Policymakers considering the 2009 reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) have an opportunity to strengthen federal provisions to promote primary, preventive, and developmental child health care. Several pieces of legislation introduced in 2007 focused on aspects of child health quality, but none placed a specific emphasis on primary care. This issue brief descr...

The latter half of the twentieth century has witnessed some striking changes in social fabric of British children's lives. The proportion of births outside marriage has increased dramatically, from 5% in 1960 to 30% in 1991.1 There are currently over one million lone parent families in Britain, nearly a fifth of all families with children. The number of mothers with children under 5 who work ou...

Unprecedented transformations in the financing and organization of child health care are driving change in the practice of pediatrics at a remarkably fast pace. The health care needs of children also are evolving, reflecting changing disease patterns, new technologies, and shifting socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of children and families. Changes in the financing and organization ...

OBJECTIVE To review recent health policies related to measuring child health care quality, the selection processes of national child health quality measures, the nationally recommended quality measures for child mental health care and their evidence strength, the progress made toward developing new measures, and early lessons learned from these national efforts. METHODS Methods used included ...

neurological development is largely a result of the learning that takes place starting at birth and during the earliest years of life. child care and preschool education programs are key to predicting ultimate success in school and life. children who attend preschool or other early education programs have enhanced cognitive, verbal, and social development (which is maintained into the first few...

Only a few rich nations are currently at replacement levels of fertility and many are considerably below. We believe that changes in the status of women are driving fertility change. At low levels of female status, women specialize in household production and fertility is high. In an intermediate phase, women have increasing opportunities to earn a living outside the home yet still shoulder the...

This article provides an integrative review of the effectiveness of and possible developmental mechanisms associated with preventive interventions for preterm children. An analysis of randomized clinical trials carried out within the last 15 years was framed within a contemporary developmental model emphasizing the role of parental adjustments to preterm children's characteristics. Evidence sug...

QIAS Principle: 7.4 When child care professionals keep up to date with current practice, the outcomes for children, families and themselves are positive. These outcomes are further strengthened when there are opportunities for professional development that foster and improve caregiving, teaching and practical skills and knowledge. However, it can be confronting for child care professionals to a...

Considerable research on helpers-at-the-nest demonstrates the positive effects of firstborn daughters on a mother's reproductive success and the survival of her children compared with women who have firstborn sons. This research is largely restricted to agricultural settings. In the present study we ask: "Does 'daughter first' improve mothers' reproductive success in a hunting and gathering con...