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Read articles and view webinars from leading life course health development experts.
Facilitating mechanisms for integrating care to promote health equity across the life course: reflections from social work trainees
By Rebecca Reno, Brieanne Beaujolais, Tamara S. Davis
Abstract Integrated care is a promising practice to promote health equity and improve population health across the life course, but the mechanisms needed to integrate services remain nebulous. This study aimed to identify the components required to achieve a fully integrated health care system as articulated by social work trainees. The authors conducted five focus groups (N = 20). Transcripts were analyzed using structural and pattern coding. Three primary themes emerged: Organizational Structure and Support, Personal and Interpersonal Dynamics, and Practitioner Knowledge. Results from this study can inform the process of integration and has implications for social work education. Access the Paper here
Read full articleTrajectories of family poverty and children’s mental health: Results from the Danish National Birth Cohort
By Laura Pryor, Katrine Strandberg-Larsen, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen, Naja Hulvej Rod, Maria Melchior
Abstract Children exposed to socioeconomic adversity have elevated levels of psychological difficulties immediately and long-term. However, few studies have examined the consequences of long-term patterns of dynamic trajectories of family income. The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) is a longitudinal, population-based birth cohort study (1996–2002). Data on household poverty from the year before birth until the child was 10 years of age (n=12 measures) were obtained from the National Danish Registries and modeled using semiparametric groupbased modeling. Child mental health symptoms were measured at 11 years using mother and child-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (n=40 192), and the child-reported Stress in Childhood (SiC) scale (n=46 284). Four categories of …
Read full articleDiscursive Paper – The Life Course Health Development Model: A theoretical research framework for paediatric delirium
By Laura Beth Kalvas
Abstract Aims and objectives: To create a framework for future research through application and critique of the Life Course Health Development Model to the phenomenon of paediatric delirium. Conclusions: The Life Course Health Development Model depicts a process in which the acute and severe stress of critical illness leads to maladaptive neurologic changes that contribute to the development of delirium and impair a child’s life trajectory. Relevance to clinical practice: By emphasising the potential lifelong consequences for critically ill children who experience delirium, this application of the Life Course Health Development Model will stimulate discussion, research and practice change among paediatric clinicians and researchers. Access the Paper here
Read full articleMeasurement Series – “EDI in US Cities” featuring Neal Halfon, MD, MPH and Lisa Stanley, DrPH
By Neal Halfon, MD, MPH and Lisa Stanley, DrPH
Featuring Neal Halfon, MD, MPH (Director, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities) and Lisa Stanley, DrPH (Project Director, Transforming Early Childhood Community Systems, UCLA CHCFC) This webinar will describe the rollout of the EDI in the US and explore how the EDI is being utilized by communities such as San Antonio, Hartford, Spartanburg, and Pasadena, to engage all segments of the community in collective work to improve local early childhood programs, systems and policies. Neal Halfon, MD, MPH (Director, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities) Lisa Stanley, DrPH (Project Director, Transforming Early Childhood Community Systems, UCLA CHCFC) Webinar recording available here …
Read full articleIntroduction to a Comprehensive Life Course Monitoring System featuring Martin Guhn, PhD and Magdalena Janus, PhD
By Martin Guhn, PhD and Magdalena Janus, PhD
This webinar, part of the LCRN’s series on Measuring Health Development of Children and Youth, features Martin Guhn, PhD (Assistant Professor, Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia) and Magdalena Janus, PhD (Professor, McMaster University). This webinar will provide an introduction to a comprehensive life course monitoring system that supports a systems approach, how Canada has made an impact with EDI, and how they are building the early stages of the system with the TDI and CHEQ measurement systems. Martin Guhn, PhD (Assistant Professor, Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia) Magdalena Janus, PhD (Professor, McMaster University) Webinar recording available here
Read full articleMeasuring lifetime stress exposure and protective factors in life course research on racial inequality and birth outcomes
By Jennifer Malat, Farrah Jacquez & George M. Slavich
Abstract There has been a long-standing interest in better understanding how social factors contribute to racial disparities in health, including birth outcomes. A recent emphasis in this context has been on identifying the effects of stress exposure and protective factors experienced over the entire lifetime. Yet despite repeated calls for a life course approach to research on this topic, very few studies have actually assessed how stressors and protective factors occurring over women’s lives relate to birth outcomes. We discuss this issue here by describing how challenges in the measurement of lifetime stress exposure and protective factors have prevented researchers from developing an empirically-based life course perspective on health. …
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