Search

This study's objective was to examine whether five child health-promoting behaviors by caregivers would be associated with caregivers' assessments of their children's health as "excellent," controlling for an array of risk factors for adverse health outcomes. The study used the third and fourth waves of the Illinois Families Study-Child Well-being Supplement--a four-year panel study examining the impact of welfare reform on the well-being of the youngest children of current and former welfare recipients. Logistic regression techniques were used. The analytic results show that low-income children whose caregivers exercise child health-promoting behaviors (for example, mealtime routines, dental hygiene practices, safety practices), with the exception of having a regular bedtime, are more likely to be reported as having excellent health than their low-income counterparts. Moreover, a statistically significant cumulative effect above and beyond the individual effects of health-promoting behaviors was found. The findings suggest that child health-promoting behaviors by caregivers can make a difference in promoting better health for low-income children. Although large systemic changes (for example, changes in health care policy) are needed to reduce overall health disparities and to enhance health for all members of society, individual health-promoting behaviors may lead to incremental improvements in low-income children's health.

Objectives. We examined how maternal work and welfare receipt are associated with children receiving recommended pediatric preventive care services. Methods. We identified American Academy of Pediatrics-recommended preventive care visits from medical records of children in the 1999-2004 Illinois Families Study: Child Well-Being. We used Illinois administrative data to identify whether mothers received welfare or worked during the period the visit was recommended, and we analyzed the child visit data using random-intercept logistic regressions that adjusted for child, maternal, and visit-specific characteristics. Results. The 485 children (95%) meeting inclusion criteria made 41% of their recommended visits. Children were 60% more likely (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] = 1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.27, 2.01) to make recommended visits when mothers received welfare but did not work compared with when mothers did not receive welfare and did not work. Children were 25% less likely (AOFU0.75; 95% CI = 0.60, 0.94) to make preventive care visits during periods when mothers received welfare and worked compared with welfare only periods. Conclusion. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families maternal work requirement may be a barrier to receiving recommended preventive pediatric health care. (Am J Public Health. 2012;102:2274-2279). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To examine effects of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare cash assistance and maternal work requirements on "on-time" childhood vaccination rates. METHODS: A stratified random sample of Illinois children from low-income families affected by welfare reform was monitored from 1997 to 2004. Medical records from pediatricians' offices and Medicaid claims data were used to identify the timeliness of 18 recommended vaccinations. Random-intercept logistic models were used to estimate on-time vaccine administration as a function of welfare receipt and maternal work with adjustment for characteristics of the children and mothers and time-varying covariates pertaining to the administration window for each recommended vaccine dose. RESULTS: Of all recommended vaccinations, 55.9% were administered on time. On-time vaccination rates were higher when families were receiving welfare than not (57.4% vs 52.8%). Children in families that either were receiving welfare or had working mothers were 1.7 to 2.1 times more likely to receive vaccinations on time compared with children in families that were not receiving welfare and did not have working mothers. When vaccine doses were stratified according to welfare status, maternal work was associated with decreased on-time vaccination rates (odds ratio: 0.73 [95% confidence interval: 0.59-0.90]) when families received welfare but increased on-time vaccination rates (odds ratio: 1.68 [95% confidence interval: 1.27-2.22]) when they did not receive welfare. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that maternal work requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families had negative effects on timely administration of childhood vaccinations, although receipt of welfare itself was associated with increased on-time rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's objective was to examine whether five child health-promoting behaviors by caregivers would be associated with caregivers' assessments of their children's health as "excellent," controlling for an array of risk factors for adverse health outcomes. The study used the third and fourth waves of the Illinois Families Study--Child Well-being Supplement--a four-year panel study examining the impact of welfare reform on the well-being of the youngest children of current and former welfare recipients. Logistic regression techniques were used. The analytic results show that low-income children whose caregivers exercise child health-promoting behaviors (for example, mealtime routines, dental hygiene practices, safety practices), with the exception of having a regular bedtime, are more likely to be reported as having excellent health than their low-income counterparts. Moreover, a statistically significant cumulative effect above and beyond the individual effects of health-promoting behaviors was found. The findings suggest that child health-promoting behaviors by caregivers can make a difference in promoting better health for low-income children. Although large systemic changes (for example, changes in health care policy) are needed to reduce overall health disparities and to enhance health for all members of society, individual health-promoting behaviors may lead to incremental improvements in low-income children's health.

Objectives: We examined the relationship between material hardship reported by low-income caregivers and caregivers' assessments of their children's overall health., Methods: We used logistic regression techniques to analyze data from 1073 children aged 5 through 11 years whose caregivers participated in multiple waves of the Illinois Families Study., Results: Caregivers' reports of food hardship were strongly associated with their assessments of their children's health. Other sources of self-reported material hardship were also associated with caregivers' assessments of their children's health, but the effects disappeared when we controlled for caregiver physical health status and mental health status. Proximal measures of material hardship better explained low-income children's health than traditional socioeconomic measures. There were no statistically significant cumulative effects of material hardships above and beyond individual hardship effects., Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of developing and supporting programs and policies that ensure access to better-quality food, higher quantities of food, and better living conditions for low-income children, as well as health promotion and prevention efforts targeted toward their primary caregivers as ways to reduce health disparities for this population.