INTRODUCTION

This report of early childhood issues confronting Iowa’s children is the second in a series of reports from the 2005 Iowa Child and Family Household Health Survey (IHHS), the second comprehensive, statewide effort to evaluate the health status, access to health care, and social environment of children in families in Iowa. The first IHHS was conducted in 2000.

The 2005 IHHS was a collaboration between the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Public Policy Center (PPC), and the Child Health Specialty Clinics (CHSC). Funding for the 2005 IHHS was provided primarily by the IDPH, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The primary goals of the 2005 IHHS were to: 1) assess the health and well-being of children and families in Iowa, 2) assess a set of early childhood issues, 3) evaluate the health insurance coverage of children in Iowa and the features of the uninsured, and 4) assess the health and wellbeing of racial and ethnic minority children in Iowa.

Questions were asked from a wide range of topic areas encompassing health, well-being, and family environment. General topic areas of the 2005 IHHS included:

• Demographics of Iowa families with children


• Health status
  


— Functional health status


— Children with Special Health Care Needs


— Additional emphasis on asthma


• Health insurance coverage of children and parents
  
• Health care issues
  
  
— Medical care


— Preventive care


— Dental care


— Behavioral/emotional health care


— Prescription medication


— Emergency room use


• Family and social environment
  
  
— Nutrition and exercise


— Behavioral/emotional health status


— Parenting stress


— Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use


— Gambling


— Marital satisfaction

The State of Iowa has in recent years placed a special emphasis on early care, education, and health for the youngest Iowans. The purpose of this report is to provide information about Iowa’s children ages 0-5 (i.e., prekindergarten). The data provided is based on the core questions in the survey as well as questions specific to issues of early childhood, including child care and family activities.

The specific early childhood issues addressed in this report include:

• Early childhood environment
  
• Maternal well-being/depression
  
• Developmental assessment for children
  
• Child care issues
  

The results for the individual questions from the survey relevant to early childhood (pre-kindergarten) organized by total, as well as by age category (infants: 0-1, toddlers: 2-3, preschoolers: 4-5) and the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) status of the child can be found in the appendices of this report.