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.


August 31, 2007

1. MCH Library Expands Availability and Access to Historical Documents
2. National Healthy Start Association Releases Toolkit for First Infant Mortality Awareness Month
3. AMCHP Highlights Recent Efforts to Advance Adolescent Reproductive Health
4. Study Examines Mental Health, Work, and Mental Health Service Use Among Mothers with Low Incomes
5. Article Assesses the Impact of Banning Amalgam Restoration
6. Authors Examine Associations Between Bullying and Family, Peer, and School Relations for White, Black, and Hispanic Adolescents

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Special Notice: In response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC's) recent toy hazard recalls, the American Academy of Pediatrics has compiled selected resources to help health professionals and families keep children safe. The resources include frequently asked questions, a list of toys recalled because of possible lead content, guidelines for parents on toy safety, a list of age-appropriate toys and toys to avoid, information about screening for lead exposure in children, and AAP's policy statement on preventing, detecting, and managing lead exposure in children. The AAP resources are available at http://www.aap.org/new/toyrecall.htm. A comprehensive list of CPSC's toy hazard recalls is available at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html.

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1. MCH LIBRARY EXPANDS AVAILABILITY AND ACCESS TO HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Library Web site now includes over 300 historical documents published by the U.S. Children's Bureau between 1912 and 1969, the earliest years of the federal agency. The documents have been made available electronically on the library's Web site with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Many of the documents are being made available online for the first time and are accessible only from the MCH Library. Selected topics include child health, infant mortality, child labor, and public health services for mothers and children, including children with physical and cognitive disabilities. The collection is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/history/index.html.

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2. NATIONAL HEALTHY START ASSOCIATION RELEASES TOOLKIT FOR FIRST INFANT MORTALITY AWARENESS MONTH (SEPTEMBER 2007)

The National Healthy Start Association's (NHSA's) Infant Mortality Awareness Month Toolkit is designed to increase national awareness of the factors that contribute to infant mortality in the United States and to urge community leaders to get involved in efforts to reduce infant mortality rates. The toolkit was produced by NHSA with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation following the introduction of a Congressional resolution to observe September as Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Contents include promotional materials, suggested fundraising and advocacy activities, statistical resources, and public relations and marketing tips. The toolkit is intended for use by Healthy Start programs and others to help raise awareness of infant mortality throughout the country and to gain community support for activities to reduce infant mortality. The toolkit is available at http://www.healthystartassoc.org/tkguide.html.

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3. AMCHP HIGHLIGHTS RECENT EFFORTS TO ADVANCE ADOLESCENT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Adolescent Preventive Health Watch is an electronic resource that provides an overview of activities related to adolescent reproductive health that have taken place over the last year. The tool, produced by the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), presents a rationale for an adolescent reproductive health focus and includes selected information and resources categorized in five sections. The first section highlights AMCHP's efforts to strengthen collaboration between state health agencies and state education agencies to support and improve prevention education in schools and to provide state adolescent health coordinators with opportunities for professional development, networking, and resource-sharing. Other sections address national and state performance measures related to adolescent reproductive health; success stories from state agencies in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York; and research about abstinence-only education, HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended and adolescent pregnancy, and other sexual health risk behaviors. The final section highlights new resources that may be helpful to state agencies working on adolescent reproductive health. The tool is available at
http://www.amchp.org/policy/adolescent-ahw07.htm and http://www.amchp.org/policy/Downloads/AMCHP%20Adolescent%20Health%20Watch%202007.pdf.

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4. STUDY EXAMINES MENTAL HEALTH, WORK, AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE USE AMONG MOTHERS WITH LOW INCOMES

"This investigation of the relationships between mental health status, work, and mental health service use provides some provocative initial findings," state the authors of a discussion paper produced by the Urban Institute's Low-Income Working Families project. More public policy is focusing on work as an avenue that allows families to move ahead. The paper includes a review of studies that have examined how mothers' mental health affects work, findings on the connection between mental health and work and on the relationship between insurance coverage and mental health treatment, conclusions, and policy implications.

The sample for the current study, drawn from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families, included 5,758 mothers with incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level, representing about 10.4 million women nationwide. (Mothers who were receiving disability benefits from the Supplemental Security Income program were excluded.) Measures included mental health status; health insurance status; mental health service use; income; and employment. The final analysis estimated the relationship between employment outcomes and mental health status using models that predicted work of any amount at the time of interview, while controlling for other factors that might independently affect work (age, race and ethnicity, marital status, number of children, age of youngest child, education, work experience, spouse's employment, and poor overall health). One model included a mental health score, and the other included indicator variables for mental health (very poor, poor, fair-good). Estimates for all mothers with low incomes and for single mothers were analyzed separately.

