Dialing for help: state telephone hotlines as vital resources for parents of young children.
Toll-free telephone hotlines operated by the states are increasingly being used by families to obtain reliable advice on their young children's health and well-being. Originally created for prenatal-care assistance alone, these lines now cover a wide range of early-childhood issues. But while the majority of the lines deliver high-quality information, promptly and empathetically, to their callers, there is still considerable room for improvement. For example, greater use could be made of experts in early-childhood services, and of knowledgeable parents, for speaking with callers and training other staff. The lines could also be made more easily accessible in several ways: through the national 800 number for childhood issues, via the more general 2-1-1 number for community-based services, and by means of a Web site for each line so that it could serve its audience at virtually any time of the day or night.
Booth
Meg
M
Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, USA. mbooth@amchp.org
Brown
Treeby
T
Richmond-Crum
Malia
M
D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002662:Child Health Services; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D005260:Female; D015277:Hotlines / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013219:State Government; D014481:United States; D014932:Women's Health Services