Online Lactation Education for Healthcare Providers: A Theoretical Approach to Understanding Learning Outcomes.

Background: Breastfeeding competencies are not standardized in healthcare education for any of the health professions. A few continuing education/professional development programs have been implemented, but research regarding the efficacy of these programs is scarce. Research aim: After a 45-hour lactation course, (a) Does breastfeeding knowledge increase? (b) Do beliefs and attitudes about infant feeding improve? (c) Does perceived behavioral control over performance of evidence-based lactation support practices increase? and (d) Do intentions to carry out evidence-based lactation support practices increase?

Methods: A nonexperimental pretest-posttest self-report survey design was conducted with a nonprobability sample of participants ( N = 71) in a lactation course.

A Pilot Intervention Designed to Address Behavioral Factors That Place Overweight/Obese Young Children at Risk for Later-Life Obesity.

The purpose of this pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to intervene with parents of overweight/obese 4- to 8-year-old children to improve child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Parent-child dyads ( N = 60) were randomly assigned to treatment or comparison conditions. Parents attended four intervention sessions at their child's primary health care office over 3 months.

Physical activity and depressive symptoms after stillbirth: informing future interventions.

Background: In the United States, approximately one in 110 pregnancies end in stillbirth affecting more than 26,000 women annually. Women experiencing stillbirth have a threefold greater risk of developing depressive symptoms compared to women experiencing live birth. Depression contributes negatively to health outcomes for both mothers and babies subsequent to stillbirth.

Maternal Warmth Moderates the Link between Harsh Discipline and Later Externalizing Behaviors for Mexican American Adolescents.

Objective: This study examined maternal warmth as a moderator of the relation between harsh discipline practices and adolescent externalizing problems 1year later in low-income, Mexican American families.

Design: Participants were 189 adolescents and their mothers who comprised the control group of a longitudinal intervention program.

Results: Maternal warmth protected adolescents from the negative effects of harsh discipline such that, at higher levels of maternal warmth, there was no relation between harsh discipline and externalizing problems after controlling for baseline levels of externalizing problems and other covariates.

Reducing anxiety among children born preterm and their young mothers.

Purpose: To examine the efficacy of COPE on maternal and child anxiety associated with younger mothers of premature infants. The COPE program provides instruction and practice in parenting behaviors specific to the NICU, in combination with information that reduces ambiguity about their infant's appearance and behaviors.

Study Design And Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted on data obtained from a larger randomized controlled trial with 253 mothers of low birthweight premature infants to examine the efficacy of the Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment (COPE) program, an educational-behavioral parent intervention in the NICU, on maternal and child anxiety based on maternal age.

The preliminary effects of a primary care-based randomized treatment trial with overweight and obese young children and their parents.

Introduction: Twenty-three percent of preschoolers are overweight/obese, which puts these children at risk for the development of chronic health comorbidities. The purpose of this randomized control pilot study was to determine the feasibility and preliminary effects of a theoretically based, primary care intervention on the physical outcomes of 60 overweight/obese preschool/early school-aged 4- to 8-year-old children.

Methods: After recruitment and baseline assessment, parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either the treatment or the control condition.

Physical activity of young overweight and obese children: parent reports of child activity level compared with objective measures.

The purpose of this study was to compare objectively measured physical activity (PA) and parent-reported assessments of the children's PA in an overweight/obese child sample. A total of 67 child-parent dyads were recruited for study participation. Child anthropometric measures and parent-reported questionnaires were completed, and then PA was measured by accelerometers for 48 consecutive hours.

A parent-directed portion education intervention for young children: Be Beary Healthy.

Purpose: This pilot study aimed to determine the effects of an intervention on nutrition knowledge, food parents serve, and children's dietary intake.

Design And Methods: A single-group pre-/posttest design was used with 45 mothers and their 4- to 6-year-old children. After pretesting, parents received child nutrition information and portion-related activities.

Spanish translation and cross-language validation of a sleep habits questionnaire for use in clinical and research settings.

Study Objectives: To translate, back-translate and cross-language validate (English/Spanish) the Sleep Heart Health Study Sleep Habits Questionnaire for use with Spanish-speakers in clinical and research settings.

Methods: Following rigorous translation and back-translation, this cross-sectional cross-language validation study recruited bilingual participants from academic, clinic, and community-based settings (N = 50; 52% women; mean age 38.8 ± 12 years; 90% of Mexican heritage).

Developmental cascade effects of the New Beginnings Program on adolescent adaptation outcomes.

Using data from a 6-year longitudinal follow-up sample of 240 youth who participated in a randomized experimental trial of a preventive intervention for divorced families with children ages 9-12, the current study tested alternative cascading pathways by which the intervention decreased symptoms of internalizing disorders, symptoms of externalizing disorders, substance use, and risky sexual behavior and increased self-esteem and academic performance in mid- to late adolescence (15-19 years old). It was hypothesized that the impact of the program on adolescent adaptation outcomes would be explained by progressive associations between program-induced changes in parenting and youth adaptation outcomes. The results supported a cascading model of program effects in which the program was related to increased mother-child relationship quality that was related to subsequent decreases in child internalizing problems, which then was related to subsequent increases in self-esteem and decreases in symptoms of internalizing disorders in adolescence.