This report presents prevalence estimates for self-reported adult smoking and alcohol related health risk behaviors in the United States. Data are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected from 1999 to 2002. NHANES is a stratified multistage probability sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Tables included in this report present estimates for smoking and alcohol risk behaviors by selected sociodemographic characteristics among adults 20 years of age and older.

Consider what it might be like to be a victim of sexual assault who has come to a health care facility for a medical forensic examination. Sexual assault is a crime of violence against a person’s body and will. Sex offenders use physical and/or psychological aggression to victimize, in the process often threatening a victim’s sense of privacy, safety, and well-being. Sexual assault can result in physical trauma and significant mental anguish and suffering for victims. Victims may be reluctant, however, to report the assault to law enforcement and to seek medical attention for a variety of reasons. For example, victims may blame themselves for the sexual assault and feel embarrassed. They may fear their assailants or worry about whether they will be believed. A victim may also lack easy access to services. Those who have access to services may perceive the medical forensic examination as yet another violation because of its extensive and intrusive nature in the immediate aftermath of the assault. Rather than seek assistance, a sexual assault victim may simply want to go somewhere safe, clean up, and try to forget the assault ever happened.1 It is our hope that this protocol will help jurisdictions to respond to sexual assault victims in the most competent, compassionate, and understanding manner possible.

Healthy Food, Farms and Families: Hunger 2007 focuses on the upcoming farm bill before the U.S. Congress. Many elements of this legislation affect hungry people in the United States and the developing world. Key nutrition programs, rural development initiatives, commodity payments, conservation programs and agricultural trade issues are all shaped by the farm bill. Hunger 2007 brings these strands together into a single narrative, presenting a case for reform that can substantially reduce hunger. Farming has always been—and will always be—an enterprise rife with risk. There needs to be effective risk management strategies. Our argument is that the traditional way is outdated and there are better alternatives to help farmers. Reforms can help both farmers and hungry people. Since 1990, Bread for the World Institute has produced an annual report on the state of world hunger. Hunger 2007 is an important report coming out at an important time as reauthorization of the farm bill is quickly approaching.

Prison rape has gone largely unaddressed by social service programs; correctional institutions; and until recently, lawmakers in this country. When prison rape is mentioned in the media or general public, it is often in the form of a joke or jest. Nothing about rape is funny, regardless of where or to whom it occurs. Victims of prison rape are at high risk of becoming victims again, largely because they may be too fearful to reach out for help or when they do, they find services specific to their needs are unavailable. They often fear experiencing further trauma and shame if they come forward. If they do choose to tell someone, their cries are sometimes ignored or disregarded. When victims of prison rape are released-as the majority of inmates are and rejoin our communities, they often suffer a complex interplay of biopsychosocial effects from their victimization. There is a severe lack of research surrounding the frequency of prison rape. It was approximated that inside correctional facilities in the midwestern region of the country, one in five males experience a pressured or forced sexual incident, and approximately one in 10 males report completed rape (Stop Prisoner Rape, 2006).

We present a model with pre-marital schooling investment, endogenous marital matching and spousal specialization in homework and market production. Investment in schooling raises ages and generates two kinds of returns in our framework: a labor-market return and a marriage-market return because education can affect the intra-marital share of the surplus one can extract from marriage. When the returns to education and household roles are gender neutral, men and women educate in equal proportions and there is pure positive assortative matching in the marriage market. But if men and women have different market returns or household roles, then there may be mixing in equilibrium where some educated individuals marry uneducated spouses and those who educate less extract a relatively larger share of the marital surplus. The existence of large and frictionless marriage markets creates competition among potential spouses, precludes bargaining and generates premarital investments that are efficient. Given that the gender wage gap narrows with the level of education, women’s labor-market return from schooling is higher than that of men. Moreover, women’s household time obligations have declined over time, raising their marriage-market return from schooling. Combining these two effects, we explain why women now attain higher schooling levels than men.

We present a model with pre-marital schooling investment, endogenous marital matching and spousal specialization in homework and market production. Investment in schooling raises ages and generates two kinds of returns in our framework: a labor-market return and a marriage-market return because education can affect the intra-marital share of the surplus one can extract from marriage. When the returns to education and household roles are gender neutral, men and women educate in equal proportions and there is pure positive assortative matching in the marriage market. But if men and women have different market returns or household roles, then there may be mixing in equilibrium where some educated individuals marry uneducated spouses and those who educate less extract a relatively larger share of the marital surplus. The existence of large and frictionless marriage markets creates competition among potential spouses, precludes bargaining and generates premarital investments that are efficient. Given that the gender wage gap narrows with the level of education, women’s labor-market return from schooling is higher than that of men. Moreover, women’s household time obligations have declined over time, raising their marriage-market return from schooling. Combining these two effects, we explain why women now attain higher schooling levels than men.

- The rates of past month, binge, and heavy alcohol use among full-time college students aged 18 to 20 remained steady from 2002 to 2005
- Based on 2002 to 2005 combined data, 57.8 percent of full-time college students aged 18 to 20 used alcohol in the past month, 40.1 percent engaged in binge alcohol use, and 16.6 percent engaged in heavy alcohol use
- Based on 2002 to 2005 combined data, male full-time students in this age group were more likely to have used alcohol in the past month, engaged in binge alcohol use, and engaged in heavy alcohol use than their female counterparts

Given limited resources, communities seek to ensure that the programs they implement will produce the desired results. After reviewing more than 600 programs, the Blueprints initiative has identified 11 model programs and 21 promising programs that prevent violence and drug use and treat youth with problem behaviors. To further assess the effectiveness of the Blueprints programs, OJJDP funded replications of Blueprints programs nationwide— delivering training and technical assistance to 42 sites replicating 8 of the Blueprints model violence prevention programs and to another 105 sites (representing approximately 400 schools) implementing a model drug prevention program. This Report describes the Blueprints programs, presents lessons learned about program implementation, and provides recommendations for program designers, funders, and implementing agencies and organizations. It is hoped that the information provided in this Report will assist communities in selecting and implementing research-based programs that enable youth to fulfill their potential and lead productive lives.

In recent years, a substantial body of work has emerged in the social sciences exploring differences in the behavior of men and women in various contexts. This paper contributes to this literature by investigating gender differences in attitudes towards corruption. It departs from the previous literature on gender and corruption by using experimental methodology. Attitudes towards corruption play a critical role in the persistence of corruption. Based on experimental data collected in Australia (Melbourne), India (Delhi), Indonesia (Jakarta) and Singapore, we show that while women in Australia are less tolerant of corruption than men in Australia, there are no significant gender differences in attitudes towards corruption in India, Indonesia and Singapore. Hence, our findings suggest that the gender differences found in the previous studies may not be nearly as universal as stated and may be more culture-specific. We also explore behavioral differences by gender across countries and find that there are larger variations in women’s attitudes towards corruption than in men’s across the countries in our sample.

