Maternal and Child Health Library

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

November 16, 2007

1. WEB SITE LAUNCHED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON SUDDEN INFANT DEATH AND RELATED RESOURCES

The National Sudden Infant Death Resource Center (NSIDRC) has launched a new Web site to provide access to information on sudden infant death and related topics. The Web site, developed by the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH) with support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), continues the work of the National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center, while drawing on the extensive resource capacities and public health perspective of NCEMCH's Maternal and Child Health Library. Selected topics include sudden infant death syndrome, miscarriage, stillbirth, other infant deaths, bereavement, and promotion of healthy outcomes for infants from the prenatal period through the first year of life and beyond. Content will include searchable databases and special issues of the MCH Alert with a focus on infant mortality. The Web site is available at http://www.sidscenter.org.

Readers:  NSIDRC works in collaboration with three other MCHB-funded centers, all with the goal of reducing sudden infant death and assisting bereaved families, and each with a unique purpose and core responsibilities. The other centers include the following:

- National SIDS and Infant Death Program Support Center at First Candle
http://firstcandle.org/health/health_support.html
 
- National SIDS and Infant Death Project IMPACT at the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs
http://www.sidsprojectimpact.com

- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Other Infant Death Project at the National Center for Cultural Competence
http://www11.georgetown.edu/research/gucchd/nccc/projects/sids/index.html

• Compared with mothers of term children, mothers of VLBW children reported significantly fewer years of additional education, greater concern for the health of their child, less parent-child conflict, and less consensus in their marital or partner relationship.
• Mothers of high-risk VLBW children reported more negative family, social, and financial impacts and more personal strain from parenting compared with mothers of low-risk VLBW and term children.
• When their child was 8 years old, mothers of high-risk VLBW children were less likely to use denial and mental disengagement in coping than mothers of low-risk VLBW and term children, but no differences in maternal psychological symptoms were found among the groups.
• Multiple births added to negative family impact and parenting stress.
• Lower child IQ and socioeconomic status predicted higher stress across all domains for all mothers.

• Participation in community child health tended to be least frequent in the youngest age group (37.9% for ages 34 and younger, 44.4% for ages 35-39, 46.2% for ages 40-50, and 48.3% for ages 51 and older).
• The majority of respondents indicated that their community involvement is only on a volunteer basis, with the youngest age group being the most likely to volunteer (86.8% for ages 34 or younger, 79.7% for ages 35-39, 85.1% for ages 40-50, and 71.1% for ages 51 and older).
• A greater percentage of younger pediatricians reported that their current level of participation is too little, whereas more than half of pediatricians in the oldest age category believed that their involvement is "just right."
• Younger vs. older pediatricians were more likely to sense moderate or great responsibility for improving the health of children in their community (83.6%, 77.2%, 76.7%, and 70.2%, respectively).
• A higher percentage of younger vs. older pediatricians expected to increase their community involvement in the next 5 years (81.3%, 73.5%, 60.7%, and 47.1%, respectively).