found samples of silver composition on ancient Roman pottery in Israel.

The article focuses on the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project whose aims are to assess the archeological record of a remote region of south coastal Anatolia through reconstruction of the ancient Cilician landscape. It assesses the impact of human ecological forces on the Cilician landscape by employing a number of strategies including geoarchaeological analysis, remote sensing, and experimental archaeology. A fundamental component of the survey is pottery collection and analysis. It examines probable kiln site at Syedra and at Biçkici.