The Disability Working Group's report made 48 recommendations, providing the Executive, local authorities, employers, educators, community care providers and others with suggested approaches to change their actions and attitudes. . . . "The Group's recommendations provide both an agenda for immediate action and platform for the future. The process has drawn on the expertise of a variety of disability organisations, but there are many other organisations and many disabled people with views which still need to be heard. New issues will no doubt emerge and new recommendations will need to be made. Therefore, we hope the outcomes from the report are monitored regularly and that the positive dialogue between the Executive and the disability sector continues to improve the lives of disabled people in Scotland."

This report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) summarizes 2005 preliminary births and birth rates and selected 2005 preliminary maternal and infant health birth data for the United States. . . . The birth rate for teenagers declined 2 percent in 2005, falling to 40.4 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years, a 35-percent drop compared with the most recent peak in 1991 (61.8), and the lowest ever recorded in the 65 years for which a consistent series of rates is available

Leaders in the therapeutic community (TC) model of treatment have identified a critical need for entry- level staff training in the basics of the TC model. 1 In response, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) convened an expert panel in 2000 to serve as a planning committee for a generic TC curriculum (TCC) and to provide guidance during its development (see appendix A for a list of expert panel members and appendix B for a list of other contributors). This document is the result of that collaboration. TCs have evolved to serve an ever- increasing range of special populations with substance use disorders, including women with children, older adults, adolescents, people with co-occurring mental disorders, people with HIV/AIDS, people who are homeless, and people involved with the criminal justice system. In addition, the TC approach has been passed down rather informally through succeeding generations of TC program staff, allowing a shift away from the foundations of the TC model and necessitating a concrete and standardized method of training both clinical and nonclinical staff.

We are publishing this document to report on progress in improving the mental health and psychological well-being of children and young people. The report highlights some areas on which service providers and commissioners will need to focus if the ten-year objectives set out in Standard 9 of the Children’s National Service Framework (NSF) are to be achieved, and offers best practice guidance to assist achievement. It is vital that we continue and extend recent initiatives to improve the psychological well-being of children and young people in order that their full potential can be realised. Good mental health is important in helping to strengthen families, improve educational attainment, promote social inclusion, tackle antisocial and offending behaviour, expand individuals’ opportunities and improve their general health and well-being.

Despite over two decades of media and public policy attention, homelessness remains an enormous social problem in the United States, due in large part to the continual closings of institutions for people with mental illness, persistent poverty, a shortage of affordable housing, changes in welfare and mental health policy, and economic trends that favor the wealthy (Burt, Aron, Lee, & Valente, 2001; Evans & Forsyth, 2004; Haber & Toro, 2004; Lee & Schreck; Wolch & Li, 1997). Although women without custodial children and mothers taking care of young children represent two of the most rapidly growing subgroups of this population (Burt, Aron, Douglas, Lee & Valente, 2001; National Coalition for the Homeless, 2001; Urban Institute, 2000; U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1990, 2000), their needs remain relatively unexplored and largely unmet. Furthermore, these women are particularly vulnerable to multiple forms of interpersonal victimization, including sexual and physical assault at the hands of strangers, acquaintances, pimps, sex traffickers, and intimate partners on the street, in shelters, or in precarious housing situations.

● In 2005, 12.4 percent of young adults aged 18 to 25 used prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past year, and 1.7 percent met the criteria for past year prescription pain reliever dependence or abuse
● Among young adults aged 18 to 25 who used prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past year, over half (53.0 percent) obtained them from a friend or relative for free when they last used pain relievers nonmedically
● Among young adults aged 18 to 25 who used prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past year and met the criteria for prescription pain reliever dependence or abuse, 37.5 percent obtained the prescription pain relievers that they used most recently for nonmedical purposes for free from a friend or relative, 19.9 percent bought them from a friend or relative, and 13.6 percent obtained them from one doctor

A fair service, with uncertain prospects for improvement. The supporting people programme is delivering positive outcomes for service users, however there are limited opportunities for service users to influence the development of services.

The guide is for health and social care staff who work with people with dementia and their carers, and those who work with older people and people with learning disabilities. This includes GPs, nurses, geriatricians, psychiatrists, social workers, care home managers and care staff. It also includes recommendations relevant to commissioners, managers and coordinators of health and social care.

Child poverty is a growing problem in Michigan. Since 2000, child poverty rates have increased from 14 to 17 percent, and there are approximately 26,000 more poor children in the state. . . Economic hardship is particularly acute in Detroit where a higher percentage of children are poor than in any other major city in the nation except Atlanta. . . Detroit’s child poverty rate is 39 percent, and a startling 72 percent of Detroit’s children live in families that are low income, defined as twice the official poverty level, or $40,000 a year for a family of four in 2006.

According to the most recent data available, 114,000 children in the United States foster care system were waiting to be adopted in 2005. These children have come into the foster care system due to abuse or neglect, and the public child welfare agencies have determined that adoption is their best option for achieving permanency. During that same year, however, only 51,000 children were adopted from foster care (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2006). Children waiting to be adopted are older (8.6 versus 6.7 years) than their adopted counterparts and have been in care for three and a half years, on average. . . . This report comes at a critical time. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), passed in 1997, greatly increased efforts to move children from foster care to permanent homes in a timely manner. In response to ASFA, state legislatures have had to respond to comply with this bill. While adoption has always been a matter of state rather than federal law, we anticipated that state legislatures would be responding to ASFA as they often do to federal legislation, by introducing and passing related legislation. However, this analysis indicates that state legislatures are active in the area of foster care adoption and that much of this legislation is introduced not in direct response to federal legislation, but perhaps rather as part of efforts to address barriers to adoption in the states.

The fundamental goal of the U.S. decennial census is to count each person living in the country once, only once, and in the correct place. Since its inception, the census has followed a variant of a de jure standard for defining residence, seeking to count people at a single “usual residence.” The census does contain some elements for which the alternative de facto standard—counting people at their current residence or where they are found at census time—is used, including operations to count the homeless. However, what was true for the first U.S. census in 1790 remains so for the 2010 and future censuses: residence can be extremely difficult to define and measure. Though most census respondents can readily identify a single usual residence, some people may have ties to two or more residences, and others may lack ties to any fixed residence. The basic concept of “residence” has evolved over time and can vary greatly across segments of the population, as can related concepts like “house,” “home,” and “family.”

Since 2001 Congress has passed a major tax bill almost every year. Most have reduced taxes significantly and, since they were not accompanied by spending cuts, the resulting deficits have also increased the national debt. . . . The long-term effect of the 2001-2006 tax cuts on the distribution of income will depend on how they are paid for, but their immediate effect has been skewed in favor of those with high incomes. In 2006, for example, the tax cuts are equivalent to 2.5 percent of after-tax income for the middle quintile of the income distribution compared with 4.1 percent of income for those in the top quintile. Households in the bottom quintile receive a benefit of 0.3 percent of income. For taxpayers in the top one percent, the benefits are scheduled to increase even more as additional cuts — primarily to the estate tax — phase in between now and 2010. Compared to pre-EGTRRA law, taxpayers in the top one percent will enjoy a 5.4 percent increase in after-tax income in 2006 and a 6.7 percent increase in 2010.

