The Ambulatory Pediatric Association proposes a one-day child health services research conference to precede the annual meetings of the Pediatric Academic Societies in New Orleans in May 1998. The Association, with approximately 1600 members, is one of the primary forums for the presentation of child and adolescent health services and health policy research. It includes among its membership most of the active child health services researchers, as well as many young investigators beginning their careers in this field. A central issue identified by the leadership of the Association, in consultation with colleagues in a number of research institutions and research agencies, has been the need to improve junior faculty development in areas of health services research. As one part of this effort, we propose a one-day session to cover several topics that can be viewed as introductory in the area of child health services research. Our plan is to hold two three-hour sessions, one on Thursday afternoon, April 30, and the second on Friday morning, May 1. Within this time frame, we plan to have the following general topics addressed: 1) Overview of Child Health Services Research, 2) Quality, 3) Measures, 4) Data sources, 5) Research settings, and 6) Effectiveness and cost- effectiveness research re children. This conference will be open to junior investigators from the pediatric community likely to attend the spring pediatric meetings. Enrollment, however, will be limited to 35 participants, including faculty and planning committee.
