The home is a significant place for exposure to secondhand smoke for children and non-smoking adults. This study explored factors that would convince families to adopt household smoking bans and actions to create and maintain smoke-free homes. Interviews were conducted with adults in 102 households in rural Georgia. Participating families had a…

The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to nurses' application of motivational interviewing (MI) to counselling overweight and obese children aged 5 and 7 years, accompanied by their parents. Ten welfare centre and school health service nurses trained and practiced MI for 6 months, then participated in focus group…

Background: Few recent studies have focused on the role of school nurses who predominantly care for children with special health care needs (CSHCN). The primary aim of this study was to explore differences related to (a) child health conditions covered, (b) direct care procedures, (c) care management functions, and (c) consultation sources used…

The weak economy is challenging the child care program budget. Fluctuations in enrollment come up against rising costs making every penny count. So for many reasons a federal program that helps defray the costs of snacks and meals in child care programs is particularly important and timely. In this article, the author pushes for the…

The appropriate and safe use of psychotropic medications in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders is discussed. Best practices principles include completing a psychiatric and medical evaluation, creating a treatment and monitoring plan, and educating the patient and family about the disorder and the treatment.

Eating patterns among school-aged children continue to be highly reliant on frequent consumption of food items that are perceived to have low or poor nutritional value. This has become a serious public health concern. In this New Zealand-based study, primary school children's food consumption behaviour was investigated via two sources: a…

The analysis of the data on 22,545 smoking mothers and their 18-month-old children finds that maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for externalizing behavior problem at the age of 18-months. The child's gender is found to have no moderating effects on the findings.

Objective: Methylphenidate is a leading first-line treatment for ADHD (AD/HD). This stimulant has long been suspected to adversely affect sleeping patterns of treated individuals, especially children. There are few studies on the effects of recently developed longer-acting methylphenidate treatments, such as once-daily oral or transdermal…

Many newly arrived international adoptees (IA) have difficulties with eating, sleeping, and self-soothing/self-stimulating (SS) behaviors. However, to date the prevalence of these problems and associated risk factors have not been clearly identified. Therefore, we proposed to evaluate 387 IA for the presence of these self-regulation and behavioral…

Objective: The "T"eaching, "R"aising, "A"nd "C"ommunicating with "K"ids (TRACK) program was a longitudinal pilot-trial intervention designed to assist mothers living with HIV (MLHs) to disclose their serostatus to their young children (age 6-12 years). Method: MLH and child dyads (N = 80 dyads) were recruited and randomized to intervention or…

Objective: To identify family and child nutrition and dietary attributes related to children's dietary intakes. Design: African American children (ages 8-11 years, n = 156), body mass index greater than 85th percentile, from urban, low-income neighborhoods. Baseline, cross-sectional data collected as part of an ongoing diabetes prevention…

Training birth attendants (TBAs) to provide essential maternal and infant health care services during delivery and ongoing community care in developing countries. Despite inadequate evidence of relevance and effectiveness of TBA training programmes, there has been a policy shift since the 1990s in that many donor agencies funding TBA training…

In this 12 installment Medical Home series, "Exceptional Parent" presents a case study about the American Academy of Pediatrics' Medical Home Initiative. A "Medical Home" is not a building but an approach to providing healthcare services to children with special healthcare needs. This sixth part of the Medical Home series describes the experiences…

We measured small intestinal permeability using a lactulose:mannitol sugar permeability test in a group of children with autism, with current or previous gastrointestinal complaints. Secondly, we examined whether children with autism had an abnormal glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) response to feeding. Results were compared with sibling controls…

In the last few decades, there has been an alarming and disturbing increase in infant and childhood behavioral and physiologic disorders. These include, but are not limited to, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and Down syndrome to name just a few. The society has…