Efforts to support young children’s health and well-being have traditionally focused on markers such as health insurance rates, vaccination rates and developmental milestones. While those measures remain relevant, increasing interest in using data to solve big problems and the realization that disease management has not adequately improved health outcomes are changing approaches to supporting young children’s and families’ health and well-being. These insights are leading more and more people to look to individualized health data tracking through technology and are also leading the health care field to shift its focus to prevention and population-level health.
» The Owlet Smart Sock 2 allows parents to monitor babies’ heart rates and oxygen levels while they sleep,¹⁴ though the accuracy of its readings is a source of debate.¹⁵
» The DNA kit company, Orig3n, offers a child development test focused on identifying young children’s predisposition to certain sports, eating habits, sleeping behavior and learning abilities.¹⁶
» California named its first statewide surgeon general, choosing a doctor whose experience and priorities center on childhood trauma, toxic stress and other mental health issues.¹⁷
» The Family Treatment Court in Montgomery County, Ohio, combines drug and mental-health treatment with counseling to decrease the amount of time that children spend in foster care.¹⁸
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
BioNanny: Smart Health Accessory
BioNanny is a smart accessory for expectant mothers, infants and children that collects and processes data using machine learning and predictive analytics. Increased interest in personalized health data for children is driving individual sales, particularly for more affluent parents who can afford the level of privacy offered by the more expensive premium membership. Some insurance companies and public agencies now require parents to use the tool and to share the data; families in vulnerable socio-economic situations claim that the data are being used to restrict benefits. In turn, health care specialists have expressed concerns about the impacts of constant alerts on new and expectant parents’ mental health, the lack of transparency in the creation of reports and the identification of interventions, and the overall utility of the amount of information that BioNanny provides.
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
Child-Centered Communities Scorecard: Measuring Child and Community Well-Being
Greenhaven is one of 200 communities across the United States that participates in the voluntary Child-Centered Communities Scorecard, a program that uses Census; American Community Survey; and real-time, voluntary, specialized survey data to assess young children and families’ health and well-being. In addition to measuring traditional markers such as vaccination, asthma and physical activity rates; environmental quality; and prenatal and maternal health ratings, the scorecard includes new indices intended to provide a more nuanced understanding of young children’s and families’ health and well-being. Some communities, especially rural ones, are using the scorecard not only to assess their own policies and programs, but also to attract employers and young families. However, communities with high numbers of noncitizen children and families cannot rely on their scorecards due to noncitizens’ underrepresentation in the 2020 Census as a result of anti-immigrant rhetoric.
ARTIFACT FROM THE FUTURE
Pediatric Urban Designer: A New Role for Community Health
As Fairview County started to become more dense, diverse and technologically connected, leaders began to see that young children’s and families’ needs were not always being considered in planning decisions. The county created this role to bridge the gaps between the theoretical understandings of young children’s development and well-being and the practical implications of constructing, remodeling or maintaining spaces in ways that support them. The pediatric urban designer is expected to be part of county decisions and planning around transportation, recreation, economic development and other domains. The city hopes that the use of data-informed decision-making and best practices will improve child and family health and well-being and that it will also benefit residents of all ages. However, some members of the hiring committee, along with parent groups, have expressed concern that the role might lead Fairview to endorse or advance specific parenting styles or limit important economic development.
Issues to Watch
Recognize the opportunities and challenges that come with abundant data. Access to more and increasingly specialized data has the potential to help prevent health issues and to empower parents, caregivers and health professionals to take action on behalf of children’s health. However, more data does not always equal better insight into how to respond to health needs, either at the individual or the societal level. That is particularly true when technology analyzes that data in ways that are not completely transparent, resulting in potentially misleading, biased or incomplete conclusions. Stakeholders should pay careful consideration to who owns the data, who can access them, the types of data being collected in relation to the problems that are trying to be solved and even how the questions and problem statements are worded.
How might stakeholders usefully and equitably incorporate new health data collection and analysis tools to ensure that the tools are pursuing optimal outcomes?
Explore the next frontiers of well-being measurement. Advances in technology and increased interest in taking a broader view of health and well-being provide unique opportunities to explore new possibilities in what is measured and how. While many of today’s traditional measures of health and well-being remain essential to track and pursue, many of them are also lagging indicators, are deficit-based or offer an incomplete picture of either the causes of health issues or possible interventions. Cross-sector collaborations should explore the next frontier of those measures, with the aim of adopting more human-centered, asset-based and actionable ones.
How might stakeholders explore new approaches to evaluating well-being, including factors that are essential to young children’s and families’ health but which are difficult to quantify?
Consider how rapid innovation could affect the ability to build consensus. As more products flood the market, as new approaches become possible and as new understandings of health and well-being emerge, traditional research cycles and scientific consensus-building processes may struggle to keep up. This reality may affect how healthcare and other fields are able to agree upon and communicate best practices. In turn, parents and others who support children could struggle to access and use fact-checked information, potentially shaking trust in the expertise of health care and other professionals. New processes for building understanding among experts and the public will be needed to respond to this new reality.
How might stakeholders establish trusted, evidence-based health and well-being practices in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment?
