Approximately 20% of children in the United States experience significant mental, emotional, or behavioral symptoms that would qualify them for a psychiatric diagnosis (Burns et al., 1995; Costello et al., 2003). Unfortunately, only 15%-30% of these children receive any type of help or support (Ringel & Sturm, 2001; United States Public Health…

Meeting the health and wellness needs of students in school is a necessary and effective approach to reducing educational barriers for children and ensuring America's economic dominance in the 21st century. Since 1988, Medicaid has permitted payment to schools for certain medically necessary services provided to children under the Individuals with…

Few people would disagree that children with disabilities need adequate health insurance. But what kind of health insurance coverage would be optimal for these children? Peter Szilagyi surveys the current state of insurance coverage for children with special health care needs and examines critical aspects of coverage with an eye to helping policy…

The health care needs of older adults can be complex and multifaceted. Safe, effective, equitable, and person-centered service provision relies on skilled interprofessional, team-based practice. Too often, students seeking a career specializing in gerontology are not exposed to such interprofessional, team-based learning and practice during their…

The need to attend to terminally ill persons and provide improved quality of living and dying should be a national priority in Canada. Hospice palliative care (HPC), a person-centered approach that addresses the needs of the whole person, improves the quality of living and dying of persons facing a life-threatening illness. To ensure Canadians are…

It is being increasingly recognised that the achievement of improved health outcomes for people with learning disabilities is central to the role of learning disability nurses. This is in recognition of the fact that an increasing body of evidence has demonstrated that these people often have poorer health outcomes than those in the mainstream…

Background: Little research has been conducted on the mental health needs of adolescents with intellectual disability, despite the severity and rates of such needs being high throughout childhood and in adulthood. We have investigated the prevalence and predictors of mental health needs and service use in adolescents with intellectual…

We examined the association between state Medicaid spending for children with disabilities and the financial burden reported by families of children with autism. Child and family data were from the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (n = 2,011 insured children with autism). State characteristics were from public…

This study investigated the association between multimorbidity and persistent depression among cohorts of veterans with diabetes, heart disease, or hypertension. The retrospective longitudinal analysis used national administrative data on around 1.38 million Veteran Health Administration clinic users merged with Medicare claims data.…

Disciplines involved in the development and/or provision of services in school mental health have recognized the promise of evidence-based practices in meeting the growing unmet mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families in this country. As a result, School Psychology has strongly emphasized the development and dissemination of…

Until relatively recently, most psychologists have had limited professional involvement with older adults. With the baby boomers starting to turn 65 years old in 2011, sheer numbers of older adults will continue to increase. About 1 in 5 older adults has a mental disorder, such as dementia. Their needs for mental and behavioral health services are…

Studies document various associated health risks for children with developmental disabilities (DDs). Further study is needed by disability type. Using the 2006-2010 National Health Interview Surveys, we assessed the prevalence of numerous medical conditions (e.g. asthma, frequent diarrhea/colitis, seizures), health care use measures (e.g. seeing a…

Physician assistants take on primary care duties that were once the exclusive domain of physicians. According to Kevin Lohenry, director of the Primary Care Physician Assistant Program at the University of Southern California, there are either 90,000 or 30 million reasons why someone might see a physician assistant rather than a physician. The 30…

In 2007, the estimated HIV and AIDS case rates among adult and adolescent African-American females in the United States was 60.6 per 100,000, as compared to 3.3 per 100,000 for adult and adolescent white American females. Women living with HIV or AIDS often face complex social problems that may inhibit them from accessing resources and healthcare…

Background: People with intellectual disability (ID) experience higher rates of major mental disorders than their non-ID peers, but in many countries have difficulty accessing appropriate mental health services. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of mental health services for people with ID using Australia as a case example, and…