Rural-dwelling older adults often have difficulty obtaining needed medical and social services due to factors such as physician shortages, lack of transportation, and financial limitations. These factors are further exacerbated during an emergency. Understanding these challenges is important to implement successful health promotion interventions…

Few people would disagree that children with disabilities need adequate health insurance. But what kind of health insurance coverage would be optimal for these children? Peter Szilagyi surveys the current state of insurance coverage for children with special health care needs and examines critical aspects of coverage with an eye to helping policy…

This study discusses young couples' interactions with maternity and health services paying particular attention to men's perspectives. Findings are based on research conducted in Scotland with men (aged 16-25) and their teenage partners (aged 16-19). Most young men were very involved in their child's life and provided support and care to their…

Factitious disorder by proxy (FDP), historically known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, is a diagnosis applied to parents and other caregivers who intentionally feign, exaggerate, and/or induce illness or injury in a child to get attention from health professionals and others. A review of the recent literature and our experience as consultants…

The health care needs of older adults can be complex and multifaceted. Safe, effective, equitable, and person-centered service provision relies on skilled interprofessional, team-based practice. Too often, students seeking a career specializing in gerontology are not exposed to such interprofessional, team-based learning and practice during their…

This study describes the relationships between clients' perception of cultural competency of mental health providers and service outcomes. A study was conducted of a public children's mental health program that used a community-based, systems of care approach. Data from a subsample (N = 111) of families with youths (average age 12.3) and primarily…

Rotavirus disease is a common cause of health care utilization and almost all children are affected by the age of 5 years. In Canada, at the time of this survey (2008-09), immunization rates for rotavirus were less than 20%. We assessed the determinants of a parent's acceptance to have their child immunized against rotavirus. The survey…

This study examined the mediating and moderating role of social resources on the association between age and change in functional health for three age groups of older adults. Data were provided by those in their 60s, 80s, and 100s who participated in the first two phases of the Georgia Centenarian study. Analyses confirmed the study's hypothesis…

Objective: U.S. and Canadian data demonstrate decreasing inpatient days, increasing nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits, and short supply of child psychiatrists. Our study aims to determine whether aftercare reduces ED visits and/or readmission in adolescents with first psychiatric hospitalization. Method: We conducted a population-based…

Objective: Epidemiological studies in the United States consistently find autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to be overrepresented in high socioeconomic status (SES) families. These findings starkly contrast with SES gradients of many health conditions, and may result from SES inequalities in access to services. We hypothesized that prenatal measures…

Context: Health information technology (HIT) is a national policy priority. Knowledge about the special needs, if any, of rural health care providers should be taken into account as policy is put into action. Little is known, however, about rural-urban differences in HIT adoption at the national level. Purpose: To conduct the first national…

The health literacy movement has been socially constructed over time. Unlike the consumer health information movement, which developed with broad public support, the health literacy movement has been fashioned primarily from the top down, initiated by policy makers and imposed on targeted populations. Interest in the health literacy movement has…

This project concerned the creation of an inventory for college students of treatment fears and obstacles to seeking mental health services. Unlike previous research, undergraduate participants generated a pool of items to measure fears of and obstacles to seeking services. Subsequent rational and statistical refinement resulted in a 29-item scale…

Background: As many as 20 % of children have diagnosable mental health conditions and nearly all of them receive pediatric primary health care. However, most children with serious mental health concerns do not receive mental health services. This study tested hypotheses that pediatric primary care providers (PPCPs) in relationships with mental…

Objectives: This study examined the knowledge, attitudes and practices of clinicians in promoting physical activity to prostate cancer survivors. Design: A purposeful sample was used and cross-sectional data were collected using an anonymous, self-reported online questionnaire or an identical paper-based questionnaire. Settings: Health services…