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September, 2005

IWPR’s Research News Reporter is distributed monthly to highlight inventive, informative, innovative, and sometimes controversial research relating to women and their families. Each selection includes a short description of the research and either a link to the report itself or a citation. We sometimes include short pieces in their entirety.

In this edition:

• In Our Own Backyards: Local and State Strategies to Improve the Quality of Family Child Care
• Women and Health Care: A National Profile
• Money Management by Low-income Households: Earnings, Spending, Saving, and Accessing Financial Services
• Democracy Unrealized: The Underrepresentation of People of Color as Appointed Policy Leaders in State Governments
• Do Participatory Programs work? Improving Reproductive Health for Disadvantaged Youth in Nepal.

1. In Our Own backyards: Local and State Strategies to Improve Quality of Family Child Care

Katie Hamm, Barbara Gault, Ph.D., and Avis Jones-DeWeever, Ph. D.

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

July 2005

In this report, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research documents local and state efforts to improve the quality of family child care, with an aim to aid policymakers, program administrators, and advocates in developing policies and programs that promote quality child care in family child care settings, and to encourage the replication of successful programs and policies across the country. The report profiles 14 programs around the country that are utilizing innovative approaches to improve the quality of family child care. These programs were selected based on literature review, interviews with early care and education experts, and listserv inquiries.

In Our Own Backyards discusses the service needs for and persistent barriers to improving quality of family childcare, and suggests effective methods (along with examples) used by local organizations to address the needs and barriers. The report also identifies different programmatic strategies for serving family child care providers such as improving access to training, and including unlicensed providers in outreach efforts. The report recommends that local and state governments support programs to link training and quality service with improved compensation and benefits for family child care providers. In addition, it recommends outreach programs to seek out and support unlicensed providers, including those with linguistic or cultural barriers and those serving low-income and special needs children.

 Full text of the report is available at

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/G717.pdf

Press release is available at:

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/FamilyChildCareMediaRelease_8_3_22005.pdf

2. Women and Health Care: A National Profile

Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D., Usha R. Ranji, M.S., Kaiser Family Foundation

Roberta Wyn, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

July 2005

A new report based on a national survey of 2,766 women (ages 18 and older) and a smaller comparison group of 507 men conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation aims to understand strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. health system in meeting women’s health needs. The report provides the latest data on major areas of women’s health policy including women’s demographics, health status, insurance coverage, access to care, health care costs, relationships with providers, and family health issues. The report lists a range of findings in all of these areas. Some key findings are:

• Nearly four in 10 women (38 percent), have a chronic condition, such as diabetes, asthma or hypertension. As women age, the incidence of chronic conditions increases. Around 58 percent of senior women are dealing with hypertension, 61 percent with arthritis, and 45 percent with high cholesterol.
• One out of every four women (23 percent) report being diagnosed with depression or anxiety, over twice the rate for men (11 percent).
• Health care costs affect women’s access to health care. More than one-quarter of non-elderly women (27 percent) and two-thirds of uninsured women (67 percent) report they delayed or went without care in the past year because of increasing health costs. In addition, 20 percent of women report that they did not fill a prescription because of the cost compared to 14 percent of men.
• Women are the main family caregivers and decision makers, with 12 percent of women caring for a sick or aging relative and 79 percent of women bearing lead responsibility for choosing their children’s doctors.
• Women with poor or fair health, women from low-income groups, and women of color have particular difficulty in obtaining healthcare.

The report suggests that policymakers, providers, advocates, and researchers should consider women’s central role in the health system and assess the impact of their decisions on women’s health status.

