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The federal legislation introduced day lights saving time for the resident's of Massachusetts on 30 March, 1918. William A. Filene, manager of Boston's famed departmental store and the Boston Chamber of Commerce spearheaded the movement and cooperated in publishing and distributing a report entitled 'n hour of light for an hour of night' which claimed that fast time would contribute to worker's health, morals, social welfare and efficiency.

Slavery was made illegal in Massachusetts in 1783. The case that set the legal precedent was the suit by former slave Quock Walker who was beaten by the man who still claimed to be his owner, Nathaniel Jenisen. The court decided Walker was no longer Jenisen's property, so Jenisen was guilty of assault.

Dave Stratman edits New Democracy, a publication of the organization with the same name, and wrote We CAN Change the World: The Real Meaning of Everyday Life (New Democracy Books, [...]

Many observers have recognized and decried the disproportionate impact on young minority males of harsh sentencing policies for drug dealing. Nationwide, African-Americans and Hispanics constituted 78.2 percent of incarcerated drug offenders in 1996. Their incarceration rates for drug offenses were respectively 17 and 8 times greater than non-Hispanic white rates. The disproportionalities for drug offenses were over twice as wide as the disproportionalities for other types of offenses. Scholars have noted the lack of hard data about neighborhood dynamics of arrest and incarceration for drug dealing, but they have nonetheless tended to explain the disproportionate impact on minorities with reference to neighborhood phenomena. This paper uses a mapping of the pre-incarceration residences of drug-dealers incarcerated in state prison in Massachusetts to systematically explore neighborhood and certain other explanations for disproportionate impact.

Successful collaborative methods are presented using the Massachusetts Mothers Survey as an example. These included complementary agendas between researchers and advocates, mutual respect between the two groups, and utilization of each other's strengths.

Physicians, program managers and other groups express differing opinions on the impact of legislation passed in Massachusetts giving consumers unprecedented access to the malpractice and disciplinary profiles of physicians over the Internet. Majority of physicians, particularly those with clean records, criticize the program for allegedly hurting their practice while others claim that the impact is minimal. The state's consumers, on the other hand, appear satisfied with the physician profiling legislation., In Massachusetts, they already have access to the malpractice and disciplinary profiles of any doctor in the state. Your state could be next. It's been nearly two years since Massachusetts [...]

In examining the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and neighborhood supply of licensed child care in Massachusetts, we find a limited supply of center care, especially full-day care, in low-income neighborhoods. Although there is a better supply of family child-care providers, it is nevertheless more limited than in higher income neighborhoods. The number of children ages 5 and under emerged as the most important factor determining availability of care. We base our findings on 1990 census tract data, arguing that zip code data provide too large a geographic area to capture the nuances of supply at the neighborhood level. Other variables considered include employment levels, residential stability, the ratio of adult men to women, the ratio of infants to children under age 11, the ratio of young children to adults, and the proportion of single working mothers.

In 1991, the School Health Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health defined medication administration as a priority policy development area for school health. The decision was based on: a) the increased numbers of children requiring medications during the school day; b) a lack of consistent standards within Masssachusetts schools; c) the need to update an outdated statute concerning psychotropic medications; and d) the more than 50 weekly telephone calls from Massachusetts health personnel regarding this subject. This article describes the Massachusetts experience of developing medication administration regulations for public and private schools and implementing the regulations throughout the commonwealth. The Massachusetts experience may provide guidance to other states, cities, and towns as they address this important child health issue. (J Sch Health. 1998;68(3):94-98), Medication administration has become a key issue for schools nationwide. Many children who attend school require medication either for treatment of episodic illnesses or on a daily basis. Increasing numbers [...]

Despite more than 30 years of public health programs to reduce tobacco use, smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. In response to this continuing epidemic, voters in California (1988), Massachusetts (1992), Arizona (1994), and Oregon (1996) approved ballot initiatives that established statewide tobacco control programs funded by cigarette excise tax revenues. Evaluating these innovative public health interventions is important, both to improve existing programs and to guide other states in developing and implementing similar interventions. In this paper we describe the methods being used to evaluate the statewide anti-tobacco campaigns in California and Massachusetts, and review the findings of process and outcome evaluations of both programs. Our review suggests that both programs have had a substantial impact on the public's health by reducing cigarette consumption and stimulating the development of policies to reduce environmental tobacco smoke exposure. However it does not appear that either program has reduced smoking initiation among adolescents. Our evaluation suggests three problems in program implementation that future anti-tobacco campaigns must avoid in order to produce long-term, sustained effects: (1) the gradual erosion of program funding by the state legislatures and governors; (2) the lack of a consistent, supportive constituency within state government; and (3) inconsistency in campaign themes, messages, and programs. We conclude by offering recommendations to correct these problems so that state-wide cigarette-tax-funded anti-tobacco campaigns can realize their potential to become one of the most effective public health interventions available.

