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According to the National Institutes of Health, "Translational research includes …the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in humans… [and] research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community. Following this tradition, this paper defines translational research in the Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE) sciences as the recursive, bidirectional process of integrating scientific knowledge and research-based discoveries into community and societal practices and policies. Because there is a woeful lack of understanding about the science of translation, or how this very difficult work happens. Little is actually known about the strategies, structures, and processes of translational research that influence the capability and probability of diverse researchers from distinct disciplines collaborating effectively to solve significant social, behavioral, educational, and mental health problems. Barriers such as discipline-centric terminologies, traditional methodological approaches, time constraints, and narrowly conceived and executed dissemination strategies are significant. To accelerate the transmission of knowledge across the spectrum of theory, experimentation, implementation and diffusion, an augmented translational research approach specific to the SBE sciences is needed. The specific aims of this initiative are two-fold. First, the initiative will uncover various aspects (phases and processes) of translation that are most effective in addressing a range of significant social, behavioral, educational and mental health challenges plaguing society. Second, the knowledge gained about the science of translation will be applied to ameliorate specific social, behavioral, educational, and mental health problems by targeting specific substantive issues in these areas that impede individual, familial, social, and societal health. Through advanced understanding of the mechanisms by which meaningful integration of researchers from multiple disciplines and across the basic, applied, community and policy spectrum occurs, translational researchers will provide critical core support to augment the efficient translation around targeted SBE research. Relatedly, structures developed as a product of this initiative will serve as a hub to inform significant training, practice and policy advances among researchers in the SBE sciences. [Development of this white paper was completed with partial support from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED).]

We investigate if there is a causal link between education and health knowledge using data from the 1984/85 and 1991/92 waves of the UK Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS). Uniquely, the survey asks respondents what they think are the main causes of ten common health conditions, and we compare these answers to those given by medical professionals to form an index of health knowledge. For causal identification we use increases in the UK minimum school leaving age in 1947 (from 14 to 15)and 1972 (from 15 to 16) to provide exogenous variation in education. These reforms predominantly induced adolescents who would have left school to stay for one additionally mandated year. OLS estimates suggest that education significantly increases health knowledge, with a one-year increase in schooling increasing the health knowledge index by 15% of a standard deviation. In contrast, estimates from instrumental-variable models show that increased schooling due to the education reforms did not significantly affect health knowledge. This main result is robust to numerous specification tests and alternative formulations of the health knowledge index. Further research is required to determine whether there is also no causal link between higher levels of education--such as post-school qualifications--and health knowledge. An appendix entitled, "Sensitivity of results to alternative definitions of health knowledge index," is included. [This paper was produced as part of the Centre's Education Programme. The Centre for Economic Performance is financed by the Economic and Social Research Council.]

According to a recent study by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at the London School of Economics, poverty and social exclusion have been taken very seriously by this Government, resulting in high-profile targets, new policies and funding streams. Social exclusion was recognised to consist of multi-faceted and interlinked problems, with the cycle of disadvantage more clearly understood than ever before. Tackling educational standards, and literacy in particular, was an important dimension to the strategy to address social exclusion. This paper is for those concerned with the relationship between poor literacy skills and social exclusion, including policymakers, education professionals and service providers. It includes the evidence after two years of a three-year Basic Skills Agency National Support Project delivered by the National Literacy Trust, and follows an earlier discussion paper, "Literacy and Social Inclusion: the Policy Challenge". The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence gathered and to provide a resource for those concerned with issues in this field. The evidence was developed from a dialogue with literacy practitioners working with those who were already--or were at risk of becoming--socially excluded because of their poor literacy, and also with those professionals across a range of policy areas who saw poor literacy skills as a significant factor in their own service delivery. Published research findings and official reports were also included in the evidence base. The focus of the paper is on home and community literacy, rather than classroom practice, with five key areas: (1) Promoting early language and reading skills; (2) Building parents' skills; (3) Out-of-school-hours literacy support; (4) Motivating disaffected young people; and (5) Improving the skills of adults at risk. Appended are: (1) Background to the project; and (2) Use of services by disadvantaged people. (Contains 156 footnotes.)