Dextromethorphan (DXM) is a cough suppressant approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is found in many over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold remedies. It is generally safe when taken at recommended doses. When taken in large amounts, though, DXM can produce hallucinations and a “high” similar to psychotropic drugs, such as phencyclidine (PCP). Dangerous side effects may include blurred vision, loss of physical coordination, abdominal pain, and rapid heartbeat. Side effects may be worsened if the ingested product also contains other pharmaceutical ingredients, such as acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine, antihistamines, or expectorants, which are commonly found in cough and cold medicines. In recent years DXM has become available, primarily over the Internet, in bulk powdered form, and concern has grown over the nonmedical use of DXM by teenagers.

The Family Resource Simulator (FRS) is a web-based tool developed by the National Center for Children in Poverty. It simulates the impact of federal and state “work support” benefits on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families. Work supports include earned income tax credits, child care subsidies, health care coverage, food stamps, and housing assistance. The FRS generates results that illustrate how a hypothetical family’s resources change as earnings and expenses change, taking public benefits into account.

The convocation was organized in four main sessions: biological components of success in science and engineering, social components of success, institutional structures that affect recruitment and retention of women scientists and engineers, and a final session on current institutional transformation efforts.

reveals that the seven percent of Medicaid beneficiaries who utilize LTC services account for over half (52 percent) of all Medicaid spending. Medicaid’s LTC users not only utilize LTC services, but they also use the program’s acute care services more intensively than non-LTC users. Three quarters of the spending by these high cost LTC users went towards LTC (community-based and institutional care) and the remaining 25 percent went towards acute care and other supportive services. These high cost beneficiaries are among the most disabled and chronically ill of the Medicaid population, with over half being elderly, one-third being disabled and under age 65, and 11 percent being adults or children not classified as disabled. A comparison of Medicaid’s per enrollee cost of LTC users by population demonstrates the high cost burden of caring for these individuals. The under-65 disabled population averaged $46,531 for their LTC and acute care, while the elderly average $31,112, and adults and children averaged $17,185. When examining just the acute care expenses for these populations and comparing them to non-LTC users, the analysis concludes that the elderly LTC users average twice as much acute care expenses as non-LTC users and the disabled average seven times as much in these services.

More than any other single thing, the cigarette has blighted the health and shortened the lives of people in Scotland for over a century. Tobacco is now known to be a highly addictive substance that seriously damages the health of both smokers and people exposed to tobacco smoke. If the health of people in Scotland is to be improved and inequalities reduced, smoking prevention must be a top priority. This report makes a comprehensive series of recommendations intended to protect and dissuade all young people in Scotland from starting to smoke and to deter adults, individually and collectively, from encouraging or enabling them to smoke. Their full implementation should take Scotland much further towards a future where smoking tobacco has become a thing of the past.

The document sets out for the first time a framework for improving sexual health in Scotland. At the same time £15 million of additional funding was allocated over the three financial years 05/06 – 07/08 to help implement it. The strategy is based on the principles of respect for self and for others, on strong relationships and on recognising the diversity of needs and lifestyles of people in Scotland. Its main aims include:
• Improving the quality and accessibility of sexual health services
• Supporting everyone in Scotland to have the knowledge and information to make choices aboutsexual health and wellbeing
• Having a positive influence on cultural and social factors that have an impact on sexual health.

The strategy calls for action from different groups, including NHS Boards, local authorities, the Scottish Executive and others.

This policy brief offers a framework for analyzing state tax changes affecting low-income working families from 2002 to 2006. This timeframe encompasses the difficult choices states faced in the latest recession and the years just beyond as state revenues recovered. Lessons learned about how state tax policy choices affected low-income families during and immediately after the recession can help states refine their choices in the future. States often raise taxes during recessions, and depending on the design, those tax increases can fall hard on lower-income families. Policymakers may be particularly concerned with tax increases affecting low-income working families during times of fiscal stress because budgets for programs that assist these families are often cut at the same time (Rivlin 2002). One reason that recessions can have such a substantial effect on state taxes and spending is that every state except Vermont has some sort of balanced budget requirement.

Speaker: Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

This article presents a brief overview of the level and types of private health insurance cover of the Australian population by general population and health characteristics.

This report presents estimates of overpayments due to fraud and error in Income Support (IS), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Pension Credit benefit payments for the 12 month period October 2004 to September 2005. In doing so, it also provides information on progress against Departmental targets on fraud and error.

Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance: Hunger 2006 argues the fastest, most direct way to reduce hunger is to improve nutrition assistance programs. In the United States, the government has pledged to cut hunger in half by 2010. Will it happen? Not without an aggressive approach. Internationally, we also find ourselves pursuing another deadline, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, including the first goal of halving hunger, come due in 2015. Presently, we are not on track to reach that goal in some of the worst stricken areas of the world. Nutrition assistance programs have been proven highly effective and affordable. Hunger 2006 calls for strengthening these. In the United States, that means improving existing federal programs. In the developing world, we focus on nutrition interventions that will have an immediate impact on the most vulnerable groups, especially women and children. The time is now for stepping up efforts to end hunger. Hunger 2006 shows how to do it.

Analysis of data from the SIPP survey — the most wide-ranging source of government data on family hardships, income and resources, and living conditions— shows the following. These hardship data were collected in 2003 and are the most recent available from the SIPP survey. . .
- Between one-fourth and one-third of black African American families with children (28 percent) experienced at least one of three hardships — overcrowded housing, hunger or the risk of hunger (termed “food insecurity” by the government), or lack of needed medical care — in the 12 months before the survey was conducted in summer 2003. . . This was double the comparable rate for non-Latino white families with children (14 percent).
- Nearly one in three families with children headed by a Latino citizen (31 percent) experienced at least one of these three hardships, not significantly different from the rate for black families. . .
- Hardship rates are still higher among Latino families headed by a non-citizen. Nearly half (47 percent) of families with children headed by a Latino non-citizen experienced one or more of these three hardships.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires all students in grades 3 through 8, in each racial, ethnic, and socio-economic group, and whether they have special needs or are native English speakers, to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. This is widely understood to be unattainable, but educators and policy makers are insufficiently aware of the causes of our looming failure. Many of the law's supporters believe that the goal of 'proficiency for all' can't be reached primarily because there is too little time between now and 2014 for schools to improve sufficiently, and that the problem can be fixed by making the deadline more distant to allow more time to improve. For this symposium, we have been asked to consider whether such a goal can be reached; if so, how long it might take if, in fact, 2014 is too soon; and if the goal is unattainable no matter how distant, how we might establish more reasonable school goals for narrowing the achievement gap and raising the achievement of all children.

A study from the New Policy Institute draws on the latest available data to monitor indicators of poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland. . . . The report covers a wide range of subjects, including income poverty, benefit recipiency, employment and pay, disadvantage at work, exclusion from services, housing and neighbourhoods, health and harm, and education. On each subject, it looks at the situation in Northern Ireland compared with that in Great Britain, trends over time in Northern Ireland (except for income poverty, where such data is not available), and the major inequalities within Northern Ireland. Where relevant, the impact of the Troubles and the subsequent ceasefires is also discussed.

