RAND Corporation

About: RAND Corporation is a nonprofit organization based out in Santa Monica, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 9602 authors who have published 18570 publications receiving 744658 citations.

The PedsQL as a pediatric patient-reported outcome: reliability and validity of the PedsQL Measurement Model in 25,000 children.

Abstract: The PedsQL Measurement Model was designed as a modular approach to measuring pediatric health-related quality of life, and developed to integrate the relative merits of generic and disease-specific approaches. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales have been translated into over 60 languages, with published data on over 25,000 children and adolescents in more than 75 peer-reviewed journals since 2001 for healthy children and numerous pediatric chronic health conditions. The PedsQL Disease and Condition-Specific Modules were designed to measure health-related quality-of-life dimensions specifically tailored for pediatric chronic health conditions, and include the PedsQL Asthma, Arthritis/Rheumatology, Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiac and Cerebral Palsy Modules, as well as the generic PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, Pediatric Pain Questionnaire, Family Impact Module and Healthcare Satisfaction Module. The PedsQL has demonstrated reliability, validity, sensitivity and responsiveness for child self report for ages 5-18 years and parent proxy report for ages 2-18 years. The PedsQL has been shown to be related to other key constructs in pediatric healthcare such as access to needed care, healthcare barriers and quality of primary care. Future advances in the PedsQL() Measurement Model include web-based electronic administration (ePedsQL), integration into the electronic medical record, further efficacy and effectiveness outcome trials, including PedsQL ResourceConnect(SM) and PedsQL TIPS(SM), the development of the generic PedsQL Infant Scales for ages birth to 24 months and disease and condition-specific modules for other pediatric chronic health conditions.

Marijuana use from adolescence to young adulthood: multiple developmental trajectories and their associated outcomes.

Abstract: This study used latent growth mixture modeling to identify discrete developmental patterns of marijuana use from early adolescence (age 13) to young adulthood (age 23) among a sample of 5,833 individuals. After the a priori removal of abstainers, 4 trajectory groups were identified: early high users, who decreased from a relatively high level of use at age 13 to a more moderate level: stable light users, who maintained a low level of use: steady increasers, who consistently increased use; and occasional light users, who began use at age 14 and used at low levels thereafter. Analyses of covariance comparing the trajectory groups on behavioral, socioeconomic, and health outcomes at age 29 revealed that abstainers consistently had the most favorable outcomes, whereas early high users consistently had the least favorable outcomes.

The Sensitivity of Value‐Added Teacher Effect Estimates to Different Mathematics Achievement Measures

Abstract: Using longitudinal data from a cohort of middle school students from a large school district, we estimate separate “value-added” teacher effects for two subscales of a mathematics assessment under a variety of statistical models varying in form and degree of control for student background characteristics. We find that the variation in estimated effects resulting from the different mathematics achievement measures is large relative to variation resulting from choices about model specification, and that the variation within teachers across achievement measures is larger than the variation across teachers. These results suggest that conclusions about individual teachers' performance based on value-added models can be sensitive to the ways in which student achievement is measured.

Job Continuity Among New Mothers

Abstract: In the early 1990s, both state and federal governments enacted maternity-leave legislation. The key provision of that legislation is that after a leave of a limited duration, the recent mother is guaranteed the right to return to her preleave employer at the same or equivalent position. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we correlate work status after childbirth with work status before pregnancy to estimate the prevalence, before the legislation, of returns to the preleave employer. Among women working full-time before the pregnancy, return to the prepregnancy employer was quite common. Sixty percent of women who worked full-time before the birth of a child continued to work for the same employer after the child was born. Furthermore, the labor market behavior of most of the remaining 40% suggests that maternity-leave legislation is unlikely to have a major effect on job continuity. Compared with all demographically similar women, however, new mothers have an excess probability of leaving their jobs.

The Social Determinants of Infant Mortality and Birth Outcomes in Western Developed Nations: A Cross-Country Systematic Review

Abstract: Infant mortality (IM) and birth outcomes, key population health indicators, have lifelong implications for individuals, and are unequally distributed globally. Even among western industrialized nations, striking cross-country and within-country patterns are evident. We sought to better understand these variations across and within the United States of America (USA) and Western Europe (WE), by conceptualizing a social determinants of IM/birth outcomes framework, and systematically reviewing the empirical literature on hypothesized social determinants (e.g., social policies, neighbourhood deprivation, individual socioeconomic status (SES)) and intermediary determinants (e.g., health behaviours). To date, the evidence suggests that income inequality and social policies (e.g., maternal leave policies) may help to explain cross-country variations in IM/birth outcomes. Within countries, the evidence also supports neighbourhood SES (USA, WE) and income inequality (USA) as social determinants. By contrast, within-country social cohesion/social capital has been underexplored. At the individual level, mixed associations have been found between individual SES, race/ethnicity, and selected intermediary factors (e.g., psychosocial factors) with IM/birth outcomes. Meanwhile, this review identifies several methodological gaps, including the underuse of prospective designs and the presence of residual confounding in a number of studies. Ultimately, addressing such gaps including through novel approaches to strengthen causal inference and implementing both health and non-health policies may reduce inequities in IM/birth outcomes across the western developed world.