Purpose: The purpose of this doctor of nursing practice project was to increase patient awareness and knowledge of perinatal anxiety and depression through video education. By providing information on the risk factors, signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression, activities to prevent/reduce symptoms, and local resources, the project aimed to…

Perinatal HIV infection is associated with delayed neurocognitive development, but less is known about children perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected (CHEU). We compared cognitive and language outcomes in 4-6-year old CHEU versus children HIV-unexposed and uninfected (CHUU) and children living with HIV (CLHIV). We enrolled 1,581 children (77% of…

Untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders have short- and long-term consequences for mental, physical, developmental, social, and economic outcomes affecting the mother, infant, family, and community. Online Health interventions are known to be effective in treating mental health disorders and increasing access to care. Successful perinatal…

The transition to parenting (Galinsky, 1987) can be a tumultuous time, particularly when parents have experienced traumatic and stressful life circumstances. Interventions to help these parents often focus on the first 2 years after birth because of the importance of this sensitive period for babies' developing brains. However, we describe…

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains a leading cause of infant death in the United States, and in Virginia. We sought to gauge the perceptions among community-identified stakeholders regarding community resource needs to reduce SIDS. Snowball sampling identified important community stakeholders to be interviewed as key informants. A…

Substance use and alcohol abuse during pregnancy are significant public health concerns. Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a withdrawal syndrome that infants exposed to opioids may experience in the first few days of life. For most infants with NAS, exposure to opioids occurs during pregnancy while they are fetuses. Similarly, prenatal alcohol…

This article describes efforts of an Australian tertiary maternity hospital to translate infant mental health research into preventive perinatal and early parenting practice. Clinical practice confirms what is known in the literature: For expectant parents, there can be myriad obstacles to adapting successfully to parenthood and forming a…

Background: Elucidating risk pathways for under-achieving at school can inform strategies to reduce the number of adolescents leaving school without passing grades in core subjects. Maternal depression can compromise the quality of parental care and is associated with multiple negative child outcomes. However, only a few small studies have…

This study examined the developmental processes linking childhood bullying to criminal offending in adulthood, using data from a 30-year longitudinal study. The linkages between bullying in childhood and three criminal offending outcomes in adulthood were estimated both before and after control for a range of confounding factors. A series of…

Secondary prevention programs are needed to help HIV-positive youth reduce risk behavior and improve adherence to HIV medications. This article provides an overview of Adolescent Impact, a secondary HIV prevention intervention, including its description, delivery, and receptivity among the two unique groups of participants. Adolescent Impact, a…

The onset of diagnostic symptomology for neuropsychiatric diseases is often the end result of a decades-long process of aberrant brain development. Identification of novel treatment strategies aimed at normalizing early brain development and preventing mental illness should be a major therapeutic goal. However, there are few models for how this…

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a 6-week cognitive-behavioral intervention in preventing the onset of perinatal depression and reducing depressive symptoms among low-income women in home visitation programs. Method: Sixty-one women who were pregnant or who had a child less than 6 months of age and who were assessed as at risk for perinatal…

Objective: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral (CBT) intervention to prevent perinatal depression in high-risk Latinas. Method: A sample of 217 participants, predominantly low-income Central American immigrants who met demographic and depression risk criteria, were randomized into usual…

A large proportion of perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) children are becoming adolescents and exploring their sexuality. This study explored the prevalence of sexual behaviors (kissing, touching, engaging in oral sex, or having vaginal/anal intercourse) in a sample of predominantly ethnic minority youths (N = 339; 54.1% Black and 30.4% Latino; 51%…

New scientific research shows that environmental influences can actually affect whether and how genes are expressed. Thus, the old ideas that genes are "set in stone" or that they alone determine development have been disproven. In fact, scientists have discovered that early experiences can determine how genes are turned on and off and even…