Developing quality indicators for local health departments: experience in Los Angeles County.

Objectives: To develop public health quality indicators for local health department (LHD) use.

Methods: An indicator development team utilized public health quality measurement concepts, reviewed existing quality measurement-related initiatives, and conducted interviews with LHD staff in order to identify and develop quality indicators for the Los Angeles County Health Department.

Results: Sixty-one recommended and 50 acceptable (i.

Factors that influence receipt of recommended preventive pediatric health and dental care.

Objective: This study examined the factors that affect children's receipt of recommended well-child and dental visits using nationally representative data.

Methods: We analyzed the Child Public Use File of the 1999 National Survey of America's Families, including 35 938 children who were younger than 18 years. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between dependent variables, including receipt of well-child visits as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics' periodicity schedule and dental visits as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and Bright Futures, and independent variables, including health status and sociodemographic and economic indicators.

When and where do youths have sex? The potential role of adult supervision.

Objective: Interventions to reduce high-risk behaviors such as sex and substance use among youths have focused mainly on promoting abstinence, refusal skills, and negotiation skills, yet the frequency of high-risk behaviors among youths may also be influenced by opportunity, particularly the amount of time during which they are not supervised by adults. In this study, we examined when and where youths have sex and whether there is a relationship between unsupervised time and sex, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and substance use.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 6 public high schools in an urban school district.

Smoking patterns of household members and visitors in homes with children in the United States.

Background: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), also called passive smoking, has been shown to have adverse effects on the health of children.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and pattern of ETS exposure in US homes with children younger than 18 years.

Design: We analyzed data from the 1994 National Health Interview Survey and Year 2000 Objectives supplement.

Quality of breast cancer care: what do we know?

Purpose: To critically review studies that describe patterns of care for breast cancer patients and to examine the data sources used for case identification and determining patterns of care.

Methods: We searched the MEDLINE database (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD) in August 2001 for studies of breast cancer care published from January 1985 to June 2001. Thirty-eight articles, describing 32 studies, met the inclusion criteria for this review.

Public health quality measurement: concepts and challenges.

Public health agencies increasingly are recognizing the need to formally and quantitatively assess and improve the quality of their programs, information, and policies. Measuring quality can help organizations monitor their progress toward public health goals and become more accountable to both the populations they serve and policy makers. Yet quality assessment is a complex task that involves precise determination and specification of useful measures.