A professional organization dedicated to translating scientific knowledge from the field of prevention science into effective and sustainable practices, systems and policies.
Alarming statistics reveal persistent challenges to the healthy development and wellbeing of our children and youth. Many face physical, mental, and social health problems, academic underachievement, and rising rates of violence and hopelessness, leading to failure to fulfill their full potential and thus hampering the growth of the nation's prosperity now and in the future. The U.S. continues to rank low among developed nations in measures of child wellbeing, including high rates of infant mortality, chronic illness, and unmet basic needs. These issues threaten not only the health of our children but also the nation’s future workforce, resilience, and prosperity.
Fortunately, we now have the knowledge based on years of largely NIH-supported scientific research about what children and youth need for healthy development. We also have a better understanding of conditions that can undermine children’s ability to thrive and flourish, and the potential for positive experiences to override the impacts of those adversities. These scientific advancements have led to development of numerous evidence-based strategies that promote children’s health and wellbeing by fostering strong families, quality education, accessible health care, and supportive environments.
The challenge now—in addition to ongoing research to elucidate malleable mechanisms and drivers—is to determine best practices for integrating effective practices, programs and policies into our educational, social, health, economic, and physical exosystems across our nation’s communities. Through further investment in a pragmatic program of research at NIH focused on determining best practices in implementation and dissemination protocols, there is potential to improve children’s wellbeing and support family- and child-focused programs and services. Advancing comprehensive, child health research by focusing on the whole child—considering the full range of experiences and conditions that impact health—will lead to significant advances in our ability to offer every child the opportunity to flourish and succeed throughout life.
The DOC Committee is leading a national research and policy agenda to foster whole child health and wellbeing. In addition to members of the Committee, the webinar features leadership from NIH and other child health experts who will discuss innovative and evidence-based approaches for nurturing the physical, mental, behavioral, and relational health of our children. They will discuss the latest data, ongoing studies, and real-world stories illustrating why robust support for whole child health research, policies, and child- and family-serving systems are vital to our future.
This full-day webinar was organized by the Decade of the Child (DOC) Committee and sponsored by the Nova Institute for Health, the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives, The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State University, and the Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina.
Sponsors
Agenda & Featured Speakers
Moderator
Ms. Maddy Jupina, ABD, Communications Intern and Doctoral Student at Penn State University
Opening Remarks
10:00-10:15am Research to Facilitate the Translational Pipeline from Bench to Trench
Diana Fishbein, PhD, Senior Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Part-Time Research Faculty, Prevention Research Center at Penn State; and President of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives
Agenda and Featured Speakers
10:15-10:35am Overview of Whole Child Health and Wellbeing
Christina Bethell, PhD, Director, Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative; and Professor, Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
10:35-10:55am Decade of the Child Framework
Zili Sloboda, ScD, Applied Prevention Science International (formerly, Division Director at NIDA/NIH)
10:55-11:15am BRAIN BREAK
11:15-11:35am Evidence and Research Foundations
Deena J. Chisolm, PhD, Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Equity Research, Director, Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, The Ohio State University
11:35-11:55am NICHD/NIH Leadership in Whole Child Health Initiatives
Rohan Hazra, PhD, Acting Director, National Institute on Child Health and Human Development
The keynote address will highlight the pivotal research supported by NICHD that advances whole child health. Dr. Hazra's presentation will showcase studies that examine how physical, mental, and social health interact to influence children's overall wellbeing. He will discuss NICHD-backed projects that have contributed to our understanding of the factors that shape child development, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based approaches in crafting policies and interventions that nurture every aspect of a child's growth. And he will mention plans for an enhanced program of pragmatic research that will facilitate the implementation, dissemination, and scaling of such approaches.
11:55-12:30pm FUEL BREAK
12:30-1:50pm Additional NIH Institute Investments in Whole Child Health and Wellbeing
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) are also actively involved in funding studies and initiatives that address various aspects of children's physical, mental, and social wellbeing. These institutes contribute to advancing knowledge and developing interventions that promote holistic child development, reflecting a broad commitment across NIH to improving outcomes for children.
David Shurtleff, PhD,
Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Research (NCCIH)
Andrea Beckel-Michener, PhD, Acting Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Research (NIMH)
Brigitte Widemann, MD, Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
1:50-2:15pm Q&A session with NIH ICs
2:15-2:25pm STRETCH BREAK
2:25-3:45pm The Future of Whole Child Health Research
Pragmatic program of research, building from the basic science to develop best practice protocols for implementation, dissemination, scaling, sustainability, and community drive, engagement, and acceptability.
Ronald Prinz, PhD, Carolina Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Research Center for Child Well-Being, University of South Carolina)
Diana Fishbein, PhD, Nova Scholar, Senior Scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill, Part-time Research Faculty at Penn State, and President of NSPC
Anthony Biglan, PhD, Senior Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and Director of Values to Action
William Wieczorek, PhD, CEO of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
3:45-4:05pm Opportunities for Transformation Through Scalable Solutions
Margaret Kuklinski, PhD, Endowed Professor of Prevention in Social Work; Director, Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington
4:05-4:40pm Identifying policy levers to sustain impactful change
The medical community has long recognized that: (1) health is more than the absence of disease or disability; (2) social factors and conditions – not medical care – play the major role in improving health; and (3) the greatest opportunities for improving health are with children and through primary, preventive, developmental, and ecological actions. This is not reflected in public policy investments in health care, public health, or health research and we need to redirect our investments accordingly.
Charles Bruner, PhD, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy and at the RISE Institute
Jesse Kohler (Doctoral Student @ University of Pennsylvania), CEO of The Change Campaign
4:40-5:00pm Q&A session