Experts, who study the causes of domestic elder abuse, point out that many American families simply cannot bear the stress of taking care of the elderly. Driven by life's celerity, each member of the family pursues his or her own self-development and sees parental care as a drain on time and resources.

Reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies is one objective of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS provides funding to states and organizations that provide abstinence-until-marriage education as one approach to address this objective. GAO was asked to describe the oversight of federally funded abstinence-until-marriage education programs. GAO is reporting on (1) efforts by HHS and states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials used in these programs and (2) efforts by HHS, states, and researchers to assess the effectiveness of these programs. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed HHS officials in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) that award grants for these programs.

IASWR has undertaken this special effort to identify and document contributions from social work research in violence prevention, especially in the areas of child maltreatment and domestic violence. The goals of this endeavor are to identify how social work researchers and social work institutions (organizations and academia) can contribute through research and (the translation of research into practice) to the endeavors of public health agencies and other state-based agencies to prevent violence. This report has four major sections: Part One provides information about the social work profession, and an overview of its involvement with the Injury Center public health priorities and violence prevention. Part Two identifies specific Injury Center priority areas and provides a snapshot of social work research and training activities in those areas. Part Three identifies strategies and recommendations for strengthening CDC and social work collaboration. Part Four includes detailed appendices about research efforts, centers within social work education programs, key social work organizations, report from the July 2003 IASWR/CDC meeting, and other relevant resources and websites.

Although the populations served by social programs such as Medicaid and consumer bankruptcy likely overlap, policymakers tend to look at individual programs unilaterally. The result of such an incremental approach to policy reform is a fragmented social safety net system in the United States. This study attempts to empirically validate a relationship between social programs by providing a state-level analysis of the relationships between the generosity of Medicaid enrollment criteria, the richness of Medicaid benefits, and uninsurance with state rates and types of consumer bankruptcy filings. Limited support suggests that Medicaid might serve as a substitute for consumer bankruptcy in some circumstances. Further, results indicate that states' forfeiture of benefit richness for increased enrollment numbers might actually cause financial hardship to consumers, eventually leading to bankruptcy. Policy implications concerning state Medicaid programs are offered for these findings.

This paper uses statistical information to begin to shed light on the outcomes and impacts of information and communications technology (ICT). Some of the expected outcomes associated with ICT are presented, while factual evidence is used to demonstrate that these outcomes have so far not materialized. The paperless office is the office that never happened, with consumption of paper at an all-time high and the business of transporting paper thriving. Professional travel has most likely increased during a period when the Internet and videoconferencing technology were taking-off, and; e-commerce sales do not justify recent fears of negative consequences on retail employment and real estate. The paper further demonstrates that some of the key outcomes of ICTs are manifested in changing behavioural patterns, including communication and spending patterns. People have never communicated more, something exemplified by the explosion in international calling and the massive amounts of e-mails and other electronic communications. ICT spending is also on the rise, with substitutions taking place in favour of newer ICTs, such as the nternet, and against older ones, such as the telephone. In addition, the willingness of people to pay can also be seen by the fact that many low-income households choose to spend a relatively higher proportion of their income on ICTs.

The Task Force on Social Work Research presented its Report to the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1991. This "A Report on Progress" (The Austin Report) is an overview of the very important expansion of research resources within social work that has taken place since 1991, and an examination of issues that still require action. Current research initiatives within social work deal with some of the most critical human problems in this society.

As part of a strategy to determine how best to integrate research priorities to include an increased focus on the impact on health of interactions among social, behavioral, and genetic factors, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, in conjunction with the National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, requested that the Institute of Medicine undertake a study to examine the state of the science on geneenvironment interactions that affect human health, with a focus on the social environment. The goal of the study was to identify approaches and strategies to strengthen the integration of social, behavioral, and genetic research and to consider the relevant training and infrastructure needs.

This study, by a team from Demos, examined whether promoting community participation in governance helps build social capital. Drawing on a review of the academic evidence and original research in two deprived neighbourhoods, it addresses this question and also proposes some alternative approaches.

Beginning January 1, 2007, the premiums for the Medicare Part B Supplementary Medical Insurance program will be based on income, which will raise the premiums for approximately 1.65 million higher-income beneficiaries to as much as 80 percent of the full cost over the 3-year phase-in period. This change, which may be unknown to some beneficiaries, will affect single individuals with incomes over $80,000 and married couples who file jointly with incomes over $160,000. Medicare Part B is a voluntary program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that covers doctors’ services, certain outpatient services, and other care. Currently, Medicare Part B beneficiaries generally pay a flat premium of 25 percent (the standard monthly premium) of the cost of the program, with the remaining 75 percent subsidized by the federal government. While CMS administers the program, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for determining and assessing Medicare Part B income-based premiums once CMS has set the standard premium amount for the year. To better understand how SSA is implementing such premiums, the Senate Committee on Finance requested that we review the process that SSA has established to determine and assess the new premiums.

Canada is being urged by international bodies such as the OECD to get rid of early retirement incentives, to abolish mandatory retirement and to take other measures to persuade people to go on working and to raise the age of retirement. In Canada right now, the typical age of retirement is around 62. Some provinces in Canada have already abolished mandatory retirement, but it seems to have had little impact on increasing the age at which people retire. In fact, at 59.8 the average age of retirement in Quebec, which abolished mandatory retirement long ago, is one of the lowest retirement ages in Canada. As well, abolition of mandatory retirement is highly controversial
and raises a number of issues relating to discrimination against older workers.

In Germany, long-term care is an important issue due to an ageing population and shrinking social networks that result in a greater need for a public long-term care system. In 1995, the social long-term care insurance was introduced in Germany. Long-term care insurance funds are generally linked to health insurance funds. The benefits are financed by virtue of an income-based system where all employees covered by the social security system and their employers have to pay equal contributions on a pay-as-you-go basis. In case of long-term care needs a frail person is assigned to one of three care levels according to his/her severity of need. In recent years, there is a growing need of reforming the long-term care insurance: While health insurance is a fully comprehensive system, long-term care insurance only provides limited coverage. Additionally, there is a lack of competition on the long-term care market. Finally, the financial situation of the German social long-term care insurance is tight.

While the majority of Americans under the age of 65 receive health insurance coverage through their employers and almost all the elderly are covered through Medicare, 46.1 million nonelderly Americans lacked health insurance in 2005. Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) play an important role by covering millions of nonelderly low-income people, especially children. However, limits to these public programs and gaps in employer coverage leave millions of nonelderly Americans uninsured – creating substantial barriers to obtaining timely and appropriate health care.

Health observances are days, weeks, or months devoted to promoting particular health concerns. This calendar lists selected health observances for 2007 in three ways: the calendar shows days and weeks, and both the text listings and the “Year At a Glance” sheet show monthly health observances as well. Health professionals, teachers, community groups, and others can use these special times to sponsor health promotion events, stimulate awareness of health risks, or focus on disease prevention. Materials available from sponsoring organizations range from a single flyer to packets of promotional materials.

