In November (2004) we awarded our section young professional award ($200) to Jeremy Yorgason for his paper entitled In Sickness and in Health: Marital Quality, Health, and Medical Co-morbidity. Jeremy is a post doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. His faculty advisor is Alan Booth.

Elise Radina, our past section student/new professional officer was responsible for collecting and editing an instructional materials resource packet for F and H Section Issues in Aging Focus Group entitled, Families in Mid and Late Life Syllabi and Instructional Materials.

During the middle of April, 2005 the 6 th Annual Public Policy and Education conference was held, “Families and Security”. Many of the topics presented are very relevant to our section. There was a congressional briefing where panel members presented research and recommendations for security, a peer reviewed poster session that covered a broad range of family policy topics, and an opportunity for attendees to visit the offices of their congressional representatives. All in all it was an excellent conference and one I recommend you attend in the future if you are able.

Plans for the 2005 conference are well on their way. The theme is The Multiple Meaning of Families, and the Family and Health Section plans on sponsoring/co-sponsoring three special sessions. The speaker for one special session co-sponsored by the Aging Focus Group of our section will be Msgr. Charles Fahey. Another special session will be on Health Care Needs of Native American (Navajo) Elders and Families. Dr. Carol Ashton, Chair of the Department of Nursing at Idaho State University will be the speaker, and plans on having a Native American Elder help with her presentation. The third special session will be on violence in the family and presented by Jackie Campbell. Special thanks are due to Christine Price, Jennifer Hardesty and Whitney Brosi who have diligently helped arrange these special sessions.

In addition to these special sessions, the section will sponsor a number of interesting paper sessions and two symposiums. The paper sessions are on (elderly families, women’s health, culturally diverse families, families raising children with chronic illnesses/disabilities, families with adolescent and young adult members, and work and the family. The two symposiums are entitled Family Meanings in Stories that they Tell: Across Context and Generations and The Multiple Meanings of Family in Later Life. The section will also sponsor four roundtables, and more than 20 posters. Topics for the round tables include what care giving means to elderly recipients of family care, cultural variations in food beliefs and practices when a member of the family has a chronic illness, family health decision making, and involving undergraduates in faculty research. Topics for some of the posters include care giving, transition to nursing home placement, adolescent risk behaviors, health problems of rural families living in poverty, prenatal alcohol use, predictors of college student binge drinking, the effect of an intervention on fathers’ interaction with infants, quality of life for army spouses during Operation Iraqi Freedom, disclosure to family and sexual risk taking of HIV positive men, adolescent sexuality and positive youth development, low income children’s experiences with domestic violence, breastfeeding education for adolescent mothers, and access to health care after welfare reform. The Section hopes many NCFR members are able to not only attend these sessions, roundtables, and poster sessions, but also the three special sessions (violence and the family, health care needs of Native American Elders, aging). Specific information about the times, days and places for these events are available in the online program

The section is also sponsoring a publication entitled Families and Violence: Syllabi and Instructional Materials that should be available in Phoenix at the annual conference. Content in the syllabus comes from a wide variety of courses that examine issues related to families and violence, including domestic violence, community and school violence, and war/terrorism.

I hope that those of you who qualify will enter the F & H Section’s Student/New Professional Paper Competition. The guidelines and judging criteria are on the NCFR, F & H Section website. You can also email me at Barbara_Mandleco@byu.edu. The winner receives special recognition at our F & H Section meeting as well as $200. The deadline for the paper submission is September 20, 2005.

During the annual meeting you will have the opportunity to attend the section meeting and also the meetings of our two focus groups. The aging focus group meeting will be held Wednesday November 16 from 6:30 – 7:45 pm. The Chronic Illness and Disability focus group will meet from 8 – 9:15 pm on Thursday November 17. The section meeting will be held Friday November 20 th at 7:15 – 8:30pm. Rooms where all the meetings will be held are available on the NCFR website.

2005 CONFERENCE UPDATE

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Family and Health section members who participated in the abstract review process for the 2005 NCFR Annual Conference. We had another record number of high quality abstracts, and it was a challenge to choose posters, roundtables, and papers for presentation. This high volume of quality abstracts allowed our section to sponsor many heath related paper sessions, symposia, posters, and roundtables. Last year, NCFR members were impressed with the F & H section’s high quality papers. I know they will be impressed this coming November as well.

This year the F & H Section is sponsoring /co-sponsoring 3 special sessions. The first special session entitled “Abuse During Pregnancy: Implications for Family Health Globally”, presented by Jaquelyn Campbell, R.N., PhD., will be held November 16th from 10:45-12:15 in the Regency Ballroom B & C. Dr. Campbell will provide an overview of the problem of abuse during pregnancy globally.  Prevalence data will be presented from the WHO multicountry study and contrasted with studies from the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.  In addition, the health and mental health effects of abuse during pregnancy for mothers and children will be described, as well as the emerging issue of maternal mortality from homicide.  The address will conclude with suggestions for future research and family focused interventions and policy initiatives.

