Project to Involve Rural Providers in Child Health Research

SEPT. 14, 2004 | The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives is sponsoring a study of the feasibility of linking rural child care centers with child health researchers of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

As envisioned, child care providers in rural areas will implement standardized interventions to improve children’s and families’ health, particularly in the areas of obesity, tooth decay, and mental health. The model for this network of child care provider-researchers is the PROS (Pediatric Research in Office Settings) network of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Under a contract with the National Center, the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) of Mississippi State University will develop a research agenda and plan for the Health Research in Early Care and Education Settings Initiative. The research agenda will include questions regarding children, families, child care professionals, and early care and education provider agencies. The SSRC will consult leading child health researchers as it develops the research agenda and plan.

This initiative is an outgrowth of earlier work by the SSRC, which established a network of 19 child care centers in the Mississippi Delta that will provide oral health interventions for young children. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funds the Delta oral health project. More recently, the Collaborating Centers for Child and Family Health Research, a joint venture of the SSRC and the Center for Child Health Research of the American Academy of Pediatrics, surveyed child care center directors in New Mexico, Florida, Mississippi and Vermont in March-June 2004 to assess their interest in participating in a child health research network. Half of the providers, more than 1,000, indicated an interest in participating. The Collaborating Centers will conduct an additional survey of child care directors in Ohio in January 2005 and will analyze the Ohio responses as well.

For more information about the Health Research in Early Care and Education Settings Initiative, contact Linda Hill Southward (662-325-7127).

 

Updated 12/01/2006