Excerpt

The Committee on Evaluation of Children’s Health: Measures of Risk, Protective, and Promotional Factors for Assessing Child Health in the Community was formed to examine key issues regarding the definition and measurement of children’s health, influences that affect children’s health, and the optimal use of data on children’s health. Specifically, the committee was charged with considering these questions:

1. How is children’s health defined? Are these definitions appropriate? If not, what is an appropriate definition of children’s health?
2. What data and methods are being used to assess and monitor children’s health at the federal, state, and local levels? Are these data and methods adequate and appropriate? If not, what types of data and methods are needed and what are the strategies for their development and application? How could new technologies be used to link individual, family, community, and clinical data to assess and monitor children’s health? What are the technical challenges and limitations for linking such data?
3. What are the risk, protective, and promotional factors to children’s health, safety, and well-being? What data and methods are used to assess and monitor these factors? Are these data and methods adequate and appropriate? What new assessment tools or methods are needed and what are the strategies for their development and application?
4. Ideally, how should data be used to inform both policy and practice to ensure children’s health, safety, and well-being? What are the ethical considerations in obtaining such data and in their application?

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• COMMITTEE ON EVALUATION OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH
• BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES
• Acknowledgments
• Executive Summary
  • THE COMMITTEE STUDY
  • FRAMEWORK FOR A CHILDREN’S HEALTH MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
  • CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• 1. Introduction
  • CHILDREN AND THE STATE OF THEIR HEALTH
  • WHY MEASURING AND USING CHILDREN’S HEALTH DATA ARE IMPORTANT
  • THE COMMITTEE’S STUDY
  • THE COMMITTEE’S PREMISES
  • THE COMMITTEE’S VISION
  • STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
• 2. Children’s Health: A New Conceptual Framework
  • VIEWS ON CHILDREN AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH
  • EVOLVING CONCEPTS OF HEALTH
  • A NEW DEFINITION OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH
  • DOMAINS OF HEALTH
  • EVOLUTION OF THE COMMITTEE’S MODEL
  • A NEW CONCEPTUAL MODEL
• 3. Influences on Children’s Health
  • OVERVIEW
  • CHILDREN’S BIOLOGY
  • CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOR
  • PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
  • SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
  • SERVICES
  • POLICY
  • CONCLUSION
• 4. Measuring Children’s Health
  • CURRENT APPROACHES
  • IMPROVING MEASUREMENT OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH
  • PROFILES AND INTEGRATIVE MEASURES
  • CONCLUSION
• 5. Measuring Influences on Children’s Health
  • OVERVIEW
  • MEASURING BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
  • MEASURING BEHAVIORAL INFLUENCES
  • PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS
  • SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS
  • SERVICES
  • POLICY
  • CONCLUSION
• 6. Developing State and Local Data Systems
  • DATA DEFINITIONS
  • VALUE OF DATA SYSTEMS
  • DATA SYSTEMS
  • ISSUES RELEVANT TO DEVELOPING DATA SYSTEMS
  • MOVING FORWARD IN BUILDING DATA SYSTEMS
  • CONCLUSION
• 7. Conclusions and Recommendations
  • DATA AND INFORMATION
  • A NEW DEFINITION AND FRAMEWORK
  • A NATIONAL PRIORITY
  • IMPROVING CHILDREN’S HEALTH MEASUREMENT
  • STATE AND LOCAL LEADERSHIP AND USE OF DATA
  • PROMOTING RESEARCH
  • CONCLUSION
• References
• Appendixes
  • Appendix A Datasets for Measuring Children’s Health and Influences on Children’s Health
  • Appendix B Gaps Analysis of Measures of Children’s Health and Influences on Children’s Health in Select National Surveys
  • Appendix C Selected Indicators from National Children’s Data Syntheses
  • Appendix D Glossary
  • Appendix E Acronyms
  • Appendix F Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff

This study was supported by contract number 282-99-0045, task order number 6 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Health and Human Services. Supplementary funding for a report synthesis and dissemination of the report and report synthesis was supported by contract number N01-OD-4-2139, task order number 125.

Suggested citation:

National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2004). Children’s Health, the Nation’s Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health. Committee on Evaluation of Children’s Health. Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.