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "given the negative impact of mental health problems on work and the evidence that effective mental health treatments are available, it is important for policymakers to consider how to improve access to and use of treatment for low-income mothers."

Loprest PJ, Zedlewski SR, Schaner SG. 2007. Mental health, work, and mental health service use among low-income mothers. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Available at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411522_low_income_mothers.pdf.

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5. ARTICLE ASSESSES THE IMPACT OF BANNING AMALGAM RESTORATIONS

"State legislators need to balance the evidence of any adverse effects of amalgams on patients and the environment and the impact of the ban on access to dental care and oral health," state the authors of an article published in the September-October 2007 issue of Public Health Reports. Amalgam -- the predominant and clinically preferred material for restoring most posterior teeth -- is composed of a mixture of silver, other metals, and mercury. There is growing concern about the urinary mercury levels in the population. It is known that amalgam restorations release a mercury vapor during mastication and that children and adults with multiple amalgam restorations have slightly elevated urinary mercury levels. Another concern is possible environmental contamination from the residual mercury used in the preparation of amalgams. For these reasons, bills have been introduced in the federal and state legislatures to restrict the use of amalgam restorations. The purpose of this article is to examine the financial impact that would result if amalgam restorations were banned in select population subgroups or in the entire population.

The authors calculated the current rate of change in amalgam use based on claims and enrollment data from Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana and also based on data from the American Dental Association surveys of dental services rendered. Claims and enrollment data from 1992 through 1994 were used to estimate the per capita use of dental amalgams, and then population projections were used to obtain national estimates of annual amalgam use as of January 1, 2005, and beyond. The authors also used the dental component of the Consumer Price Index for 1992-1994 to estimate the annual rate of change in dental fees. These two estimates enabled the authors to calculate the number of dental amalgams affected by the regulation, and the fees for each of the years 2005 through 2020.

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "there is no evidence that this restorative material is having an adverse impact on health, and there is substantial evidence that a ban will increase access and oral health disparities."

Beazoglou T, Eklund S, Heffley D. 2007. Economic impact of regulating the use of amalgam restorations. Public Health Reports. 122(5):657-663. Available at http://www.publichealthreports.org/userfiles/122_5/14_PHR122-5_657-663.pdf.

Readers: More information on oral health is available from the knowledge path, Oral Health and Children and Adolescents, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_oralhealth.html. The knowledge path was produced by the MCH Library and the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center.

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6. AUTHORS EXAMINE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN BULLYING AND FAMILY, PEER, AND SCHOOL RELATIONS FOR WHITE, BLACK, AND HISPANIC ADOLESCENTS

"Bullying perpetration was associated with more family, peer and school factors than were victimization or bully-victimization," state the authors of an article published in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. Research has supported the influential role of three factors in the development of bullying behaviors: family, peers, and schools. Despite the substantial impact demonstrated by bullying prevention programs in selected settings, results are inconsistent. Although some studies have explored racial and ethnic differences in bullying prevalence, no study to date has explored whether correlates of bullying behavior vary by race and ethnicity. The article presents findings from a study designed to address this gap. The authors examine the relevance of perceived family, peer, and school relations to bullying behaviors for white, black, and Hispanic adolescents using nationally representative data.

The present study was a secondary analysis of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children data set. The final analytic sample included 11,033 students in grades 6-10. Measures were obtained from standard self-completion questionnaires including questions about personal and social resources, health-related behavior, health outcomes, and demographic information. Models were stratified by race and ethnicity to determine factors associated with bullying involvement for each racial and ethnic group, after adjustment for demographic variables. Relative risk ratios quantified associations between predictor variables and the probability of being in each of the outcome categories (victim, bully, bully-victim) relative to the referent category (non-involved).

The authors found that
"Current bullying prevention programs, with their emphasis on peer contexts within the school, address risk factors for bullying that are common across racial [and] ethnic groups. However, most programs neglect other potentially important contexts (especially familial)," state the authors. "Improving the effectiveness of bullying prevention programs will require attention to these neglected domains and tailoring of interventions to the population served," they conclude.

Spriggs AL, Iannotti RJ, Nansel TR, et al. 2007. Adolescent bullying involvement and perceived family, peer and school relations: Commonalities and differences across race/ethnicity. Journal of Adolescent Health 41(3):283-293. Abstract available at http://www.jahonline.org/article/PIIS1054139X07001802/abstract.

Readers: More information is available from the MCH Library's bibliography, Bullying, at http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Biblio&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/BibLists/bib_bullying.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_bullying&-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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MCH Alert
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