Family Matters: Using Bright Futures to Promote Health and Wellness for Children with Disabilities is a CDC-funded project of Family Voices, a grassroots parent organization, in partnership with Tufts University School of Medicine.  Barbara Popper of Family Voices and Paula Minihan, a professor at Tufts, will be giving a presentation at the Annual Meeting entitled Alternative and complementary health practices for children with special health care needs and disabilities: Patterns of use and communication with physicians, on Monday, Nov. 5 at 4:50. 

The presentation is based on findings from an online survey of parents of children with special health care needs (SHCN), which was conducted (Dec. 2006 – Jan. 2007) to inform development of supports to assist family health promotion efforts.  In the study, 860 parents, predominantly mothers, who self-identified as having children with special health care needs ages 6-18, participated in the survey. Children were age 11, on average, largely white (82.4 percent), and resided in 49 states and D.C.

In the study, 43.7 percent of parents overall and 50.1 percent of parents whose children had autism spectrum disorders reported using at least one alternative and complementary health practice (ACHP) with their child within the past 12 months.  Among all parents, herbal and dietary supplements were most used (23.6 percent), and 38 percent of users discussed it with their child’s doctor.  For each of the ACHP parents, only a minority reported discussing it with their child’s doctor.  Policies to improve the health status of children with special health care needs and disabilities focus on the coordinated, family-centered and conventional health services.  Children’s use of ACHP may impact overall care coordination efforts, particularly when physicians are unaware. 

For more information, contact the study directors at bpopper@familyvoices.org and paula.minihan@tufts.edu.