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Child Health

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Children who suffer from poor physical or mental health face numerous challenges as they develop, and these difficulties often worsen over time. RAND researchers study a wide variety of child health issues, including access to and quality of medical care, exposure to violence and trauma, childhood obesity, substance use, and more.

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Why More Sleep Could Help Kids Do Better in School and Life

Jan 5, 2018

Most U.S. middle and high schools start at 8:00 a.m. or earlier. Delaying school start times could help address health and academic problems, and boost the U.S. economy.
Report

Early Childhood Programs Can Improve Outcomes and Outweigh Costs

Nov 16, 2017

A review of 115 early childhood interventions — including preschool, home visiting, parent education, and other approaches — finds that most programs have favorable effects on at least one child outcome. And most of the programs with benefit–cost analyses show positive returns.

Explore Child Health

Journal Article

Rating the Seriousness of Maternal and Child Health Outcomes Linked with Pregnancy Weight Gain

This article estimates the seriousness of eleven maternal and child health outcomes that have been consistently associated with pregnancy weight gain by engaging patients and health professionals.

Jan 12, 2021
Journal Article

Engaging Patients and Professionals to Evaluate the Seriousness of Maternal and Child Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Modified Delphi Study

This article determines the seriousness of 11 maternal and child health outcomes associated with pregnancy weight gain, by engaging patients and maternal and child health professionals using an online modified Delphi panel process.

Jan 12, 2021
Report

Examining Interventions to Address Infant Mortality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

The authors use predictive models and a causal inference framework to understand the effectiveness of infant-mortality interventions in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where poor birth and infant outcomes and pronounced racial disparities persist.

Jan 6, 2021
Journal Article

The Use of and Experiences With Telelactation Among Rural Breastfeeding Mothers: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

The objective of this study was to identify maternal characteristics associated with the demand for and use of telelactation and to describe visit characteristics.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

The Affordable Care Act, Breastfeeding, and Breast Pump Health Insurance Coverage

Viewpoint on the Affordable Care Act, breastfeeding, and breast pump health insurance coverage.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

Feasibility and Effectiveness of Telelactation Among Rural Breastfeeding Women

This article evaluates the feasibility and impact of telelactation via personal electronic devices on breastfeeding duration and exclusivity among rural women.

Nov 13, 2020
Journal Article

Use of Virtual Breastfeeding Support Among Underserved, Rural Mothers

To assess predictors of utilization and telelactation visit characteristics, we merged and analyzed data from two sources: visit-level data supplied by the telelactation vendor and longitudinal surveys of women in the intervention group at four timepoints.

Nov 13, 2020
Journal Article

Barriers and Facilitators of Kangaroo Mother Care Adoption in Five Chinese Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

We provided a comprehensive report on the multi-level KMC barriers and facilitators in China. We recommend policy interventions addressing these barriers and facilitators and increase family and peer support to improve KMC adoption in China.

Nov 12, 2020
Commentary

Why Spending More Time at Home Is Bad for Some Children's Health

Children in Europe are at a higher risk of poor-quality and overcrowded housing. Efforts to improve the quality of children's living environments could be key to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on children and their households.

Jul 20, 2020
Journal Article

Do Oral Health Services in Medical Offices Replace Pediatric Dental Visits?

This study failed to find evidence that medical preventive oral health services (POHS) replaced dental visits for young children enrolled in Medicaid and, in fact, offers evidence that increased medical POHS was associated with increased utilization of dental care. Given lower than desired rates of dental visits for this population, delivery of medical POHS should be expanded.

Jun 25, 2020
Journal Article

Feasibility of Social Distancing Practices in US Schools to Reduce Influenza Transmission During a Pandemic

We assessed the feasibility of implementing other social distancing practices in K-12 schools as a first step in seeking an alternative to preemptive school closures.

May 22, 2020
Journal Article

Understanding the Housing Conditions Experienced by Children in the EU

Providing quality and affordable housing is an important way to tackle child poverty and minimise the risk of homelessness among children. This policy memo looks at child housing across EU Member States, examining the health risks of inadequate homes and the consequences this can have.

Apr 10, 2020
Journal Article

A Review of Best Practices for Monitoring and Improving Inpatient Pediatric Patient Experiences

We reviewed the literature on best practices for monitoring performance and undertaking activities aimed at improving pediatric patient and family experiences of inpatient care.

Mar 18, 2020
Brochure

Effecting Change, Improving Health

The RAND Corporation is dedicated to transforming the wellbeing of all people by improving health care systems in the United States and abroad.

Feb 7, 2020
Journal Article

Five-Year Outcomes Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children With In Utero Opioid Exposure

Children with in utero opioid exposure had a predicted probability of being diagnosed with a pediatric complex chronic condition similar to that among children with tobacco exposure and those with neither exposure (20.4%,18.7%, and 20.2%, respectively). Our findings were consistent when we examined a subgroup of opioid-exposed children identified as having neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Feb 6, 2020
Report

Evaluation of a Trauma-Informed Program for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: The Pilot Program at Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center

In this report, the authors present the results of a process and outcome evaluation of a trauma-informed pilot program run by the Colorado Division of Youth Services (DYS) in one of their residential youth facilities.

Jan 30, 2020
Commentary

Policies That Punish Pregnant Women for Substance Use Don't Help Mother or Baby

About half of all U.S. states now have policies that criminalize substance use during pregnancy, consider it grounds for civil commitment, or consider it child abuse or neglect. But research suggests that punitive policies aren't beneficial for infants or their mothers.

Jan 28, 2020
News Release

The NHS Spends Significantly Less on Pregnancy-Related Research Compared with Other Health Conditions

The National Health Service spends significantly less on pregnancy-related research compared with other health conditions. Funding for pregnancy research totaled £255 million from 2013 to 2017, or about £51 million a year. As pregnancy care costs the NHS £5.8 billion annually, this means that for every £1 spent on pregnancy care, less than 1 penny is spent on research.

Jan 14, 2020
Report

Pregnancy research review: Policy report

This study presents a review of UK pregnancy research needs and priorities, comparing this to current research expenditure and setting the findings in the context of NHS costs related to pregnancy.

Jan 13, 2020
Journal Article

Opioid Litigation and Maternal-Child Health: Investing in the Future

Funds from opioid litigation should be allocated in a way that benefits those most affected and reduces the risk of future harm.

Dec 19, 2019

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RAND Topic:
Child Health

Topic Synonyms:
Childrens Health

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