IASWR developed Social Work^s Contribution to Research on Cancer Prevention, Detection, Diagnosis,Treatment and Survivorship. The report describes the linkages between NCI priorities and social work research and identifies potential strategies and next steps to increase social work participation in cancer research

In the debate on in-work benefits in Germany it is often overlooked that such subsidies may only be effective if basic minimum income is remarkably decreased for those who are employable. However, proposals following this principle will hardly achieve political consensus as can be derived from reactions to the model of ifo or the board of economic advisors. IZA is therefore proposing workfare as an effective alternative, which may accomplish a strong incentive for the acceptance of low paid jobs without having to cut the current welfare level. Simulations based on a micro-econometric labor supply model show that this could add to the workforce an additional number of 800,000 workers. Roughly the same effect could be achieved by the ifo model, however, at the expense of massive cuts of disposable income for welfare recipients. Hence, workfare turns out as an efficient alternative. Moreover, there is no useful combination between in-work benefits based on the current welfare level and workfare.

Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and inequality are at the heart of the problem. In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries.

This report investigates how crime, physical disorder and antisocial behaviour – together with the responses to these problems – shape the ways that places change over time. Policy-makers and practitioners are increasingly recognising that tackling neighbourhood insecurity is one of the most pressing tasks for public policy today. This report looks at the impact of security and insecurity on the ways urban neighbourhoods change, and analyses the factors that create security and insecurity. It uses data from four of the sixteen trial sites for the National Reassurance Policing Programme that ran in England between April 2003 and March 2005. With the development of the Neighbourhood Policing Programme, the Government’s ‘Respect Agenda’, and ongoing reforms in the area of neighbourhood management, this report is particularly timely.

In 2001, IASWR embarked on implementing a Strategic Plan with three major emphases: Development of Research and Researchers, Bridging Research and Practice, and Connecting Research and Policy. At this tenth anniversary of IASWR’s founding, it is important to celebrate accomplishments and highlight the changes that have occurred to enhance the research enterprise and knowledge building within the profession.

Equality of opportunity is understood to be one of the bedrock principles supporting the taxation of inheritance. The idea is that inherited wealth offers an unjustified head start for some individuals at the expense of others. In political theory, this principle is closely identified with the branch of liberalism known as resource equality. But the resource equality ideal has not been fully translated into the legal literature. The classics of the legal literature use the term “equal opportunity” quite generally and often blend equal opportunity with goals that are quite distinct, like wealth equalization.

This paper examines the underlying reasons behind the decline in employer coverage among employees from 2001 to 2005. The paper finds that almost half of the decline in employer-sponsored coverage was due to a loss of employer sponsorship. Another quarter of the decline was due to lost eligibility for benefits or losing access as a dependent of another employee. The remaining quarter of the decline was due to employees not participating in the offer of coverage.

In an effort to assess what is known about family-centered practice, the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR), with support from the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Family-Centered Practice, conducted a review of selected references and citations. This review reports more than one hundred items of unpublished and published literature (in most cases since 1990) in the area of family-centered practice. The references reported here have been identified through a variety of sources including computerized databases and communication with researchers and practitioners in the field. For

Over 46 million Americans were without health insurance in 2005. The number of uninsured under age 65 grew by 1.3 million from 2004 to 2005, continuing an upward trend from 2000. While the number of uninsured Americans has been increasing, who they are has remained constant. Two-thirds of the uninsured are low-income, and eight in ten come from working families. Many uninsured work for firms that do not offer insurance, and those who are offered insurance often find their share of the premiums unaffordable. Young adults, racial and ethnic minorities, and those who are non-citizens are more likely to be uninsured; however, most of the uninsured are adults over the age of 30, white, and American citizens. It is important to understand the reasons why people lack health insurance because health coverage matters to whether people get needed and timely medical care. The uninsured are much more likely than those with insurance to forego or delay seeking care. And, the consequences can be severe. Reduced access to care leads to poorer health, preventable hospitalizations, and even premature death.

This paper presents the findings from the ninth annual Health Confidence Survey (HCS), a survey that examines a broad spectrum of health care issues, including Americans' satisfaction with health care today, their confidence in the future of the health care system and the Medicare program, and their attitudes toward health care reform. The survey was conducted within the United States between May 16 and June 3, 2006, through 23-minute telephone interviews with 1,000 individuals ages 21 and older. Random digit dialing was used to obtain a representative cross section of the U.S. population. Interview quotas were established by sex of respondent and employment status, and the data were weighted by gender, age, education, and employment to reflect the actual proportions in the population.

This interagency assessment provides a strategic overview and predictive outlook of the threat to the United States from the illicit trafficking and use of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, pharmaceutical drugs, and other dangerous drugs.

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2005, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity declined from 11.9 percent of households in 2004 to 11.0 percent in 2005, while the prevalence of very low food security remained unchanged at 3.9 percent. This report, based on data from the December 2005 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs.

This guidance has been produced by the Government and is aimed at the vice-chancellors and principals of higher education providers. It comes in response to requests from some educational providers for practical advice on how to respond to a number of challenging and sensitive issues. The guidance gives practical advice and draws on the good practice that already exists within the sector.

On August 29, 2006, the Census Bureau reported that the number of nonelderly uninsured Americans had increased in 2005 by another 1.3 million people—for a total of 46.1 million uninsured—continuing an upward trend that began in the year 2000. The changes in the rate of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) as well as in the uninsured rate in 2005, as in 2004, were substantially smaller than were seen from 2000-2003.2 The changes in 2005 differed from the changes in 2004 in that while there was a comparable decline in the rate of ESI in both years, there was virtually no increase in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2005 and thus the uninsured rate increased. In 2004, there was an increase in Medicaid/SCHIP coverage that offset the ESI decline and there was no significant change in the uninsurance rate. The result was a greater increase in the number of nonelderly uninsured in 2005, 1.3 million, versus 850,000 in 2004.

Project SAFe tested a systematic evidence-based case management approach to improve patient cancer screening follow-up adherence for a target population of medically under-served low-income, ethnic minority women with abnormal breast and cervical screens. Materials and tools can be used as resources to adapt or modify case management materials already in use.

This report uses data primarily from the 2004 Graduation Rate Survey (GRS), a component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), to provide a systemwide overview of how graduation rates of comparable 4-year institutions vary with institution selectivity and the size of the low-income population enrolled. The report clearly shows that graduation rates dropped systematically as the proportion of low-income students increased, even within the same Carnegie classification and selectivity levels. Variations by gender and race/ethnicity also were evident. Women graduated at higher rates than men, and in general, as the proportion of low-income students increased, so did the gap between female and male graduation rates. The gap in graduation rates between White and Black students and between White and Hispanic students, on the other hand, typically narrowed as the as the proportion of low-income students increased.

