Health Data Website Guide: 

North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute http://www.ncchild.org

Description:

"Influencing public policy to make North Carolina to be a child and raise a child"; "…your single best source for data and information on children and youth." Contains information and data about child health in NC. Over 250 indicators of child well-being, with comparisons among counties and regions possible. Data appears to be updated regularly-recent. Sources of data seem not to be given. Link to

KIDS COUNT National Data

Comments:

The place to start in getting childhood data. Puts together a host of data related to childhood and provides it at both the county and state levels. Exceptionally user-friendly, clear and quick. Data appear to be the most recent available.

Reports:

• "NC Child Health Report Card 2002": Contents: Access to care, birth outcomes, immunization rates, communicable diseases, environmental health, dental health, early intervention, child abuse & neglect, fatalities, substance abuse, health behaviors, teen pregnancy. Notes: On Homepage, click on "Child Health and Safety, then "Health Report Card." Annual report of key indicators of NC children's health. Each indicator is graded, and the trend since a benchmark year (currently 1996) is shown. PDF format.
• "Assuring the Maximum Potential of NC's Children": Contents: Study by NC Institute of Medicine report on the state of child health in NC, recommendations. Notes: Article published in May/June issue of NC Medical Journal, Volume 63, Number 3, pp. 145-150.
• "Child Well-Being and Domestic Violence Task Force Final Report," 2/2003: Contents: No data, but recommendations by the following committees: Courts and Law Enforcement, Child Protective Services, Community-Based Services, Funding. Notes: On Homepage, click on "Child Maltreatment and Fatalities." 35 page PDF format report of a state-wide task force. Task force intends recommendations as an implementation plan for the State.
• "Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention": Contents: No data; one-page summary of legislative history in this area. Notes: On Homepage, click on "Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention."
• "NC Children's Index 2002, Part I": Contents: A profile of child well-being is provided for each county and the state. Each profile provides trend data on demographics, health, education, social and economic indicators of well-being. County profiles available by clicking on county of interest. Notes: On Homepage, click on "County and State Data." Select county of interest to get profile. (As of  May 2003 only the NC state profile came up, no matter which county one tried to select.)
• "NC Children's Index 2002, Part II": Contents: This part of the report provides county-level charts comparing all 100 NC counties on 42 key indicators. It also provides background information about the data and state-level statistics on children and families. Appendix 1 has data notes and sources and Appendix 2 is a brief statement about "What Everyone in NC Should Know About the Leandro Decision." Notes: On Homepage, click on "County and State Data." Scroll down and click on "Welcome to the NC Children's Index 2002."

Directions for reaching the following data:

On Homepage, click on "County and State Data." Click on "Interactive County and State Database." You will see "Welcome to NC Data on Kids!" You can either register, which allows you to download data, or click on "Guest," which allows you to view data but not to download it. After entering the site, click on "Standard Reports," at left.

