ABSTRACT. Objective. Hunger, with its adverse consequences for children, continues to be an important national problem. Previous studies that document the deleterious effects of hunger among children cannot distinguish child from family hunger and do not take into account some critical environmental, maternal, and child variables that may influence child outcomes. This study examines the independent contribution of child hunger on children's physical and mental health and academic functioning, when controlling for a range of environmental, maternal, and child factors that have also been associated with poor outcomes among children.Methods. With the use of standardized tools, comprehensive demographic, psychosocial, and health data were collected in Worcester, Massachusetts, from homeless and low-income housed mothers and their children (180 preschool-aged children and 228 school-aged children). Mothers and children were part of a larger unmatched case-control study of homelessness among femaleheaded households. Hunger was measured by a set of 7 dichotomous items, each asking the mother whether she has or her children have experienced a particular aspect of hunger during the past year-1 concerns food insecurity for the entire family, 2 concern adult hunger, and 4 involve child hunger. The items, taken from the Childhood Hunger Identification Project measure, are summed to classify the family and divided into 3 categories: no hunger, adult or moderate child hunger, or severe child hunger (indicating multiple signs of child hunger). Outcome measures included children's chronic health condition count using questions adapted from the National Health Interview Survey, Child Health Supplement, and internalizing behavior problems and anxiety/ depression, measured by the Child Behavior Checklist. Additional covariates included demographic variables (ie, age, gender, ethnicity, housing status, number of moves, family size, income), low birth weight, child life events (ie, care and protection order, out of home placement, abuse, severe life events count), developmental problems (ie, developmental delay, learning disability, emotional problems), and mother's distress and psychiatric illness. Multivariate regression analyses examined the effect of child hunger on physical and mental health outcomes.Results. The average family size for both preschoolers and school-aged children was 3; about one third of both groups were white and 40% Puerto Rican. The average income of families was approximately $11 000. Among the school-aged children, on average 10 years old, 50% experienced moderate child hunger and 16% severe child hunger. Compared with those with no hunger, school-aged children with severe hunger were more likely to be homeless (56% vs 29%), have low birth weights (23% vs 6%), and have more stressful life events (9 vs 6) when compared with those with no hunger. School-aged children with severe hunger scores had parent-reported anxiety scores that were more than double the scores for children with no hunger and significant...

The prevalence of trauma-related disorders among poor women was higher than that among women in the general population. Programs and policies designed for low-income mothers must respond to the high prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders.

The Sonya Slifka Longitudinal Multiple Sclerosis Study follows a population-based cohort of approximately 2000 people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to study demographic and clinical characteristics, course of illness, utilization and cost of health services, provider characteristics, use of MS specialists and disease modifying agents, and neurologic, economic and psychosocial outcomes. This report describes the study methodology, presents baseline demographic and clinical data, and evaluates the representativeness of the sample. A stratified random sample of persons with established and recently-diagnosed MS selected from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) mailing lists was supplemented with recently-diagnosed patients recruited through systematic nationwide outreach. Baseline data were collected by computer-assisted telephone interviews derived from standardized instruments; data collection continues at six-month intervals. The cohort was comparable to population-based and clinical samples with respect to demographics, course, relapse rate, symptoms, and severity of disability. Almost two-thirds of the cohort needed help with activities of daily living, three-quarters were limited in work or other activities, and half had emotional problems that compromised quality of life. The Slifka Study cohort is broadly representative of the MS population and the database can be used to address questions not answered by natural history studies, clinical databases, or population-based surveys.

OBJECTIVES: To identify risk and protective factors for family homelessness, a case-control study of homeless and low-income, never-homeless families, all female-headed, was conducted. METHODS: Homeless mothers (n = 220) were enrolled from family shelters in Worcester, Mass. Low-income housed mothers receiving welfare (n = 216) formed the comparison group. The women completed an interview covering socioeconomic, social support, victimization, mental health, substance use, and health domains. RESULTS: Childhood predictors of family homelessness included foster care placement and respondent's mother's use of drugs. Independent risk factors in adulthood included minority status, recent move to Worcester, recent eviction, interpersonal conflict, frequent alcohol or heroin use, and recent hospitalization for a mental health problem. Protective factors included being a primary tenant, receiving cash assistance or a housing subsidy, graduating from high school, and having a larger social network. CONCLUSIONS: Factors that compromise an individual's economic and social resources are associated with greater risk of losing one's home.

The quality of primary care varies by clinician type, with different strengths for PCNPs and PCMDs. These comparative advantages should be considered when determining how to organize primary care to Medicare beneficiaries.