Department News

DFPM RED Faculty member Nikki Edge, Ph.D., (Associate Professor, Department of Family and Preventative Medicine) was recently added to the UAMS College of Medicine’s Research Council.  The members of the new Research Council were recently announced by Richard P. Morrison, Ph.D. – Executive Associate Dean for Research | UAMS | College of Medicine.

DFPM RED has recently participated in Arkansas’ 5th Annual Conference on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders held on Thursday, September 14, 2017. On Wednesday, September 6, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared the month of September to be FASD Awareness Month in Arkansas. The official proclamation was presented to DFPM RED Research Associate Angela Kyzer and Outreach Coordinator Annemarie McGahagan. The proclamation was presented by None for Nine task force Vice President, Carol Rangel. Kyzer was also recognized for her work on the Taskforce, of which she is a member. Awards were also given to DFPM RED team members Mark Currey and Alicia Hamilton for work connected to None for Nine.

A recently published DFPM RED study examines the Effects of Maternal Depression Symptoms and Alcohol Use Problems

 on Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems. The study, which included DFPM RED faculty Nikki Edge, Ph.D. and Lorraine McKelvey, Ph.D., examined the impact of maternal depression and alcohol use problems on children’s behavior problems over a period of five years. The study included 1,874 Head Start eligible families. The study highlights the importance of understanding and treating various kinds of behavioral health concerns in mothers of young children.

 

Read the full, published article.

A recent paper from DFPM RED published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior looks at studies on factors associated with nutrition practices in early care and education settings. The article suggests that these studies often focus on sociodemographic and programmatic characteristics. This qualitative study adapted and applied Dr. Jay Belsky’s determinants of parenting model to inform a broader exploration of Early Care and Education Teachers (ECETs) practices.  The RED study finds that the influence of ECET developmental histories and their related beliefs can be addressed through professional development and ongoing support. Future study should quantify model constructs in a larger sample and study their relationships over time.

Swindle, T., Patterson, Z., Boden, C. A Qualitative Application of the Belsky Model to Explore Early Care and Education Teachers’ Mealtime History, Beliefs, and Interactions. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

DFPM RED continues to be at the forefront of research-based work advocating for children in Arkansas and beyond. RED researchers work daily to study the factors that challenge and support children. RED research seeks, first, to understand and then to put understanding into usable practices that meet the needs of children across the state and the country. Here are just a few of RED’s recent publications… work that is truly making a difference.

• McKelvey, L. M., Conners Edge, N.A., Fitzgerald, S., Kraleti, S., & Whiteside-Mansell, L., (in press).  Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences from Birth to Five: Examining Associations with Children’s Health. Families, Systems, Health.
• Swindle, T., Rutledge, J., Dix, B. & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (in press). Table Talk: Development of an Observational Tool to Characterize the Early Childcare Feeding Environment. Public Health Nutrition.
• McKelvey, L. M., Selig, J. P., & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (2017, In Press). Foundations for Screening Adverse Childhood Experiences: Exploring Patterns of Exposure through Infancy and Toddlerhood.  Child Abuse and Neglect.  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417302284
• Swindle, T., Ward, W, & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (in press). Facebook: The Use of Social Media to Engage Parents in a Pre-school Obesity Prevention Curriculum. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
• Whiteside-Mansell, L. & Swindle, T. (in press). Together We Inspire Smart Eating: A Preschool WISE curriculum for obesity prevention in low-income families. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
• Swindle, T., Johnson, S.L., Whiteside-Mansell, L., & Curran, G. (2017). A mixed methods protocol for developing and testing implementation strategies for evidence-based obesity prevention in childcare: A cluster randomized hybrid type III trial. Implementation Science, 12:90 DOI: 10.1186/s13012-017-0624-6

A recent paper from DFPM RED (currently In Press) looks at the value of verbal feeding communications, or, “Table Talk” as a possible influencing

factor in children’s diets. The purpose of the paper is to present the development of the Table Talk observational tool to measure Early Care and Education Teachers (ECETs) verbal feeding communications.

The research introduces an observational tool to assess verbal communications at mealtime among 75 Head Start educators. The study evaluated both positive and supportive comments such as “Exploring Foods” as well as negative comments such as “Pressuring to Eat”.  The study concluded that “Table Talk” may be a useful tool to assess ECETs’ verbal feeding communications with potential applications such as informing ECET training and assessing intervention efforts.

Swindle, T., Rutledge, J., Dix, B. & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (in press). Table Talk: Development of an Observational Tool to Characterize the Early Childcare Feeding Environment. Public Health Nutrition.

Arkansas’ 5th Annual Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) will be held on September 14th, 2017 at The Summit Church in North Little Rock. FASD are the leading cause of preventable developmental disorders, with the newest research indicating that almost 1/100 children are born on the spectrum. This means that FASD are more prevalent than Down Syndrome, cleft palate, and spina bifida.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dan Dubovsky, former FASD Specialist at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  As both a professional and parent of an individual on the spectrum, Mr. Dubovsky brings more than 25 years’ experience to the table.

A recent paper from DFPM RED and UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute features new research highlighting the strong negative impact of maternal behavioral health problems on children’s outcomes. The study of more than 1800 children examines the impact of maternal depression and alcohol abuse on preschool-age children. Among the study’s findings, results indicate that 50% of children whose mothers screened positive for alcohol problems (a score of 2 on the CAGE) had clinically significant problems with externalizing behavior (aggression, rule-breaking, acting out) by 5th grade.

Link to full paper

DFPM RED Research and Data Coordinator and Administrative Lead, LaTunja Sockwell, B.A., was honored with a 2017 Staff Excellence Award for her work with RED. Ms. Sockwell was nominated by RED director  Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Ed.D. with special notice taken of seven HIV-focused research projects initiated by Ms. Sockwell over the last two years.  The event was featured in the April 2017 edition of COMmunication, UAMS’ monthly newsletter highlighting noteworthy events in the UAMS family.  Congratulations, LaTunja!

REACH targets programs with limited access to state professional development resources and offers training and coaching to manage challenging behaviors and promote social-emotional health.

The project has multiple measures of success; however, the project team’s capacity to REACH is a critical one! We are proud to report that in March 2017, REACH served the following, through TAPP registered workshops:

• 7 counties
• 11 facilities
• ­­140 (unduplicated) participants receiving training, including teachers, directors, other facility staff
• 684—approximate number of children served by these facilities/staff

There were 40 Technical Assistance contacts (e.g. classroom visits, email, text, and phone) to 16 different facilities in 12 cities during March 2017.  These March numbers are pretty typical for this group! Great early childhood education going on in Arkansas!