Are Medicaid expenditures growing “out of control”? This paper reports new data showing that Medicaid expenditures did not grow at all in fiscal year 2006 and are expected to grow only modestly in 2007. There are good reasons to be concerned about projected increases in Medicaid expenditures over the long term, since health care costs continue to rise throughout the U.S. health care system and the U.S. population is aging. The underlying problem, however, is not that Medicaid has unusually high or increasing costs, but that the provision of health care in the United States has become very expensive and that health care costs in the private and public sectors alike have been rising at a rapid clip and are expected to continue doing so for the indefinite future. In recent years, costs per beneficiary have actually been rising at a slower pace in Medicaid than in other health care coverage, including both private health insurance and Medicare. This analysis examines new data on Medicaid expenditure growth, especially in fiscal year 2006, which ended on September 30.

A summary of the Sustainable Communities: Settled Homes; Changing Lives report which sets out the Government's plans on reducing homelessness further and halving the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2010.

Muslims are the largest single religious minority in the UK. UK Muslims are the object of analysis and concern within various policy arenas and popular debates, including immigration, marriage and partner selection, social cohesion and integration. This study, by Yunis Alam and Charles Husband, gathered insights, experiences and narratives from 25 men aged 16-38 that shed light on being a Bradfordian man of Pakistani and Muslim heritage. While there was some generational continuity of cultural values and norms, significant changes also appeared to be taking place.

The first ten months of 2006 have seen a significant deterioration in the conditions faced by the many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to bring relief to the civilian population devastated by the Darfur conflict and to expose violations of human rights. The following table documents incidents of attacks on NGOs in Sudan since January 2006, as reported by NGOs in the field and by the United Nations. Although not exhaustive, it serves to highlight the gravity of the problem by demonstrating the volume of incidents and the range of difficulties faced by NGOs. The table covers all of Sudan, but the majority of incidents take place in the troubled Darfur region.

The Mental Health Bill 2006 amends the Mental Health Act 1983. It also introduces "Bournewood" safeguards through amending the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The Bill was introduced into Parliament on 16 November 2006.

This document clarifies the nature and intent of existing government policy in relation to adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is intended to encourage people in the social care and health field to develop local agendas for action. It does not develop new policy but explains what existing policies mean for local commissioners and providers in terms of government expectations for the delivery of public services for people with an ASD. In this context, the document describes good practice and identifies what existing policies ask local people to do. Legal and other absolute requirements are described as things people must do. Phrases such as ‘need’ and ‘should’ are used to describe action that would result in good practice and the delivery of existing policy. It is about people aged 16+ who fit the definitions of ‘Autism’, ‘High Functioning Autism’ (HFA) and ‘Asperger Syndrome’ (AS).

On 8 November 2006 the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act received royal assent. The act lays the foundation for a new vetting and barring scheme which will be phased in from autumn 2008. Safeguarding children is a top priority for the government. Staying safe is one of the five outcomes in the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme. As part of its work to support this outcome, the DfES has a role in ensuring that safeguarding becomes everyone's responsibility across the range of children's services. The measures outlined in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act will help to support this work. The act will also help to deliver Department of Health priorities in safeguarding adults in the most vulnerable situations. The Dignity in Care campaign aims to create a care system where there is zero tolerance of abuse and disrespect of older people.

Service users have highlighted two activities as central to making user involvement work. These are: people being able to get together to work collectively for change and mutual support, and the importance of making known their own experience, views and ideas. This project, by Fran Branfield, Peter Beresford and a team from Shaping Our Lives, focuses on key expressions of these activities: the development of service user networking and knowledge. It highlights major barriers facing both, and ways service users see of overcoming these.

My Family Health Portrait allows you to create a personalized family health history report from any computer with an Internet connection and an up-to-date Web browser. Information you provide creates a drawing of your family tree and a chart of your family health history. Both the chart and the drawing can be printed and shared with your family members or your healthcare professional. Used in consultation with your healthcare professional, your family health history can help you review your family's health history and develop disease prevention strategies that are right for you.

Launched in 2000, Positive Futures is a national sports and activity based social inclusion programme, funded by the Home Office Crime and Drug Strategy Directorate and now managed on its behalf by Crime concern. Currently operating through over 100 local projects across England and Wales, it aims to support young people living in some of the most socially and economically deprived communities in the country by helping them to find routes back into education, volunteering and employment. In contrast to many other sports-based social policy initiatives Positive Futures is clear in its assertion that it is not a ‘diversionary’ or even a sports development programme as traditionally understood and practiced. Rather, it describes itself as a ‘relationship strategy’ which seeks to engage with young people through an ability to teach or help them learn something they think is worthwhile. Working in neighbourhoods identified as amongst the 20% most deprived in the country,it seeks to use sport and other activities as a basis for establishing relationships with young people who have otherwise become alienated and distanced from mainstream social policy agencies and ‘authority’ figures.

Although mental health and general health are clearly connected, a chasm exists between the mental health care and general health care systems in both practice and financing. The intersection of mental health and primary health, under discussion since the mid-1990s, recently has garnered increased attention and concern at the national and State levels. It has become apparent that consumers of mental health services experience unnecessary suffering, functional impairment, mortality, economic losses, and health care costs as a result of ineffective care due to the fragmentation of the Nation’s multiple health care systems. The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health found that mental illnesses are shockingly common and affect almost every American family

Disproportionate representation (or disproportionality) refers to the current situation in which particular racial and ethnic groups of children are represented in foster care at a higher or lower percentage than their representation in the general population. Disproportionality refers both to the overrepresentation of children of color in foster care and to the disparate outcomes they experience while they are in foster care.

518,000 children were in the U.S. foster care system on September 30, 2004. Most children are placed temporarily in foster care due to parental abuse or neglect.

We use Goffman's characterization of "front" and "backstage" interaction practices to analyze how the use of instant messaging in both face-to-face and technology-mediated meetings alters the spatial, temporal, and social configurations of meetings. In an interview study of workers in two organizations, we found that workers used instant messaging during face-to-face meetings and telephone conference calls (1) to participate concurrently in "front" and "backstage" interactions, (2) to participate in multiple, concurrent, "backstage" conversations, and (3) to manage and influence front stage activities through concurrent backstage conversations. These interactions would be either physically impossible or socially constrained without the use of instant messaging. We draw on psychology, GSS, and communication studies to consider the implications for group work.

In this release, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) updates estimates for 15 selected health measures based on data from the January–March 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and presents estimates from 1997 through 2005 for comparison. The 15 Early Release measures are being published prior to final data editing and final weighting to provide access to the most recent information from NHIS. . . . The 15 measures included are lack of health insurance coverage and type of coverage, usual place to go for medical care, obtaining needed medical care, receipt of influenza vaccination, receipt of pneumococcal vaccination, obesity, leisure-time physical activity, current smoking, alcohol consumption, human immunodeficiency virus testing, general health status, personal care needs, serious psychological distress, diagnosed diabetes, and asthma episodes and current asthma.

Most people who are coping with the aftermath of a disaster have normal reactions as they struggle with the disruption and loss caused by the disaster. They do not see themselves as needing mental health services and are unlikely to request them. Community outreach may be necessary to seek out and provide mental health services to individuals who may be affected by a disaster.

