PEDIATRICS Vol. 90 No. 5 November 1992, pp. 785-786
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Introduction

PETER C. SCHEIDT MD, MPH1 and SAMUEL S. KESSEL MD, MPH2

1 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Bethesda, MD
2 Maternal and Child Health Bureau Rockville, MD

An effort to improve the health of children must consider challenges to a healthy body, mind, and spirit. It must recognize the importance of the family, community, and environment. Consequently, the very nature of pediatrics has evolved from a primary focus on acute care and the treatment of infectious disease to one of promoting health, preventing disease, and optimizing development. Clinicians and researchers concerned with children and adolescents increasingly acknowledge the importance of behavior as a determinant and an outcome of health and disease. Indeed, the major causes of morbidity and mortality of childhood and adolescence (injuries, suicide, sexually transmitted disease, and others) are primarily related to behavior. Spurred by the recognition of these behaviorally related threats to children and youth, health agencies are directly and increasingly confronted with the urgency to study, understand, and modify behavior as it influences and interacts with physical health.

In response to this urgency, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau jointly sponsored a conference on Research in Behavioral Pediatrics in Columbia, MD, on May 22 to 24, 1989. The purposes of the conference were (1) to identify directions and approaches that are likely to be productive for future research in behavioral pediatrics; (2) to stimulate increased research activity and successful competition for support; and (3) to increase interdisciplinary collaborative research efforts within the field of behavioral pediatrics.

The planning committee developed an agenda to present and explore models for behavioral pediatric research that could serve to define challenges and approaches for the field.

Submitted on July 22, 1991
Accepted on May 15, 1992




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