@unpublished{pittir7039,
           month = {June},
           title = {COORDINATION OF CARE OF MEDICALLY FRAGILE CHILDREN: DEVELOPING A SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL APPROACH},
          author = {Faith N Ssebikindu},
            year = {2006},
        keywords = {children with special health care needs; coordination of care; medically fragile children},
             url = {http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/7039/},
        abstract = {Although levels of disability among adults are relatively stable, the number of children with disabilities is steadily rising. It is increasingly the case that medically fragile children are receiving care in their homes due to early discharges from hospitals and other related service programs. These children and their families have needs that require interventions from many different services, such as health, education, social services, housing, transportation and benefits. This thesis explores the present state of affairs by considering typical problems and decisions these families face on a day-to-day basis, family coping strategies, and local family resources. I propose a social ecological approach to addressing the special health care needs of children. The social ecology model explains the need for interventions to approach this complex problem on several levels{--}the individual, interpersonal, community, and policy. The model examines the inter-relationships between these levels and explains some of the barriers to care on each of the different levels. The implications for public health educators and researchers are the possible collaboration with community-based institutions to assess, plan, develop, and evaluate interventions within the context of children with special health care needs and their families. Based on my review, I propose strategies for intervention at four different levels{--}individual, interpersonal, community, and policy. My assumption is that if each of the proposed strategies is successful at it respective level, then children's access to coordinated community-based social and health services would improve.}
}