Low achievement in public schools and wide achievement gaps between learners of color and low income and their white and higher-income peers are persistent concerns in U.S. K-12 schools. Two promising reforms have been proposed to improve educational outcomes: school choice and greater parental involvement. This study examines how these two reforms affect elementary-level student achievement, using nationally representative longitudinal data on early elementary grades in the United States. The author found that school type is not associated with reader scores but that attending a religious private school tends to be negatively correlated with math scores. Academic expectations by parents for their children and children’s reading at home both have robust correlations with reading and math scores but active school involvement by parents has no correlation with reading scores and very little association with math scores.

SAMHSA has established seclusion and restraint as a priority area and has developed a National Action Plan to reach our vision of seclusion and restraint free mental health services. Roadmap to Seclusion and Restraint Free Mental Health Services represents a key component of this National Action Plan. It will increase the knowledge and skills of mental health service direct care staff, administrators, and consumers on alternatives to the use of seclusion and restraint. We also see this training as a tool to assist you with mental health system transformation—creating mental health services and supports that facilitate recovery and promote resiliency.

The prevalence of poverty has been greater in nonmetro areas than in metro areas in every year since the 1960s when poverty rates were first officially recorded. Accordingly, Federal funds for social assistance programs and community development have favored nonmetro areas. This study suggests that adjusting poverty measures to account for cost-of-living differences between metro and nonmetro areas reverses that ranking. Once adjusted for cost-of-living differences using the Fair Market Rents index, metro poverty is greater than nonmetro poverty in terms of prevalence, depth, and severity over the entire 1991-2002 study period. Keywords: Poverty, cost-of-living adjustments, Fair Market Rents data, urban-rural comparison, sample design, Current Population Survey

The vast majority of those who seek asylum in the UK are rejected. Each year around two-thirds of asylum applications made to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) at the Home Office are ultimately refused (including any appeal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal). Once the applicant’s claim has been rejected and there is no outstanding appeal they are expected to leave the country within 21 days. Financial support and accommodation provided by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) are cut off after 21 ays for single adults and childless couples and they are prohibited from working. Families with children continue to receive financial support and accommodation. However, for a number of reasons – and often through no fault of their own – many do not leave but remain in the UK and at this point become destitute. This report examines what happens to rejected asylum seekers, why they do not leave the UK, and what can be done to avoid such destitution.

A new study released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) reveals that, in the year 2000, the economic cost of mental disorders and substance abuse in Ontario was $33.9 billion. According to The Economic Costs of Mental Disorders, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drug Abuse in Ontario, 2000 approximately 85% ($28.7 billion) of the total cost was due to productivity losses. The remaining economic burden ($5.1 billion) was total direct costs such as hospitalizations, community mental health and substance use programs, law enforcement, research, and education. This study fills a vital information gap. Ontario’s cost data related to substance abuse was outdated, and until now no comprehensive data on the costs of mental disorders has ever been available.

Health, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics. The report consists of two main sections: A chartbook containing text and figures that illustrates major trends in the health of Americans; and a trend tables section that contains 147 detailed data tables. The two main components are supplemented by an executive summary, a highlights section, an extensive appendix and reference section, and an index.

Governments have used their political authority to raise revenue throughout history to finance the goals of government—to protect individual freedoms and to promote the well-being of society as a whole. This revenue is generally obtained through taxes which shift resources from private individuals and businesses to the government. These funds are used to carry out the functions of government such as: military defense, enforcement of public order, construction of infrastructure, education, health care, pensions for the elderly, and public services, e.g., transport and resource management. There are various types of taxes, e.g., income, corporation, social security / retirement, property, inheritance, value-added, sales, and excise, to name some of the major categories.

The theme for the expert consultation has been derived from the recognition that improving the quality of psychosocial and mental health services requires ongoing research and the development of stronger assessment, monitoring and evaluation tools in order to understand and improve upon the effectiveness of such interventions. This event was initially conceived upon the request of EM-SEANET Partners in Cambodia who identified mental health services as an area requiring strengthening in the region. The main objectives of this consultation are to review the current status of psychosocial and mental health programs in relation to assessment, monitoring and evaluation methodologies and to develop a research agenda for improving the quality, efficacy and effectiveness of psychosocial and mental health interventions in post-disaster and (post)-conflict settings.

This brief highlights key findings from the Nonprofit Almanac 2007, prepared by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute (Urban Institute Press, forthcoming). The Almanac is the latest in the Urban Institute's series of statistical profiles of the nonprofit sector, most recently produced in conjunction with Independent Sector in 2002.

Information collected on visually impaired persons show that: -
• In 2006, the number of people registered as blind or partially sighted was estimated to be just under 37,000
• There were 3,439 cases registered during the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006, down less than 1 per cent on 2005.
• The majority, 58 per cent, of those on the register were blind, 42 per cent were partially sighted.
• 38 per cent of those on the registerwere male and 62 per cent were
female.
• Over three-quarters (76%) of those registered were over the age of 65.
• 11,415 persons (31 per cent) of those registered as visually impaired had additional disabilities. Of these, a quarter were deaf.

On average, being born in a recession increases the mortality rate later in life. We analyze to what extent this result varies across social class. We merge individual data records from Dutch registers of birth, marriage, and death certificates, covering an observation window of unprecedented size (1812-2000), including social class and occupation indicators for parents, with historical data on macro-economic outcomes and health indicators. We estimate duration models and inequality measures. The results indicate that lower social classes suffer disproportionately from being born in recessions. This exacerbates mortality inequality.

Child maltreatment, which includes child physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and psychological maltreatment, is unfortunately prevalent in today’s society, with almost 3 million reports of child abuse or neglect recieved by child protective services (CPS) in 2003 (USDDHS, 2003). Research on the consequences of child maltreatment has elucidated the wide ranging impact of child abuse and neglect on the child, family, and society as a whole. Training for professions such as psychology, medicine, nursing, law, dentistry, social work, public health, and education has not kept pace with the demands for expertise in child abuse and neglect. Education is an essential component of the effort to prevent child maltreatment and reduce the consequences to children who experience various forms of maltreatment. This publication provides guidance for professors and lecturers who want to incorporate information about child abuse and neglect into their teaching.

Violence against women in the family exists throughout Belarus. Women from all social levels and backgrounds fall victim to this form of gender-based violence. Violence against women is an abuse of their basic human rights, including their right to physical and mental integrity, their right to life and their right to equality with men. Throughout the world women are hit, beaten, raped, and in some cases even killed by their intimate partners, while many more endure psychological violence and economic control. The stories they tell differ little from one country to another. In preparing this report, Amnesty International listened to the accounts given by Belarusian women and analysed the action being taken by the state to support the victims of violence and to prosecute the perpetrators. On the basis of this, the organization makes recommendations about how to combat impunity and better protect and support women.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006 reviews progress and setbacks in hunger reductionsince 1990–92, the established baseline period. The first section of the report, Undernourishment around the world, reviews trends in hunger at the global, regional and subregional levels. It also presents FAO’s most recent projections of
undernourishment in 2015. The second section, Undernourishment in the regions, reviews the food security situation in each of the major developing regions and the transition countries. The third section, Towards the Summit commitments, summarizes lessons from past experience in hunger reduction and presents FAO’s current thinking on how to accelerate progress towards meeting the WFS target.

