Community Asthma Initiative to Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Disparities Among Children with Asthma.

Black and Hispanic children are hospitalized with complications of asthma at much higher rates than white children. The Boston Children's Hospital Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) provides asthma case management and home visits for children from low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts, to address racial/ethnic health disparities in pediatric asthma outcomes. CAI objectives were to evaluate 1) case management data by parent/guardian report for health outcomes and 2) hospital administrative data for comparison between intervention and comparison groups.

Prevention through Design Adoption Readiness Model (PtD ARM): An integrated conceptual model.

Background: Prevention through Design (PtD), eliminating hazards at the design-stage of tools and systems, is the optimal method of mitigating occupational health and safety risks. A recent National Institute of Safety and Health initiative has established a goal to increase adoption of PtD innovation in industry. The construction industry has traditionally lagged behind other sectors in the adoption of innovation, in general; and of safety and health prevention innovation, in particular.

Family gym: a model to promote physical activity for families with young children.

This report describes Family Gym, a family-centered model that (1) provides free access to physical activity for low-income families in the inner city; (2) targets young children (3-8 years) and their families; (3) engages families together in physical activity; and (4) stimulates social interaction among families.

A cost analysis for a community-based case management intervention program for pediatric asthma.

Objective: Evaluate the costs and benefits of the Boston Children's Hospital Community Asthma Initiative (CAI) program through reduction of Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospitalizations and quality of life (QOL) for patients and their families due to reduced missed school days and work days.

Methods: Cost-benefit analysis was used to determine an adjusted Return on Investment (ROI) for all 102 patients enrolled in the CAI program in the calendar year 2006 after controlling for changes in a comparable population without CAI intervention. A societal ROI (SROI) was also computed by including additional indirect benefits due to reduced missed school days for patients and work days for caregivers.

Collaborating for impact: a multilevel early childhood obesity prevention initiative.

This article presents Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures, a multilevel initiative in Boston, Massachusetts, which brings major institutions' missions and resources together to address early childhood obesity prevention. Programming is designed to facilitate healthy eating and physical activity in preschool children's home, school, and community environments by engaging parents and early childhood educators in the places where they live, learn, and play. This article describes how established interventions were implemented in a novel setting to engage the parents of children attending Head Start and staff, and presents pilot data from the first 2 years of the initiative.

Community asthma initiative: evaluation of a quality improvement program for comprehensive asthma care.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of a quality improvement (QI) program in reducing asthma emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, limitation of physical activity, patient missed school, and parent missed work.

Methods: Urban, low-income patients with asthma from 4 zip codes were identified through logs of ED visits or hospitalizations, and offered enhanced care including nurse case management and home visits. QI evaluation focused on parent-completed interviews at enrollment, and at 6- and 12-month contacts.