Reports

June 2009

This report examines the efforts of state faith community liaisons (FCLs) in promoting the states’ implementation of Charitable Choice policies and regulations that govern how states and localities contract with faith-based organizations (FBOs), and to expand public partnerships with FBOs.

By: Pamela Winston, Ann E. Person, and Elizabeth Clary Mathematica Policy Research (MPR)Project Director: Pamela Winston

The report presents a detailed breakdown comparing Departmental funding for abstinence education, adhering to the A-H definition, with other Departmental funding used to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. [19 PDF pages]

Health and Human Services Funding for Abstinence Education, Education for Teen Pregnancy and HIV/STD Prevention, and Other Programs that Address Adolescent Sexual Activity December 16, 2008 This report is available on the Internet at:http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/AbstinenceEducation/

This report focuses on family processes and adolescent religious attendance and personal religiosity among youth who were raised primarily in married-parent families. The study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort (NLSY97). Sample includes only youth living in married-parent families at the time of the first wave of data collection.

  Marital Quality and Parent-Adolescent Relationships Effects on Adolescent Religiosity and Religious Practice December 2008 Prepared by: Randal D. Day, Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, and Jessica Price Brigham Young University

Final Technical Report for DHHS Contract HHSP23320054301ER Please do not circulate without permission of the authors or the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Stephen T. Parente, Ph.D. Roger Feldman, Ph.D.  

Marital Quality and Parent-Adolescent Relationships: Effects on Educational Outcomes for Youth December 2008 Prepared by: Dennis K. Orthner and Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillWith: Randal D. Day, Brigham Young University Elizabeth Hair and Kristin Anderson Moore, Child Trends, Inc. Kelleen Kaye, NORC

This research examines the effects of parental marital quality and the quality of the parent-child relationship on the educational progress of adolescents. Previous research indicates that family structure and economic capacity have significant effects on educational achievement and high school graduation rates.

The goal of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI) is to make information about the skills needed to build and sustain healthy marriages broadly available throughout the state.В  To pursue the mission of changing the culture of marriage and divorce, OMI leaders decided to engage the support of grass-roots volunteers in communities across the state.В  By

By: Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Steven Zuckerman, Robert Berenson, Anant Patel, Teryl Nuckols RAND Health / Urban Institute

In this report, the authors present the results of an assessment that involved review of the literature on emergency preparedness risk communication and public health messaging strategies; the compilation of educational and outreach materials for emergency preparedness communication with vulnerable populations; and site visits in three states and the Washington, DC, area to identify gaps in the

Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is a target rate of growth in spending for physicians’ services. Payments for physicians’ services are supposed to automatically adjust in response to actual spending falling either above or below the target.

This report was prepared under contract #HHS-100-03-0010 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) and the RAND Corporation.

IntroductionAlthough the majority of Americans with health insurance obtain their coverage through group health plans offered through their employers, many individuals obtain their coverage through the nongroup (or individual) insurance market.

Several proposals to increase health coverage for the currently uninsured rely on encouragements to utilize and potentially expand the individual insurance market. In broadening health insurance coverage, it is important to understand the regulatory environment under which these proposals would be implemented.

This Research Brief examines the relief and recovery services provided by faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) in the Gulf Coast region after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.  The study included a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided services and case studies of eight organizations.В  This brief summarizes the findings from the full report

In the late 1990s the State of Oklahoma, recognizing the economic and social consequences of its high rates of divorce and non-marital childbearing, undertook an innovative strategy to strengthen families.В  At the direction of the Governor, the state initiated an effort to reduce divorce and decrease non-marital childbearing.В  This pioneering effort became the Oklahoma Marriage

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households Asset Building over the Life Course Final Report By: Mark R. Rank Center for Social Development Washington University in Saint Louis November 2008

  Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households The Effects of Holding Assets on Social and Economic Outcomes of Families: A Review of Theory and Evidence November 2008 By: Robert Lerman and Signe-Mary McKernan The Urban Institute

This report provides a conceptual framework on the effects of asset holding and reviews the empirical literature based on this framework. The report distills the main findings on how assets influence economic, social, psychological, and child well-being and provides empirical support for the benefits of asset building. [39 PDF pages]

This report provides a conceptual framework that describes how asset accumulation unfolds over an individual's lifetime and how the effects of such accumulation can best be understood within the context of the life course.

The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages and Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages are calculated pursuant to the Social Security Act (the Act). These percentages will be effective from October 1 through September 30 of the indicated year.

Federal Financial Participation in State Assistance Expenditures; Federal Matching Shares for Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and Aid to Needy Aged, Blind, or Disabled Persons for October 1, 2009 Through September 30, 2010 Federal Register: November 26, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 229) [Page 72051-72053]

Refugee Economic Self-Sufficiency: An Exploratory Study of Approaches Used in Office of Refugee Resettlement Programs Prepared for:U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

The purpose of this exploratory study was to learn what factors and approaches utilized by Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) programs contribute to refugee economic self-sufficiency. The issue of whether these approaches were applicable to mainstream welfare-to-work programs was also addressed.

The link between growing up outside of an intact family, and the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors as an adolescent has been explored extensively.

  Marital Quality and Parent-Adolescent Relationships: Effects on Sexual Activity Among Adolescents and Young Adults November 2008 Prepared for:Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Prepared by: Adil Moiduddin Jonathan Moore

This PDF was submitted as an attachment to a Public Comment sent to the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services and/or the National Alzheimer's Project Act website.

This literature review explores the relevant literature on several key questions regarding boarding of psychiatric patients in the emergency department (ED). Is psychiatric boarding a problem? What are the reasons for boarding psychiatric patients? What kind of care is received while patients are boarded?

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  ASPE RESEARCH BRIEF American Community Survey: New Survey Questions Enable Measurement of Marital Transitions October 2008 This Research Brief is available on the Internet at:http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/09/MarriageDivorceStats/ACSBrief/rb.shtml

This report analyzes new data from an experimental module to the 2006 Health and Retirement Study on assistive home features for near-elderly and older adults. In 2006, two-thirds of the population born in 1953 or earlier (ages 52 and older) had one or more assistive home features, about one-third added at least one of these features, and 40% used at least one feature in the last 30 days.

  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

This research brief presents information on adopted children with special health care needs,1 using data from the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN).

Marriage patterns in the United States have changed substantially in recent decades. People are marrying later in life than they did 40 years ago and young adults today are spending more time unmarried than earlier generations did (Schoen and Standish 2001; Fields 2004).

Original Research

Prepared By: Robert G. Wood, Sarah Avellar, Brian Goesling Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR)Project Director:  Robert G. Wood