MCH Alert


Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html.


May 25, 2007

1. Online Manual Updated to Guide Development and Implementation of School-Based Dental Sealant Programs
2. Guide Focuses on Evidence-Based Environmental Approaches to Preventing Underage Drinking That a Community Could Implement
3. Report Informs State Policy Decisions That Promote Early Childhood Development
4. Journal Issue Reflects on the Effects of Disaster on People Living in Poverty and on Minority Group Members
5. Article Summarizes Death Rates from Injury for Children by Race and Ethnicity

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1. ONLINE MANUAL UPDATED TO GUIDE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SCHOOL-BASED DENTAL SEALANT PROGRAMS

Seal America: The Prevention Invention is an online manual designed to assist health professionals in initiating and implementing a school-based dental sealant program to help prevent dental caries in children. The second edition of the online manual, prepared by Nancy Carter, R.D.H., M.P.H., with assistance from the American Association for Community Dental Programs, and produced and maintained by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center, provides practical guidance for individuals who wish to start a school-based dental sealant program and addresses sustainability issues and issues related to referring students with unmet oral health needs to a dentist. Established school-based dental sealant program staff may also find the manual of interest as they work to improve specific aspects of their program. Contents include an introduction and information about getting started, gaining and maintaining community support, staffing, purchasing dental equipment and supplies, funding, developing forms and records, tracking students, collecting and analyzing data, preparing to launch, implementing the program, referral and follow-up, and program evaluation. A streaming videotape segment titled Seal in a Smile is also included. The manual is available at http://www.mchoralhealth.org/seal/index.html.

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2. GUIDE FOCUSES ON EVIDENCE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACHES TO PREVENTING UNDERAGE DRINKING THAT A COMMUNITY COULD IMPLEMENT

Preventing Underage Drinking: Using Getting to Outcomes with the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework to Achieve Results guides communities through a systematic process of planning, implementation, and evaluation that will improve results in reducing and preventing underage drinking. The guide is based on research conducted by the RAND Corporation with support from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The overarching framework for the guide is SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), a five-step approach to prevention that encourages comprehensive assessment, planning, and evaluation that may be applied to many areas. The authors use the Getting to Outcomes (GTO) model as an operating system for customizing the SPF. The GTO model utilizes accountability questions for communities to address while going through the SPF. The guide provides information on how a community can utilize the SPF to address issues related to underage drinking by answering 11 GTO accountability questions that lay out actions to take when planning a high-quality underage drinking prevention strategy. Each chapter in the guide includes ideas on how to answer the accountability question, a summary checklist for each question, and a case example of how a real community addressed the question. Worksheets and tools that can be customized for use by individual communities in planning, implementing, and evaluating environmental strategies are included as appendices. The guide is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2007/RAND_TR403.pdf. The companion document Getting to Outcomes: Promoting Accountability Through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation is available at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2004/RAND_TR101.pdf.

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3. REPORT INFORMS STATE POLICY DECISIONS THAT PROMOTE EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

State Early Childhood Policies: Improving the Odds highlights key findings on state early childhood policy choices and summarizes emerging patterns across the states. Data for the report, published by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), were drawn from NCCP's database of state policies to promote healthy child development, high-quality early care and education, and effective parenting, a framework created with input from national early childhood development experts and the Birth to Five Policy Alliance. State policy officials representing child care, pre-kindergarten, and maternal and child health reviewed the state profiles for accuracy. The report is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Why Early Childhood Policy Matters, Setting the Context: The Health And Well-Being of Children in America, State Policy Choices to Promote Healthy Development and School Readiness, Putting It All Together, Recommendations, Recent Developments, and Conclusion. The appendix contains a national summary of state policy choices in the NCCP database. Also included are state-by-state tables of (1) young children by income and by exposure to risk; (2) income eligibility policies for Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and the child care subsidy; and (3) selected policy choices to support family economic security. Data sources are also referenced. The report is intended to stimulate dialogue, both within the states and nationally, about how to make strategic, coherent investments in young children. The report is available at
http://nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_725.pdf. State-specific profiles are available at http://www.nccp.org/projects/improvingtheodds.html.

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4. JOURNAL ISSUE REFLECTS ON THE EFFECTS OF DISASTER ON PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY AND ON MINORITY GROUP MEMBERS

The May 2007 issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved is dedicated to the public health implications of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The issue is anchored by an introductory essay written by the President of Meharry Medical College and includes a set of papers that analyze the health care infrastructure and work force in New Orleans, highlight the challenges and tasks ahead, take stock of the progress to date, and amplify a call to action. The papers are authored by clinicians who worked directly with evacuees and survivors and by faculty at Louisiana and Mississippi institutions. Key themes among the papers in the issue include the high incidence of chronic disease and the need for chronic disease medication among survivors and the importance of electronic health records. The issue, accompanied by two documentary DVDs titled Voices of the Storm: Health Care After Katrina and After the Wind, Child, After the Water's Gone, is available at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_health_care_for_the_poor_and_underserved/toc/hpu18.2.html.

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5. ARTICLE SUMMARIZES DEATH RATES FROM INJURY FOR CHILDREN BY RACE AND ETHNICITY

"Despite net declines in total injury mortality [between 1987-1998 and 1999-2002], disparities have not been eliminated," write the authors of an article published in the May 18, 2007, issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death among U.S. children and adolescents ages 1-19. Mortality rates from injury, whether unintentional or intentional, are particularly high among certain racial and ethnic populations. This report summarizes death rates in the United States from both unintentional and intentional injury during 1999-2002 for infants, children, and adolescents from birth through age 19 by race and ethnicity. This report also compares racial and ethnic disparity in injury rates by race during 1999-2002 with rates during the 1980s and 1990s to determine whether progress had been made in addressing this problem.

The authors used annual mortality rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), which collects death certificate data from vital statistics offices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Racial and ethnic categories examined were (1) non-Hispanic white, (2) non-Hispanic black, (3) non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), and (4) non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI). This allowed comparisons with Hispanics of every race.

Findings for unintentional injury disparities were as follows:
In regard to intentional injury disparities, the authors found that:
The authors conclude that "further injury-prevention efforts might close this gap by targeting injury mechanisms most harmful to minorities in each age group and by using culturally appropriate prevention messages and strategies."

Bernard SJ, Paulozzi LJ, Wallace LJD. 2007. Fatal injuries among children by race and ethnicity -- United States, 1999-2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports 56(SS05):1-16. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5605a1.htm?s_cid=ss5605a1_e.

Readers: More information is available from the MCH Library's knowledge paths, Adolescent Violence Prevention, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_adolvio.html and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_mentalhealth.html, from the bibliography, Adolescent Mental Health, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Biblio&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/BibLists/bib_adolmenhlth.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_adolmenhlth&-search, and from the organizations resource lists, Adolescent Violence Prevention, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Organizations&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/OrgLists/orgs_adolviolence.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_adolviolence&-search and Injury Prevention, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Organizations&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/OrgLists/orgs_injury.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_injury&-search.

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MCH Alert © 1998-2007 by National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and Georgetown University. MCH Alert is produced by Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health under its cooperative agreement (U02MC00001) with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use the work for federal purposes and to authorize others to use the work for federal purposes.
 
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MANAGING EDITOR: Jolene Bertness
CO-EDITOR: Tracy Lopez
COPYEDITOR/WRITER: Ruth Barzel
LIST ADMINISTRATOR: Beth DeFrancis Sun

MCH Alert
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