Follow-Up Study:Paid Family Leave Insurance/ Families

描述（由申请人提供）：有特殊保健需要的儿童（CSHCN）占所有儿童的15%，占儿科保健支出的大部分。CSHCN的父母比其他父母经历更大的工作中断，主要是由于他们的孩子慢性疾病的间歇性恶化。因此，对于CSHCN的父母来说，家庭假的可用性和类型可能至关重要。2004年7月，加州（CA）带薪家庭假保险（PFLI）计划生效，为大多数员工提供6周的带薪假期，使加州成为第一个立法带薪家庭假的州。这个有争议的项目明显扩大了现行的联邦家庭休假法，该法只保证无薪家庭休假。由于对留守儿童家长的就业休假需求和行为尚不清楚，新政策的效果难以预测。在PFLI开始之前，我们完成了对加利福尼亚州570名CSHCN父母和伊利诺伊州572名（没有PFLI）父母的基线电话调查。初步分析表明，儿童疾病与父母就业之间的主要冲突，以及探亲假的重要性。我们寻求资金，以便在基线调查后大约三年对基线父母进行随访调查（用于纵向分析），并对一组新的父母进行调查（用于连续队列分析）。我们的研究首次评估了PFLI对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重要信息。我们的具体目标是：(1)研究PFLI，儿童疾病和其他因素如何影响CSHCN父母的就业和休假；(2)评估使用PFLI和其他家庭假选择如何影响父母照顾孩子的能力、孩子的生活质量、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.