The idea of utilizing young people to handle student misconduct is not new. School administrators may remember when student governments held hearings on student misconduct at school. But youth courts1 have progressed far beyond those humble beginnings. Youth courts today hear cases from the justice system as well as the school disciplinary system. They involve collaborations with judges, law enforcement, court workers, community agencies and organizations, attorneys, and youth from other schools. Youth court is an intervention program and not a court within the judicial branch of government. It fits within the graduated, or accountability-based, sanctions approach to juvenile offenses. This approach provides swift and appropriate responses to youth offenders based on the gravity of their offense, an assessment of the potential risk for reoffending, and appropriate treatment to reduce the risk of committing additional offenses. Graduated sanctions operate on a continuum, from immediate care within the community for first-time, nonviolent offenders (youth courts are here) to secure care for the most violent offenders. Youth courts have quietly emerged into the most replicated juvenile justice program in the history of the juvenile court.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland in a fair way. It allows effective targeting of policies and funding where the aim is to wholly or partly tackle or take account of area concentrations of multiple deprivation. The first Index (SIMD 2004) was published in June 2004 and was based on 31 indicators in the six individual domains of Current Income, Employment, Housing, Health, Education, Skills and Training and Geographic Access to Services and Telecommunications. The SIMD was updated for 2006 on 17 October 2006. The SIMD 2006 contains 37 indicators in seven domains: Current Income, Employment, Health, Education Skills and Training, Geographic Access to Services (including public transport travel times for the first time), Housing and a new Crime Domain. The SIMD is presented at data zone level, enabling small pockets of deprivation to be identified. The data zones, which have a median population size of 769, are ranked from most deprived (1) to least deprived (6,505) on the overall SIMD and on each of the individual domains. The result is a comprehensive picture of relative area deprivation across Scotland.

In fall 2004, the Department of Health of the District of Columbia undertook a demonstration project, "Awareness and Access to Care for Children and Youth with Epilepsy," with the goal of developing, implementing, and evaluating systems strategies to improve access to information and care for children and youth with epilepsy in underserved areas of the District. The project included as one component a needs assessment, the first ever conducted in the District, to gather information regarding children with epilepsy, with a particular focus on children living in designated Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). The needs assessment is intended to highlight needed changes within the health services delivery system for children and youth with epilepsy and provide relevant information for strategic planning and development of subsequent activities. It is based on a review of the literature, existing data from Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) and on clients in fee- for-service Medicaid, hospital discharge data, a report on interviews with key informants, a report on a survey of school nurses, and findings from focus groups with young adults with epilepsy and caretakers of young adults with epilepsy.

This report provides an overview of an evidence-based framework for developing public policy approaches for health coverage of the low-income population. The first section is devoted to the question: What is the role for publicly sponsored health insurance? The second section turns to central questions about how to structure a publicly sponsored health insurance program for the low-income population. The next three sections focus on aspects of financial access to care for low-income people — premiums, benefits, and cost-sharing. The sixth section examines whether coverage guarantees access to care and discusses other factors that can facilitate or impede it. The seventh section deals with the fundamental matter of financing the coverage. Each section begins with an overview that outlines the issue at hand, summarizes the relevant evidence, and, based on the evidence, provides a perspective. The overview is followed by a detailed review of the evidence in which the perspective is grounded.

The world is an increasingly interconnected place, busy with mobility and rapid change. Families are relocating, immigrants are settling in, and rural areas and industrial towns are being transformed through global economic shifts. A sense of community is not something many of us can take for granted any more. Yet across the United States, nonprofit cultural heritage organizations are helping people to remember and celebrate their shared experiences, traditions, identities, struggles, and aspirations.

From USDHHS/SAMHSA

This side-by-side offers an overview of key provisions in the current Ryan White CARE Act compared to reauthorization proposals provided by the White House and Congress.

How has the population structure of the United States changed over the last quarter century? One of the most dramatic changes is the growing number of older persons in the population, both in absolute numbers and in the percentage of the total population they represent. Simply put, more Americans are older than ever before. This module examines the demographic trends of the older population (65 years and older).

The ICAP Blue Book offers a comprehensive guide to the key issues in alcohol policy development, and an integrated approach to prevention. It draws upon the best available research and experience from around the world. . . . It is intended as a tool to assist those seeking guidance in developing policy and prevention approaches, be they governments, intergovernmental organizations, public health officials and specialists, researchers, non-governmental organizations, the beverage alcohol industry and its related bodies, or civil society organizations interested in alcohol policy development.

The starting point for this strategy is that, for young people, being NEET represents an unacceptable waste of potential. NEET sells young people short; economically and socially it makes no sense. Our objective is to eradicate the problem of NEET the length and breadth of Scotland. This is a national priority demanding a national effort.
Government cannot alone tackle this issue. The NEET strategy demands action from a range of agencies in every local authority area in the country. Our engagement with Scotland’s business people is absolutely central to this effort. They can provide an expertise, resources and the opportunities to help young people. So we are delighted that a group of Scotland’s most senior business people and respected educators have come together under the chairmanship of Sir Robert Smith to work with us in a unique and important partnership to tackle NEET.

View image of Sources of Marijuana Acquisition

Generally more is known about drug use and demand than about markets and supply, in large part because population survey data are available while market data are not. Although the household population represents a relatively small proportion of users of hard drugs, it represents a large proportion of the population using marijuana and participating in marijuana markets. This paper provides a description of marijuana market and acquisition patterns as reported by participants in the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. We find that most respondents obtain marijuana indoors (87%), from a friend or relative (89%), and for free (58%). Retail marijuana distribution appears to be embedded in social networks rather than being dominated by “professional” sellers. Despite these contrasts with stereotypical street markets for cocaine and heroin, there are also similarities, such as evidence of quantity discounts and a minority of users accounting for the majority of purchases. We estimate that there are on the order of 400 million retail marijuana purchases in the U.S. each year and that the average purchase size is small, about six or seven joints.

The older population--persons 65 years or older--numbered 36.3 million in 2004 (the most recent year for which data are available). They represented 12.4% of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. The number of older Americans increased by 3.1 million or 9.3% since 1994, compared to an increase of 13.3% for the under-65 population. However, the number of Americans aged 45-64 – who will reach 65 over the next two decades – increased by 39% during this period. In 2004, there were 21.1 million older women and 15.2 million older men, or a sex ratio of 139 women for every 100 men. The female to male sex ratio increases with age, ranging from 115 for the 65-69 age group to a high of 222 for persons 85 and over. Since 1900, the percentage of Americans 65+ has tripled (from 4.1% in 1900 to 2.4% in 2004), and the number has increased almost twelve times (from 3.1 million to 36.3 million). The older population itself is getting older. In 2004, the 65-74 age group (18.5 million) was over eight times larger than in 1900, but the 75-84 group (13.0 million) was 17 times larger and the 85+ group (4.9 million) was 39.8 times larger.