Publications
Children's Mental Health
 "Identification of Youth Psychosocial Problems During Pediatric Primary Care Visits." Jonathan D. Brown, Anne W. Riley, and Lawrence S. Wissow, Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, May 2007. Pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) are the gateway to mental health services for children and adolescents. However, PCPs often fail to identify youth with mental health needs during visits, and few studies have examined how identification could be improved. This study found that PCPs who reported greater burden associated with treating mental health problems and those who reported easier access to mental health specialists were less likely to accurately identify youth with mental health needs, compared with a standard screening tool, even after accounting for the severity of the mental health problem, reason for the visit, and other PCP characteristics.
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Health Care Quality
 "Testing Consumers' Comprehension of Quality Measures Using Alternative Reporting Formats." Margaret Gerteis, Jessie S. Gerteis, David Newman, and Christopher Koepke, Health Care Financing Review, spring 2007. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has publicly reported nursing home quality measures since 2002, but research has shown that many users do not understand the measures. This article reports on efforts to develop and test seven alternative reporting templates to improve comprehension. Fewer than one-half of respondents accurately interpreted bar graphs. Respondents made fewest errors on templates using words to characterize performance as better, average, or worse.
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Dietary Methodology
 "Dietary Methodology: Advancements in the Development of Short Instruments to Assess Dietary Fat." Ronette R. Briefel, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, May 2007. Measuring dietary fat in a brief manner is a goal of many research and community-based studies. Short instruments for assessing diet have utility if they meet acceptable standards of reliability and validity for the populations groups with which they are used. This research editorial reviews progress in dietary assessment and the development of short dietary instruments; it also provides an overview of three recent studies that used different short instruments to assess dietary fat intake and compared estimates with those derived from other dietary assessment methods. The author notes that these three studies contribute to the knowledge base on dietary assessment, and in particular, on the development and application of short instruments to rank or screen individuals for intervention studies, estimate dietary fat intake among specific population groups, and assess dietary risk and change in intake over time.
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Disability and Income Protection
 "Income Security for Workers: A Stressed Support System in Need of Innovation." David C. Stapleton, Richard V. Burkhauser, Peiyun She, Gina A. Livermore, and Robert R. Weathers, May 2007. The current mix of public and private programs to support workers after they experience disability provides benefits to millions of workers and former workers. Yet, despite the large and growing costs of these programs, the inflation-adjusted household incomes of workers with disabilities have been falling for over two decades. The aging of the baby boom generation is likely to make matters worse, and the government’s fiscal circumstances will make it increasingly difficult to sustain existing public programs. This report notes that current public policy initiatives might eventually improve the disability support system, but they are not likely to ward off the adverse consequences of the pending crisis. Policy changes that leverage existing private sector practices and capabilities might achieve greater success but have received little attention and are far from proven. Report.
Issue Brief.
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Schirm Named ASA Fellow
 Allen Schirm, associate director of human services research and senior fellow, has been named an American Statistical Association (ASA) fellow. Fellows receive this honor in recognition of their outstanding professional contributions to and leadership in the field of statistical science. The designation of fellow has been a superlative honor in ASA for more than 90 years. Schirm’s expertise encompasses program evaluation, the decennial census, fund allocation, and innovative statistical methods for measuring poverty and program eligibility and participation for states and local areas. His research has influenced the development of policy and the administration of programs designed to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. ASA, the nation’s preeminent professional statistical society, was founded in 1839 to promote excellence in the application of statistical science across the wealth of human endeavor. ASA members apply their expertise to diverse tasks—from assessing environmental risk factors and developing new therapeutic drugs, to examining social issues and establishing statistical standards used at all government levels.
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Upcoming Conferences
 Over a dozen of our welfare research and evaluation experts will be presenting at the Administration for Children and Families Conference in Arlington, VA, from June 4 to 6. Mathematica is also a sponsor for the Third International Conference on Establishment Surveys, which will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, June 18 to 21. For other conference presentations, including AcademyHealth, click here.
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