2011 The Palm Beach County Family Study (Full Report)

fourths of the mothers using services describing themselves as “very satisfied” with them on a 4-pointscale. 52In year 5, all but 19 mothers, or 94 percent of the sample, reported receiving help from a program,agency, or professional in the past year for at least one area of concern regarding basic family needs. 53Mothers received help for an average of three basic family needs, slightly more than the average numberof reported services in previous years. In year 5, 22 percent of the mothers received help in five or moreservice areas, which is a significant increase from year 4, when just 12 percent (p < .01) reported usingfive or more services; year 3, when 11 percent (p < .001) reported using five or more services; and years 1and 2, when just 14 percent (p < .01) each year reported using five or more services.Services for Basic Family NeedsIn general, across all 5 years, mothers were more likely to have concerns about and receive help in areasdefined as basic family needs than to have specific concerns related to their children’s health anddevelopment. Consistent with the first 4 years of the study, in the fifth year, mothers reported receivinghelp most often with healthcare (86%) and food (72%). In addition, 59 percent of the mothers reportedgetting help with dental care; similar to year 4, this represents a significant increase relative to the first 3years when just 22 to 27 percent of mothers reported receiving help with dental care. This might reflectthe older age of the children, as well as mothers’ increasing awareness of the importance of dental care tooverall health. 54The percentage of mothers who reported help with food in the fifth year was about the same as in the thirdand fourth years, but not as high as it was in the first and second years, which is consistent with trends inthe use of WIC shown in Table 6. 55 Also consistent with the increasing age of the children, the percentageof mothers reporting help with childcare has increased over time. Less than a third of the sample receivedhelp with any other area of service use. Family planning, paying rent/bills, and housing were the nextmost frequent areas in which mothers reported receiving assistance; also, trends in the use of these52 With regard to the year 3 satisfaction items for the year 5 sample, the two lowest “very satisfied” ratings were for theemergency shelter item (72% “very satisfied”) and the school attendance item (43% “very satisfied”). Nine of the 29 items had100 percent of the mothers who were “very satisfied” and in another 11 areas between 90 and 99 percent of the mothers reportedbeing “very satisfied” with services received.53 This pertains to just those items asked about at all five yearly time points.54 According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (www.aapd.com), children should first visit a dentist when theyget their first tooth or no later than their first birthday. Pediatricians and childcare providers might also encourage mothers’ use ofdental care. Florida participates in a “Head Start Dental Home Initiative,” which might influence families whose children areenrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start.55 Additionally, Food Stamps were used by 47 percent of the year 5 mothers and by 35 percent and 38 percent of the year 3 andyear 4 mothers, but in year 1 just 37 percent and in year 2 46 percent of the mothers used them. The use of Food Stamps wasdefinitely higher than in year 3 and year 4, but usage was not less than in year 1 or in year 2.Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 94