Medicaid managed care programs are becoming more widespread. To investigate the clinical, organizational, and financial impacts on service providers, a stratified, random sample of providers in the Massachusetts Managed Mental Health/Substance Abuse Program were surveyed by phone in Years 3 and 4 of the initiative. Providers reported that they were making widespread clinical changes such as more use of group, brief, and episodic therapies. They were increasing utilization review, Total Quality Management, and outcomes measurement. They were increasing in size, affiliating with other agencies, and providing a greater range of services. They were preparing for capitation. Compared to before the program and a year earlier, about 40 percent of providers were doing better financially and a quarter were doing worse. The study documents the hypothesis that a widespread and continuing transformation is taking place in response to managed care.

States and communities use many strategies and policies to facilitate the integration of HIV and AIDS services with alcoholism and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs. Massachusetts' policy initiatives that promoted collaboration between substance abuse programs and AIDS services are outlined. The review begins with an overview of the HIV epidemic in Massachusetts and reflects on the initial challenges of building system capacity so that HIV and substance abuse services could become more closely integrated. The discussion summarizes specific policy strategies implemented to encourage system development and to develop program and staff skills for working with men and women with HIV/ AIDS and at risk of infection. The initiatives included integration of alcoholism and drug abuse treatment programs, expansion of Medicaid reimbursement for substance abuse treatment, training and skills development for counselors, and coordinated service development and advocacy for substance abuse and AIDS/HIV services. Keywords - AIDS; policy development; funding; drug abuse treatment.

HIV counselling and testing was provided to 4267 individuals between September 1987 and June 1992 at a multi-site program, including community clinics, drug treatment programs, and a men's prison in central Massachusetts. Half of those tested reported the risk behaviors targeted by the programs: injection drug use (38.1%) and sexual contact with a drug injector (12.6%). The objectives of this study were to examine 1) factors associated with repeat HIV testing among these initially seronegative, and 2) behavior change following counselling and testing. Initially 7.4% were HIV positive, and 12.4% of those testing negative were retested within one year. Risk behavior was the only strong independent predictor of retesting (odds ratios of 3.8 and 4.2 for men reporting sex with men and recent drug injectors, respectively). Changes in risk behaviors between the time of the initial test and the second test were assessed (n = 207). Among those who continued to inject drugs at follow-up there was a reduction in the percent visiting shooting galleries (p = 0.05); no other significant behavior changes were reported. While selection bias may be responsible in part for the minimal behavior change observed, continued monitoring of risk behavior and counselling are warranted.

Changes in patterns of care over time are marked by a preference for informal care in addition to formal services. The Massachusetts Elder Health Project surveyed changes in patterns of formal and informal care and cost for a representative sample of older people. Findings reveal that formal services are generally used in combination with informal care. However, acute disability and lack of home care heightens dependency on public services. Formal care is temporarily substituted for home care in limited cases, though the cost of formal services exceeded those of informal care.

Schoolchildren suffer from health problems ranging from chronic medical and developmental problems to new morbidities related to drugs, violence, and sexual behavior. To help administrators, teachers, and health personnel meet the new challenges in schools, nursing educators from the University of Massachusetts and Simmons College developed the UMass-Simmons School Health Institute. The Institute delivers a series of professional development programs in all regions of the commonwealth to: 1) devise innovative strategies to remove health barriers to learning and to promote the health of children and adolescents, and 2) enhance the design, implementation, integration, and management of comprehensive school health programs, including those mandated and regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This article describes a statewide model to prepare school health personnel for delivery of comprehensive school health services. (J Sch Health. 1995:65(5):176-180), School health service programs must respond rapidly to meet the changing and diverse health needs of today's student population. Increased numbers of students with special health care needs attend school. [...]

The secondary school education in Falmouth, MA, has adopted the condom availabilityprogram proposed by the state of Massachusetts. High rates of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infections and unwanted pregnancies propelled the school to install condom vending machines and to make condoms available to students through school clinics. The condom availability plan initially met a great deal of controversy but was enforced despite opposition. However, anti-condom supporters rallied to overturn the vote during the May election forschool committees.

Massachusetts established certification for public school dance teachers in 1977 and will end the state's requirement for this in 1993. The demise of the emphasis on training and certifying teachers can be attributed to the low numbers of dance teachers in the public schools which limits teacher training opportunities.

A national survey was conducted during the fall of 1988 to determine the extent to which state governments were actively involved in addressing family issues. Forty-two of the 50 states responded. Five states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York) were particularly active in proposing family-oriented legislation and in establishing special task forces on the family. The variety of approaches to family policy should prove helpful to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.