Background: Dental caries (cavities) experience is prevalent in US children, and national data show rates to be increasing among young children. Disparities are found for those in the low-income and non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latinx groups. Use of caries prevention, specifically dental sealants, is low, even among school-based programs.…

Objectives: Determine whether a specific numeracy skill cut-point(s) reflects an empirical threshold in the context of preventive health service utilization, and identify associations between numeracy and preventive health services utilization among middle-aged and older adults in the United States. Methods: A nationally representative sample (n =…

Over the last decade, California leaders have made tremendous progress on supporting kids in some crucial areas. They have vastly increased the percentage of children enrolled in health insurance and made paid family leave available for most workers. They have also invested in free school meals, committed to universal transitional kindergarten,…

A self-perpetuating cycle of poor health literacy and poor oral health knowledge and behavior affects approximately 90 million people in the United States, most especially those from low-income groups and other at-risk populations such as those with addiction. Poor oral health can result from lack of access to regular preventive dental…

California has long been on the cutting edge of social and political change. This trendsetting continues today on issues from addressing climate change to supporting immigrant communities to ensuring equal rights for all. But, when reviewing the grades of this year's California Children's Report Card, it is difficult not to ask the question: why…

Children with special health care needs face many barriers to oral care and are at high risk for oral disease. School nurses are in a unique position to promote oral wellness in this vulnerable population. Collaboration between school nurses and dental hygiene faculty resulted in the formation of a partnership between a university-based dental…

The "Colorado Children's Budget" presents and analyzes investments and spending trends during the past five state fiscal years on services that benefit children. The "Children's Budget" focuses mainly on state investment and spending, with some analysis of federal investments and spending to provide broader context of state…

People with ID represent approximately 2% of the population and, as a group, experience poorer health than the general population. This article presents recent conceptualizations that begin to disentangle health from disability, summarizes the literature from 1999 to 2005 in terms of the cascade of disparities, reviews intervention issues and…

This article explores an approach for better serving the complete health care needs of children, specifically, the efficacy of school-based health centers (SBHCs) to provide a service delivery mechanism capable of functioning as a medical home for children, providing primary care for both their physical and behavioral health care needs. The…

Young people are facing greater risks to their current and future health and social development, as shown by involvement of younger and younger children in risk-taking behaviors. This volume emphasizes developmentally and contextually appropriate prevention service delivery models and identifies state-of-the-art, empirically based strategies to…

The Children's Budget is a comprehensive report on funding for children's services in Colorado. This report provides a six- year funding history for more than 50 programs funded with state, local, and federal dollars. The Colorado Children's Budget analyzes reductions in programs and services during the economic downturn. The data in the…