The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) convened a meeting of 23 stakeholders representing a national cross-section of experts in the fields of health and education on April 30, 2004. Among the participants were school health practitioners, educators, researchers, and funders. The meeting's purpose was to clarify and document the relationship between school-based health centers (SBHCs) and student academic performance. The diverse backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints among participants contributed to a vigorous discussion of pertinent issues. The meeting included a discussion of the educational policy context that is increasing pressures on SBHCs to document the impact of their services on academic performance. This paper aims to: (1) summarize the meeting proceedings and recommendations; (2) provide a stimulus for further discussion and research on the connection between SBHCs and academic performance; and (3) provide guidance to those currently working with SBHCs, including staff, researchers, evaluators, advocates and their educational partners on strategies to document and enhance the collaboration between SBHCs and educators to improve student success and sustain the viability of the SBHC initiative. (Contains 4 figures and 1 footnote.) [Funding for this paper was provided by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.]

The research reviewed and the current responses identified in this paper show that at local, national and international levels there are gaps in programming and policy to engage ideas and mobilise resources to address the needs and experiences of very young children infected/affected by HIV and AIDS. Chapter one identifies some key areas where the lives of very young children are affected by the pandemic. Chapter two reveals that HIV and AIDS and early childhood development (ECD) programming has shown a limited response so far. Finally, in Chapter three, conclusions are drawn that indicate that services are required urgently to support very young children both directly and through the families and communities in which they live. (Lists 9 resources and 11 online resources.)

An evaluation is presented on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector in the Asia Pacific region. Its focus is how human rights in relation to education have been upset by the epidemic. The education sector is urged to develop more initiatives to educate about the epidemic, and to build measures that deal with both immediate and long-term impacts of HIV/AIDS. Children infected with HIV are often restricted from access to education. This limitation does not only come from the community, but also from family or parents. Such stigma and discrimination is not restricted to children. Teachers and school administrators who are HIV infected are also deprived of their right to work. Such discrimination affects not only the individual but the education sector as a whole. An analysis is given on how governments can change and rectify such discrimination through the 4A's models, developed for a UNESCO-supported manual on rights-based education (2004). The 4A's comprise Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Adaptability. Availability refers to the obligation to ensure compulsory and free education for all children within a determined age range. Accessibility describes an obligation to eliminate exclusion from education based on internationally accepted norms. Acceptability sets minimum standards for education; and Adaptability calls for special action to provide education for children who were are precluded from formal schooling. Apart from government policy formulation, the education sector can ensure that all children (whether they are infected with HIV/AIDS or not) are given the right to an education, that infected teachers can continue working, and that confidentiality is observed. There should be no stigmatizing curricular. Young people should learn about the epidemic and ways to protect themselves. There are several links between the education sector, HIV/AIDS and human rights. Key to confronting discrimination includes inclusive education, knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and the quality of the curriculum. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This document was published by UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. For Discussion Paper No. I in this series, see ED496239.]

The delivery of an appropriate quantity and quality of health care in an efficient way requires, among other things, matching the supply with the demand for the services of physicians, over time. Such matching has led to very different levels of physicians per million population across OECD countries--because of variations, among other things, in: morbidity and mortality, health expenditure as a share of GDP and the design of health systems. In addition, there are signs that a higher density of physicians is found in countries which have left the supply of physicians mainly to the market whereas lower density is found in countries which have planned the intake to medical schools centrally over many years. Shortages of physicians have now appeared in a number of OECD countries. It seems likely that these shortages could worsen in some countries over the next two decades, as a result of rising demand for, and falling supply of, physicians, unless countermeasures are taken quickly. The countermeasures may involve recruiting into medicine a higher proportion of dwindling cohorts of young people which is likely, in turn, to require raising the relative pay of physicians and/or improving their conditions of service. Countries have at their disposal a variety of additional policy instruments to influence the supply of physicians including education and training policies, migration policies and policies affecting retention and retirement. A number of countries are now raising their intake to medical schools, or discussing raising it. Immigration of doctors can ease physician shortages in countries where numbers are lacking but it raises difficult questions about international equity when there are net, long-term flows of physicians from poorer countries with low average health status to richer countries with high health status. As a result, many OECD countries aim for self-sufficiency in physician supply. Against expectations of a wave of retirement of physicians in many OECD countries, several countries are trying to tempt physicians into delaying their retirement by making retirement arrangements more flexible and staying longer in practice more rewarding, financially. Most OECD countries experience inequities in the geographical distribution of their physician workforce. To tackle this difficulty, a mix of educational policies, regulatory policies and financial policies has been used with some success in a number of countries. Against increasing trends towards specialisation, some countries are trying to raise the relative attractiveness of careers in primary care. There is some evidence to suggest that giving students experience of primary care practice and appointing primary-care role models to academic positions, can influence students' choices towards a career in primary care. The services delivered by physicians depend on their productivity as well as on their numbers. There is good evidence that activity-related methods of payment will raise the activity rates of physicians, but this is also likely to raise costs and little is known about the effect that raised activity has on quality of care. There is growing interest in devising payment systems for physicians which reward the quality of care directly--where that is feasible. (Contains 12 footnotes, 13 figures, 6 boxes and 5 tables.)