Full text of the report is available at

http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/7336.cfm

News release is available at

http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/whp070705nr.cfm

3. Money Management by Low-income Households: Earnings, Spending, Saving, and Accessing Financial Services

Lise McKean, Ph.D., Sarah Lessem, and Elizabeth Bax

Center for Impact Research

August 2005

This study focuses on understanding the needs and experiences of low- and moderate-income households regarding their use of banks and non-bank financial services, and their attitudes towards saving and managing household incomes. The participants of the study were involved in the First Accounts Project, which was designed and run by the Center for Economic Progress (CEP) in Chicago. The First Accounts Program was initiated by the Department of the Treasury with an aim to expand access to financial services for low- and moderate-income individuals who currently do not have an account with an insured bank or credit union. Based on interviews with 77 participants, the study presents the following findings:

• Participants’ financial instability was due to low wages, insecure employment, high rent, and unemployment.
• About 68.8 percent of the participants currently had bank accounts, nearly 23.4 percent did not currently have a bank account but had one in the past, and 7.8 percent never had an account. Participants who currently had bank accounts had significantly higher monthly household incomes than those without accounts.
• Participants had positive experiences with banking because it helped them to better manage their money and focus on savings. They also commented on the emotional benefits of having an account, especially the security and a sense of accomplishment of having money in the bank.

The authors stress the need to understand the many ways that low- and moderate-income households access financial services and to take this understanding into account while developing programs like the First Accounts Project for low- and moderate-income households.

Full text of the report is available at

http://www.impactresearch.org/documents/FirstAccountsFinalRpt.pdf

4. Democracy Unrealized: The Underrepresentation of People of Color as Appointed Policy Leaders in State Governments

Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, University of Albany

February 2005

This report examines the representation of racial and ethnic groups and women in Governor appointed executive posts such as Heads of departments, agencies, boards and commissions, and Top advisors in Governors’ office across the United States. Based on survey data on policy leaders, the report shows that there is a significant underrepresentation of people of color and women in influential state-level policy leadership positions across the country. Some of the main findings are:

• State-based representativeness ratio (the degree to which different groups are represented as appointed policy leaders in a State) for the people of color is low. While women and men of color constitute 31.8 percent of the US population (2000 census), they held only 16.2 percent of the governor appointed executive positions in the year 2004.
• The percentage of African American (9.5 percent), Latinos (4.3 percent), Asian American/Pacific Islanders (1.5 percent), and American Indians/ Native Alaskans (0.5 percent) appointed to policy leadership posts is very small compared to Whites (83.8 percent).
• Between 1998 and 2004, the numbers of Latina and African American women appointees in the 50 States increased at high rates of 133.0 percent and 48.9 percent. Still they constitute only 2.7 percent and 0.7 percent of the policy leader posts, respectively.

Full text of the report is available at:

http://www.cwig.albany.edu/democracyunrealized.pdf

5. Do Participatory Programs work? Improving reproductive health for disadvantaged youth in Nepal.

Anju Malhotra, Sanyukta Mathur, and Rohini Pande

International Center for Research on Women

May 2005

A collaborative study conducted by International Center for Research on Women, EngenderHealth, and local NGOs in Nepal examines the effectiveness of participatory versus non-participatory approaches to improving reproductive health among disadvantaged (poor, rural, female) youth in Nepal. The programs were implemented in urban and rural study and control sites, at four sites in total. Youth, parents, and other community members were actively engaged in designing youth reproductive health programs at the study sites. The interventions such as improvement of youth-friendly services, peer education, and counseling were linked with broader interventions prioritized by the community. In contrast, at the control sites, youth and community were not engaged but project staff designed and implemented standard reproductive health programs. The reproductive health outcomes measured were prenatal care, delivery at health facilities, and knowledge of HIV transmission.

According to the authors, the participatory approach was more successful in reducing the gap in access to prenatal care between poor and rich young women, and between rural and urban young women. Similarly in the urban study site, the girls’ knowledge about HIV transmission increased dramatically compared to the boys whereas in the control sites, boys’ knowledge remained greater than girls. At baseline, boys’ HIV knowledge was greater than girls’ at all of the study and control sites. The authors conclude that small-scale community participatory approaches are more successful at providing disadvantaged youth the means to negotiate for appropriate, accessible, and accurate information about reproductive health than are non-participatory approaches.

Full text of the report is available at

http://www1.worldbank.org/devoutreach/may05/article.asp?id=303

This edition of IWPR’s Research News Reporter was prepared by Inku Subedi.