• Standard Reports, general information: Contents: Description of what's contained in County Comparison Table, State Map, County Rankings Table, and County Rankings Bar Chart. Demographic breakdown/ population: Race, children's age groups. Notes: Sample reports are provided with each type of report. Access to help is readily available by clicking "?" in circle.
• Standard Reports: County Indicator Report: Contents: Instructs you to select one county, then follow Quick Path (allows you to run a report for either all recent indicators, or for NCCAI-selected key indicators), or Advanced Path (allows you to select own indicators). Political unit(s): Single county of your choice. Notes: Click on "County Indicators Report. Click on "Create Your Own."
• Standard Reports: County Indicator Report: Quick Path: Most Recent Indicators: Contents: Most recent, detailed data available related to children in your county: Demographics, Early Childhood, Economic, Education, Health, and Social. Demographic breakdown/ population: Demographics (age, birth/death, population, race); Early Childhood (Child abuse & protection, child care, income, public support programs); Economic (income, support, support programs); Education (enrollment, testing); Health (beharioral health, birth, death, heatlh providers, morbidity, parenthood, prenatal); and Social (child abuse & protection, juvenile justice). Political unit(s): Single county of your choice. Notes: Pulls together important indicators related to children from many sources.
• Standard Reports: County Indicator Report: Quick Path: Key Indicators: Contents: 3-7 key indicators within each of the above categories. i.e., this is an encapsulated version of the "Most Recent Indicators" table. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): Single county of your choice. Notes: Good for summary of important child-related data. Start here, then if more detail or different information desired, go to "Most Recent Indicators."
• Standard Reports: County Indicator Report: Quick Path: Advanced Path: Contents: Same data as "Most Recent Indicators" above. Allows user to select indicators of interest. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): Single county of your choice. Notes: Very easy-to-use, can create and download a customized report on key data relevant to children in you county, and gives comparisons to the state as a whole.
• Standard Reports: County Comparison Table: Contents: Description of site and directions for use. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Notes: Click on "County Comparison Table." Good for comparing NC counties.
• Standard Reports: County ComparisonTable: Create Your Own: Contents: Allows user to select any counties desired for comparison, and to select indicators. Allows some customization of the form and look of the report. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): All NC counties, Region of NC (Western, Central, or East), individual counties. Notes: Select counties, then click on "Continue" in upper right.
• Standard Reports: State Maps: Contents: Description of site and directions for use. Notes: Nice way to get a feel for how your county compares to all other NC counties.
• Standard Reports: State Maps: Create Your Own: Contents: Shows map of state with counties colored according to values for the indicators selected by user. Allows some customization of the form and look of the report. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): NC with all counties within. Notes: Select data you'd like to view.
• Standard Reports: County Rankings Table: Contents: Description of site and directions for use. Notes: Not sure of usefulness, since you can sort the data anyway to get relative rankings.
• Standard Reports: County Rankings Table: Create Your Own: Contents: Ranks the counties selected against one another, on variables selected. E.g., if you select 5 counties, the ranks on all indicators will be 1-5; does not give rank within the State. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): All NC counties, Region of NC (Western, Central, or East), individual counties. Notes: Select the counties you'd like to compare and indicators you'd like to rank.
• Standard Reports: County Rankings Bar Chart: Contents: Description of site and directions for use. Notes: Lets you compare values for each county visually.
• Standard Reports: County Rankings Bar Chart: Create Your Own: Contents: Horizontal bars show selected data for each county selected, with counties put in order of their values for that indicator. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): All NC counties, Region of NC (Western, Central, or East), individual counties. Notes: Select the counties you'd like to compare and indicators you'd like to see graphed.

Directions for reaching the following data:

On Homepage, click on "County and State Data." Click on "Interactive County and State Database." You will see "Welcome to NC Data on Kids!" You can either register, which allows you to download data, or click on "Guest," which allows you to view data but not to download it. After entering the site, click on "Advanced Analysis," at left.

• Detailed Analysis, general information: Contents: Description of options: Detailed Statistics, Correlation Scatter Plot. Notes: Sample reports are provided with each type of report. Access to help is readily available by clicking "?" in circle.
• Detailed Analysis: Detailed Statistics: Contents: Provides basic, descriptive statistics for state, region, or group of counties selected. The statistics are for the group as a whole, and include mean, median, mode, range, min, max, quartiles, and distribution. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): All NC counties, Region of NC (Western, Central, or East), individual counties. Notes: This report makes the most sense if you select at least three counties. Could be used to compare one group of counties to another group. "Western" counties include 33 counties, not just "WNC."
• Detailed Analysis: Correlation Scatter Plot: Contents: Graphs scatter plots of two or three variables at a time. Each county selected shows as a dot. Can give you a rough depiction of relationships between any two (or 3, but not very good at graphing 3) variables. Demographic breakdown/ population: Mostly data are on children; also some data that impact children's lives. Political unit(s): All NC counties, Region of NC (Western, Central, or East), individual counties. Notes: Could be useful for initial way to examine hunches about two indicators one suspects of being correlated.