Over recent years, there has been an explosion in the collection of state and local level child and youth indicator data by federal statistical agencies and in the dissemination of those data through agency Web sites. This paper reviews these resources and provides information needed to access the data. Data sources are presented in five topical areas: economics and demographics (e.g., decennial Census and Census 2000 Supplementary Survey); health (vital statistics, disease surveillance systems, and health surveys); education (e.g., Common Core of Data and Schools and Staffing Survey); crime and juvenile justice (e.g., Easy Access System and Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement Databook); and child welfare (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System). Each section begins with an overview of what is available, including descriptions of data portholes that agencies have developed to facilitate access to data, and descriptions of individual data resources, including surveys, administrative data sets, and publications available on agency Web sites. Internet addresses to those resources are provided. Selected nonfederal sources are also briefly covered. An appendix presents a summary listing of federal Web sites containing indicator data on children and youth. (SM)

Case, Lubotsky, and Paxson (2001) show that the well-known relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health exists in childhood and grows more pronounced with age. However, in cross-sectional data, it is difficult to distinguish between two possible explanations. The first is that low-SES children are less able to respond to a given health shock. The second is that low-SES children experience more shocks. This study shows, using panel data on Canadian children, that: (1) the gradient researchers estimate in the cross section is very similar to that estimated previously using U.S. children; (2) both high- and low-SES children recover from past health shocks to about the same degree; and (3) the relationship between SES and health grows stronger over time mainly because low-SES children receive more negative health shocks. In addition, researchers examine the effect of health shocks on math and reading scores. They find that health shocks affect test scores and future health in very similar ways. The results suggest that public policy aimed at reducing SES-related health differentials in children should focus on reducing the incidence of health shocks as well as on reducing disparities in access to palliative care. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/SM)

A study interviewed 37 Canadian sex workers in 4 cities to determine how they acquire a working knowledge of safer sex practices and what that knowledge constituted. Findings indicated the vast majority exhibited high levels of knowledge and efficacy regarding safer sex practices; sex workers took the initiative to obtain information and engage in safer sex practices; and peer group educators advanced educational messages in their community. Staffed by current or former sex workers, the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) was established as a government-endorsed organization using state funding, infrastructure, and support services for sex workers, clients, and the public. The Canadian government might profit from lessons learned from the successful NZPC to recruit sex workers as peer educators and should consider the possibility of developing a prostitute-centered pedagogy of safer sex practices that affirms the right of women to control the conditions of work and recognizes the skills and knowledge of that work. Providing sex workers with an opportunity to have input into public policy and design and delivery of prevention programs would be a useful way to transmit their skills and knowledge to other sectors of the community. Such knowledge could provide sexual self-determination that might result in greater knowledge, resistance, agency, and empowerment in other aspects of women's lives. (Contains 87 references and 30 endnotes.) (YLB)

