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Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion pp 828–838Cite as

Physical Health, Early Childhood

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Abstract

Interventions in child health care to promote the physical health of children from birth to 5 years of age are multiple and diverse. Recommendations for these interventions have been published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC), the US Preventive Healthcare Task Force, and others. The degree to which the different interventions have been studied for effectiveness is varied. Some recommended interventions, such as the periodic, unclothed physical examination, have a paucity of evidence of any kind to determine their efficacy, yet they are still recommended as the standard of care. Other interventions, including childhood vaccinations, have a wealth of evidence to support their efficacy. In this entry, we summarize the evidence from a population perspective for a selection of interventions commonly undertaken by child health providers to promote the physical health of children.

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Authors
  1. David Wood
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  2. Felicia K. Macik
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  3. Jeff Brown
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Editor information

Thomas P. Gullotta Martin Bloom Jonathan Kotch Craig Blakely Lynne Bond Gerald Adams Colette Browne Waldo Klein Jessica Ramos

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© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Wood, D., Macik, F.K., Brown, J. (2003). Physical Health, Early Childhood. In: Gullotta, T.P., et al. Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0195-4_121

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0195-4_121

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4961-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0195-4

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