Poor mental health remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the Bhutanese refugee community. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a promising intervention that has been used in other immigrant communities to prepare individuals to recognize and respond to mental health…

Ninety percent of smokers start as teens and consequently, youth are one of the tobacco industry’s primary targets. Fortunately, over the last several years, there has been a dramatic decline in youth cigarette use, but those gains have been challenged by the introduction of e…

As part of the PA Family Support Needs Assessment, PolicyLab assessed county-level data from eight related indicators—outlined in this brief—of substance use, the impacts of opioid use in pregnancy, and risks for people in the postpartum period to offer broad insight into opportunities…

Between January 2019 and October 2020, PolicyLab collaborated with the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning to complete the 2020 Family Support Needs Assessment, which describes a wide range of social, environmental, and health factors impacting the well-being of…

As we approach another presidential election, pediatricians across the country will once again be called upon to lend their voice and expertise to child health policy discussions. It is therefore both timely and relevant to consider the variety of roles that pediatricians can play in…

Pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds can trigger asthma exacerbation in sensitized individuals. However, there are gaps in knowledge about the effects, such as the relative risks from different plant taxa and threshold levels of effect. We aimed to describe the local association…

OBJECTIVES: Guidelines recommend universal screening for developmental concerns in young children in pediatric primary care, with referral to early intervention (EI) as early as possible for children with a positive screen. However, participation in EI differs by child race, ethnicity…

We present the case of a child of color diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 67 months of age. Drawing from behavioral economics, we used this case to explore errors in decision-making by clinicians and family members and structural factors that may have delayed ASD…

OBJECTIVE: To identify where rural children with mental health conditions are hospitalized and to determine differences in outcomes based on location of hospitalization. STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective cohort analysis of US rural children aged 0-18 years with a mental health…

OBJECTIVE: Integrated primary care (IPC) is intended to address the gap in access to behavioral health care. This may be particularly true in urban settings; however, there is a paucity of research on treatment engagement in urban IPC. This study explored factors associated with…