eprintid: 7039 rev_number: 5 userid: 6 dir: disk0/00/00/70/39 datestamp: 2011-11-10 19:36:05 lastmod: 2016-11-15 13:39:44 status_changed: 2011-11-10 19:36:05 type: thesis_degree metadata_visibility: show contact_email: fssebiki18@yahoo.com item_issues_count: 0 eprint_status: archive creators_name: Ssebikindu, Faith N creators_email: fssebiki18@yahoo.com title: COORDINATION OF CARE OF MEDICALLY FRAGILE CHILDREN: DEVELOPING A SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL APPROACH ispublished: unpub divisions: sch_gsph_behavioralcommhealthsci full_text_status: public keywords: children with special health care needs; coordination of care; medically fragile children 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. date: 2006-06-07 date_type: completed institution: University of Pittsburgh refereed: TRUE etdcommittee_type: committee_chair etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_name: Keane, Christopher etdcommittee_name: Butler, James etdcommittee_name: Terry, Martha etdcommittee_name: Grubs, Robin etdcommittee_email: crkcity@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: jbutler9@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: materry@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: regst2@pitt.edu etdcommittee_id: CRKCITY etdcommittee_id: JBUTLER9 etdcommittee_id: MATERRY etdcommittee_id: REGST2 etd_defense_date: 2006-04-07 etd_approval_date: 2006-06-07 etd_submission_date: 2006-04-12 etd_access_restriction: immediate etd_patent_pending: FALSE assigned_doi: doi:10.5195/pitt.etd.2011.7039 thesis_type: thesis degree: MPH committee: Christopher Keane (crkcity@pitt.edu) - Committee Chair committee: James Butler (jbutler9@pitt.edu) - Committee Member committee: Martha Terry (materry@pitt.edu) - Committee Member committee: Robin Grubs (regst2@pitt.edu) - Committee Member etdurn: etd-04122006-140913 other_id: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04122006-140913/ other_id: etd-04122006-140913 citation: Ssebikindu, Faith N (2006) COORDINATION OF CARE OF MEDICALLY FRAGILE CHILDREN: DEVELOPING A SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL APPROACH. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished) document_url: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/7039/1/ssebikindufn_etd2006.pdf