The scope and magnitude of research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are cited as prime factors in interest of Surveys of Graduate Science Student Support. The research component of NIH is carried out primarily in the university community and, in 1974, involved 9,800 principal investigators with $862 billion dollars. NIH…

Describes a methodology for collecting and extracting linguistic forms from documents authored by healthcare consumers. The forms were mapped to concepts and the resulting terms were analyzed. Although the case study uses examples from a "consumer medical vocabulary," procedures are applicable to investigating non-professional vocabularies in…

Summarizes highlights of a discussion of 12 leaders in the field of child sexual abuse concerning triage and referrals for child-sexual-abuse medical examinations from the sociolegal system. (DB)

Summarizes highlights of a discussion by eight leaders in the field of child sexual abuse on the impact of child sexual abuse examinations on the dependency and criminal systems. (DB)

"MedLine Search Assistant" is a new interface for MEDLINE searching that improves both search precision and recall by helping the user convert a free text search to a controlled vocabulary-based search in a visual environment. Features of the interface are described, followed by details of the conceptual design and the physical design of…

Developmental models currently used by child behavioral toxicologists and teratologists are inadequate to address current issues in these fields. Both child behavioral teratology and toxicology scientifically study the impact of exposure to toxic agents on behavior development: teratology focuses on prenatal exposure and postnatal behavior…

This study measured the thoroughness of reported research which appeared in seven journals in the health education field. Evaluation was made of articles, appearing between May 1980 and May 1981, in the "Journal of the American College Health Association,""American Journal of Public Health,""Health Education Quarterly,""Health Values: Achieving…

The major contributions of research to the organization and delivery of health services in the past decade (circa 1972-1982) are described and some important areas for further research are indicated in the three main sections of this paper. The first section points out problems associated with the current state of the applied field of health…

An instrument for naturalistic observation in the childbirth environment is presented. Observable features of the parturient woman's physical state, stimulus contact she experiences, and themes of conversations with the woman are recorded using a system of categories to time-sample in cycles of 30 seconds for observing followed by 30 seconds for…

An interpretation of the dollar dimension of medical progress, the role of nonmonetary factors in the equation, and suggestions for public policy are presented. Medical leadership must help formulate recommendations aimed at reductions in medical school enrollments, fee schedules for physicians, costly technology, etc. (MLW)

The goals of research, it is suggested, must reflect the needs of the times. Recent research showing that much disease and illness may be preventable is the impetus for government sponsorship of health promotion/disease prevention activities in the medical community. (MLW)

The founder of the Whitehead Institute (Massachusetts) describes the issues and challenges encountered in establishing a private research institute, focusing on the evolution of the institute's affiliation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Autonomy, taxes, the differences between academic and industrial organizations, and defining…

Discusses normal anogenital anatomy in children in relation to the medical evaluation of child sexual abuse and summarizes state of current knowledge. Suggestions for further research, including cross-sectional studies comparing normal and abused children, and cross-sectional and longitudinal studies comparing different racial/ethnic groups.…

A foundation program to bring research on health services and policy issues into the domain of clinical scholarship is described. The principal approach is to train young clinicians for academic careers with major responsibilities in health studies at university health sciences centers. (MSE)

This keynote address reviews previous efforts at developing a research policy agenda for child abuse and neglect, reviews medical research directions in child sexual abuse, suggests the author's views of potential research areas, and suggests a policy infrastructure to further implementation of the conference's proposals. (DB)