Follow-Up Study:Paid Family Leave Insurance/ Families

说明(申请人提供)：有特殊卫生保健需要的儿童(CSHCN)占所有儿童的15%，占儿科卫生支出的大部分。CSHCN的父母比其他父母经历了更大的工作中断，这主要是由于他们孩子的慢性病的间歇性恶化。因此，对于CSHCN的父母来说，家庭假的可获得性和类型可能至关重要。2004年7月，加州(CA)带薪家庭假保险计划生效，为大多数员工提供了6周的带薪假期，使加州成为第一个立法规定带薪家庭假的州。这一有争议的计划明显扩大了现行的联邦家庭假法律，该法律只保障无薪家庭假。由于CSHCN家长的就业和休假需求和行为没有得到很好的了解，新政策的效果很难预测。在pfli开始之前，我们完成了一项基线电话调查，对象是加利福尼亚州的570名CSHCN父母和伊利诺伊州(没有pfli)的572人。初步分析表明，儿童疾病和父母就业之间存在重大冲突，以及家庭假的重要性。我们寻求资金对基线父母进行后续调查(用于纵向分析)，并在基线调查后大约三年对新的父母队列进行调查(用于连续队列分析)。我们的研究首次评估了pfli对患有CSHCN家庭的就业、休假以及儿童和父母健康的影响，将为研究人员、父母、政策制定者、雇主和临床医生提供关键信息。我们的具体目标是：(1)考察儿童健康保险计划、儿童疾病和其他因素如何影响CSHCN父母的就业和休假；以及(2)评估儿童健康保险计划和其他家庭假期选择的使用如何影响父母照顾子女的能力、儿童的生活质量、父母的心理健康和父母的就业。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) make up 15% of all children and account for the majority of pediatric health expenditures. Parents of CSHCN experience greater work disruptions than other parents, largely due to episodic exacerbations of their children's chronic illnesses. Thus, for parents of CSHCN, the availability and type of family leave may be critical. In July 2004, the California (CA) Paid Family Leave Insurance (PFLI) program took effect, providing 6 weeks of paid leave for most employees and making CA the first state to legislate paid family leave. This controversial program markedly expands the current federal family leave law, which guarantees only unpaid family leave. Because the employment and leave-taking needs and behaviors of parents of CSHCN are not well understood, the effects of new policies are difficult to predict. Before PFLI began, we completed a baseline phone survey of 570 parents of CSHCN in CA and 572 in Illinois (which does not have PFLI). Preliminary analyses suggest major conflicts between child illness and parent employment, as well as the importance of family leave. We seek funds to conduct follow-up surveys of baseline parents (for longitudinal analyses) and surveys of a new cohort of parents (for successive cohort analyses) about three years after the baseline survey. Our study, the first to assess PFLI's effects on employment, leave-taking, and child and parent health among families with CSHCN, will provide critical information for researchers, parents, policy-makers, employers, and clinicians. Our specific aims are to: (1) examine how PFLI, child illness, and other factors affect employment and leave-taking among parents of CSHCN; and (2) assess how use of PFLI and other family leave options affect parents' ability to care for children, children's quality of life, parents' mental health, and parents' employment.