HealthySteps (HS) is an evidence-based integrated model designed to provide enhanced primary care services to young children and families. This article describes the strategies HS specialists use, adapt, and innovate while maintaining fidelity to the model to meet the unique needs of diverse settings, circumstances, and communities. The authors…

This article describes the adaptation of a parent-focused evidence-based childhood obesity intervention program for implementation by county-based Extension educators in coordination with school district personnel in rural Pennsylvania. The Lifestyle Positive Parenting Program was designed and evaluated in Australia in clinical settings. Several…

The tool kit Mobilizing Rural Communities to Prevent Childhood Obesity is the product of a seven-state multidisciplinary research project focused on enhancing obesity prevention efforts by integrating community coaching into the work of rural community coalitions. The interactive tool kit is available at no cost both in print form and online, and…

Over the past decade, the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (hereinafter referred to as "the Committee") has examined a number of rural issues that touch upon the social determinants of health. The Committee's past work has focused on understanding how conditions and outcomes such as homelessness, childhood…

Background: Obesity is a major concern among American Indians and Hispanics. The Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE) is an evidence-based intervention to prevent obesity in children enrolled in 16 Head Start (HS) Centers in rural communities. The design and implementation of CHILE are described. Methods: CHILE uses a…

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) have experienced increasing levels of community participation since deinstitutionalization. This freedom has facilitated community inclusion, access to alcohol and drugs, and the potential for developing substance abuse (SA) disorders. People with ID, who are known to have high rates of co-occurring…

Harmonizing relations between children and parents is one of the priority objectives of social-pedagogical activity whose purpose is to create conditions favorable to the successful development of the child and the strengthening of the family's upbringing potential. This is necessitated by the fact that the upbringing and other vital functions of…

More than a quarter of all Americans have a mental disorder at some point in their lives, according to a 2004 study by the World Health Organization. As anyone who has experienced mental illness knows, it can interfere with work, relationships, and every aspect of daily living. Children are not immune to such disorders or their effects. Research…

Pastoral del Nino is transforming children's lives in rural Paraguay. Part of Pastoral Social (Catholic Social Services), Pastoral del Nino's primary focus is to bring "vida en abundancia" (the abundant life) to families by ensuring that mothers survive childbirth and children reach their first birthdays. In addition, the organization…

This paper describes the process used by the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker Program (MIHOW), a program of the Center for Health Services at Vanderbilt University, to develop its program evaluation with limited evaluation resources. The evaluation addresses the empowerment of grassroots participants in two projects: the MIHOW Pre- and…

This paper describes how Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN), a large tertiary care urban hospital, used discussion suppers as a means for community engagement designed to lead to community health improvement. An overview of the implementation of the project is described. In 1996, with an awareness of the need to address…

This report describes the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) program which operates in Appalachia and rural Western Tennessee. The program, which constitutes a partnership between community organizations and the Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services, trains local women to use home visitations to educate and support other…

Big dreams often start small. For the Wayne County Public Schools in eastern North Carolina, those dreams started with the vision to improve adolescent health care at school. Now seven years later, the system is proud to operate five full-time school-based health centers, which have contributed to a decline in teen-age pregnancies and an increase…

This volume describes the experiences of each of the 15 rural and urban Healthy Start initiatives. These projects were set up in areas that had infant mortality rates that were 1.5 to 2.5 times the national average. Project locations include major cities such as Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; and Oakland, California, and rural areas in…

This book describes the process of developing comprehensive health education programs in rural areas. Six school districts in the Pacific Northwest teamed up with specialists from five universities, an educational service district, and a regional educational laboratory to develop the curricula. The book includes an introduction, a summary, and…