Current efforts to address the severe and worsening shortage of rural physicians include attracting and preparing rural students for medical school, enhancing medical school curricula, and placing and retaining rural physicians. Recommendations include creating incentives for successful rural training programs, encouraging innovation in rural…

This article has two primary objectives. The first objective is to assess the manner in which public subsidies for health and education are distributed among people of different socioeconomic standing in the Indian state of Karnataka. The second purpose is to highlight the policy lessons that follow from it. In undertaking these tasks, the author…

Introduction: Tremendous advances in health care have been made through the development of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Studies show that physicians face barriers in practice, preventing the effective use of the best evidence available. Insight into these barriers should pave the way for an action plan to remove them. The aim of this study was…

Colleges and universities are beginning to consider the needs of transgender students, but few understand how to offer support to this segment of the campus community. This chapter address issues and provides suggestions for student affairs professionals.

This article examines how specialized primary health care is a useful approach in the intervention of adverse health, developmental, educational, and social outcomes for children born to teen parents. The Teen Tot Clinic at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island is an example of such a health care program; it provides services such…

Even though federal laws have had a major influence on foster care and child welfare policy for more than 40 years, additional reforms are needed to ensure safe and stable families for children in care. This article describes the complex array of policies that shape federal foster care and observes: A number of federal policies addressing issues…

There is an ever present struggle associated with reconciling "primary" care requirements for children and young people living in group care programs with "secondary" organizational demands imposed by external agency expectations and administrative requirements. That struggle finds its expression and potential balance in the daily work of staff.…

A program of research related to school-based models for urban children's mental health is described, with a particular focus on improving access to services, promoting children's functioning, and providing for program sustainability. The first study in this series responded to the urgent need to engage more families in mental health services, and…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the practice-oriented model of service use (Yeatts, Crow, & Folts, 1992) relative to the more widely used behavioral model (Andersen, 1968) in its ability to explain the use of respite services by caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Unlike the behavioral model, which focuses primarily on…

Today, school personnel are facing many challenges in their efforts to serve diverse families and children with disabilities. Inadequate human and fiscal capacity, attitudinal and cultural barriers are among the many hurdles that must be surmounted for successful provision of related services. Decisions about who is educated versus who is…

Many Americans do not have access to adequate medical care. Previous research on this problem focuses primarily on individual-level determinants of access such as income and insurance coverage. The role of community-level factors in helping or hindering individuals in obtaining needed medical care, however, has not received much attention. We…

Children who suffer abuse or neglect, or have parents who suffer from mental health problems (especially maternal depression), substance abuse, or family violence, have as high a probability of experiencing developmental delays as do children with medical conditions that are automatically eligible for Part C services under the Individuals with…

In too many communities, child care, health care, and other family supports and services are rarely coordinated and are too frequently determined by where families live, their level of income, and their community connections. Policy initiatives at the local, state, and federal level influence how communities are able to develop more…

This annual report describes the activities of the International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI) in improving youth welfare in a wide range of countries as well as its plans for the upcoming year. ICDI is a non-profit organization that is practice, research and policy-oriented and works globally to address violations of the rights of children…

Background: Differences in service utilization indicating that boys use more mental health services than girls were analyzed to see if they could be explained by known correlates of service use. These correlates were arranged into individual (severe emotional disturbance, level of impairment and externalizing disorders), family (parental…