The second special session is cosponsored with the aging focus group. Entitled, “Aging and the Family, It Has Never Been This Way Before”, Msgr. Charles Fahey is the presenter. This lecture will highlight relevant elements inherent in the demographic and epidemiological revolutions, as well as the personal values and public policy structures that are impacted by those revolutions. The session will be held Thursday, November 17th from 8:30-10 am. in the Phoenix Ballroom West.

The third special session, “Health Care Issues/Needs of Navajo Elders and Policy Implications”, will be held Thursday, November 17 from 4-5:30 in the Regency B & C. Dr. Carol Ashton (RN, PhD) will share information from her involvement with the Adopt-a-Native Elder Program, an all volunteer, humanitarian based organization that serves over 400 Navajo elders in the four corners region (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado) of the US. One aspect of the program was to develop a health service program that not only identifies health needs but also integrates culturally sensitive approaches to understanding these needs which are specific to elders. Dr. Ashton has been actively engaged in home visits and identifying health needs specific to elders, and will not only share insights gained from exploring health assessment through traditional Navajo concepts, but also suggest policy recommendations for Native American families. A Navajo elder will assist her in the presentation.

The F & H section is also sponsoring two symposia, twenty posters, five roundtables, and six special sessions. The first symposium, “The Multiple Meanings of family in Later Life” will be held on Wednesday, November 16 th from 2:15-3:45. The second, “Family Meanings in Stories That They Tell Across Context Generations”, will be held on Friday, November 18 th from 8:30-10 am. Poster sessions for the F & H section will be from 12:30 – 2 pm, Thursday November 17 in the Atrium. Topics include care giving, adolescent risk behaviors, health problems of poor rural families, prenatal alcohol use, parental attachment and psychological autonomy, quality of life for army spouses during Operation Iraqi Freedom, low income children’s experiences with domestic violence, and the effect of breast feeding education on teen aged mothers. Four round tables will be held Wednesday November 16 from 9 – 10:30 am in the Sundance Room. Topics include family health decision making, what care giving means to elderly care recipients, cultural variations in food beliefs and practices in chronic illness, and involving undergraduate students in faculty research. The fifth roundtable (community level violence prevention) will be held from 12:30 – 2 pm on November 18 in Curtis A. Because of the large number of abstract submissions, the section has six concurrent sessions: Adolescent and Young Adult Family Issues, Families and Work, Elderly Families, Families Raising Children with Disabilities/Chronic Conditions, Women’s Health, and Culturally Diverse Families. At least one concurrent session will be held every day of the conference. Check the NCFR website (www.ncfr.org) for specific times, dates, and rooms.

There are three important meetings members of the section may want to also attend at the 2005 meeting. First, the Aging Focus Group will meet on Wednesday November 16 from 6:30 – 7:45 pm in the Remington A/B. The Chronic Illness and Disability Focus Group meeting is scheduled for 8:- 9:15 on Thursday November 17 in Russell A/B. Finally, the Family and Health Section meeting will be held on Friday, November 18 th at 7:15 pm. in Curtis A. Here, you will have the opportunity to meet our officers, discuss important section information, network with colleagues, and meet the slate of offices for 2006 – 08.

Finally, I wanted to let you know about the pre-conference workshop our section is co sponsoring with several other sections. The title of the workshop is “Promoting the Safety of Women and Children When Women Separate From Their Violent Partners”. Jacquelyn C. Campbell, PhD, RN, Johns Hopkins U. will present a paper entitled, “Promoting Safety in the Context of Separation” and Oliver J. Williams, Ph.D., U. of Minnesota, Executive Director, Inst. on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, Grad. School Social Work will talk about “Fatherhood and Intimate Partner Violence”. Others on the program include Michael P. Johnson; Larry Ganong; Marilyn Ford-Gilboe; April Few; Beth Catlett; Sally Lloyd; and Doreen Nicholas. Our own Jennifer Hardesty (Student/New Professional officer) is the workshop chair. The workshop is from 8:00 – 5:00 pm on Tuesday November 15 in Remington A.B/C.

Student/New Professional Paper Competition

I hope those of you who qualify will enter the F & H Section’s Student/New Professional Paper Competition. The guidelines and judging criteria are on the NCFR, F & H Section website. You can also email me at Barbara_Mandleco@byu.edu for more information. The winner receives special recognition at our F & H Section meeting as well as a cash award. The deadline for the paper submission is September 20 th, 2005.

6 th Annual Public Policy and Education Conference

April 14 and 15, 2005, the 6th Annual Public Policy and Education conference was held in Washington DC. The theme of the conference was Families and Security. The morning of April 14 panel members presented helpful information on family disaster preparedness. A peer reviewed poster session followed the briefing. That afternoon, attendees had the opportunity to speak with their senator/representative, or a member of their staff. On April 15 the topic was on strengthening family financial security. It also was useful. The 2006 conference is currently in the planning stage, so be sure to check the NCFR web site for information. I encourage any of you who are interested in attending the conference to do so, and to submit an abstract.

Barbara Mandleco, Family & Health Section