A study of Strategic Planning at the Medical Sciences Campus (MSC), a unit of the University of Puerto Rico, examined the structures and cultures which may hinder the strategic planning process. The study collected data through a questionnaire which used an ecosystem dual rating scale to request information on the importance and frequency of occurrence of certain factors that contribute to the enhancement or hampering of the strategic planning process at MSC. The questionnaire cohort included participants (N=83) in eight strategic planning committees throughout the institution, including junior and senior faculty members, students, academic administrators, executive administrators, distinguished professors, five former chancellors, non-teaching personnel representatives, planners, and institutional researchers. The study concluded that the administrative, planning and cultural systems may hinder the strategic planning process and should be considered carefully during the pre-planning, and post-planning evaluation process. Other inhibiting factors were the lack of an effective information system, lack of integration between the strategic planning process and the operational administration, incongruence between the strategic plan and the annual budget, ineffective management of conflicts, and lack of revision of the benefits derived from the strategic planning process. (Contains 45 references.) (JB)

Locating the issue of abortion in a global public policy context, with the array of public health, human rights, and social questions that are implicated, is the aim of this paper. Abortion laws around the world have been liberalized since the 1950s, with a resultant decrease in abortion-related mortality among women. The proportion of the world's population, governed by laws that permit abortion on medical or broader social and economic grounds, is 75 percent (nearly 4 billion people). In addition to women living in those countries that have resisted liberalization of their abortion laws, many women have restricted access to abortion, even those in countries in which abortion is technically legal. There are a number of reasons for this, including a lack of government or public commitment to provide or fund services, lack of trained specialists, administrative roadblocks, a woman's ability to pay, and a lack of truthful information about legal rights and services. Abortion rates from countries around the world are examined and discussed in terms of the varying demographic and social realities. The large number of maternal deaths due to abortion that still occur is not due to a deficiency in technology, but a deficiency in the value placed on women's lives. The numerous roadblocks to safe abortion services drive women to seek illegal or clandestine abortions that greatly endanger their lives. The debate surrounding abortion has been too often portrayed as a conflict between black and white hues. The debate needs to take place in a larger context, complete with public health, family planning, and human rights concerns. Equality of political rights for women, and likely the lives of many, hinges on political decisions regarding abortion. (DB)

The theory and evidence of the consequences of high fertility in Pakistan are reviewed in this paper. Several data sets are analyzed to examine the effects of the number of children on school participation and labor participation in urban Pakistan. Other data are utilized to examine the effects of children on savings in urban and rural areas. Results show that the number of children negatively affects the schooling of girls, but not boys. The number of boys and girls in the household have differential effects on women's labor participation while female children, but not males, affect adult male's participation. Children, ages 6-15, have negative effects on rural savings, but less effect in urban areas. In general, the effects of high fertility for households in Pakistan seem more negative than in many countries. This may explain the high proportion of women who say they want no more children. Why so few of these women use contraception is more difficult to explain. (Author)

The environmental impact of air pollution on the earth can be described as grave. Air pollution, particularly acid rain, is devastating forests, crops, and lakes over wide areas of North America and Europe. In many cities, ancient buildings have eroded more in recent decades than they had over the previous thousand years. Indications are that Third World countries are starting to experience damage as well. This document discusses the state of the earth in relation to the air pollution problem. Specifically discussed are: (1) "The Global Threat;" (2) "The Environmental Toll;" (3) "Reducing Emissions;" (4) "A Political Progress Report;" and (5) "An Agenda for Clean Air." (CW)

This study traces public sector expenditures for nine Latin American countries in the 1980s in order to determine how social services and social well-being fared during the economic stringencies of the decade. The countries included are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, and Venezuela. The sectors covered are health, education, and social security. Real per capita public social spending on health, education, and social security fell during some part of the 1980s in every country in the study. Numerous efforts to increase the efficiency and equity of social service provision were undertaken, but the data available do not indicate that these efforts were successful. The policy agenda should include a growth oriented strategy, coupled with a high priority for the social sectors in the government budget in order to assure adequate resources to the social sectors. Even with these steps, increased coverage and quality of social service delivery cannot be expected to result primarily from growth in expenditures. Rather, improvements in service delivery must come from increasing the equity and efficiency of resource use. The usual gamut of tools is relevant--priority for primary health and primary education, targeting, cost recovery with provision for exemptions for the poor and for preventive services, decentralization, and institutional development. Better management and monitoring systems are needed in order to evaluate the success of such program changes. (Author/DB)