Economic hardships during COVID-19 and maternal mental health: Combining samples with low incomes across three cities.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased maternal depression and anxiety, imperiling both mothers' own wellbeing and that of their children. To date, however, little is known about the extent to which these increases are attributable to economic hardships commonly experienced during the pandemic: income loss, job loss, and loss of health insurance. Few studies have examined the individual impacts of these hardships, and none have lasted beyond the first year of the pandemic.

Maternal characteristics are associated with human milk anti-inflammatory proteins in two populations.

Milk anti-inflammatory compounds are ubiquitous in milk but vary greatly within and between populations. The causes of this variation and how this variation impacts infant phenotype is not well-characterized. The goal of this study was to explain how maternal characteristics across two disparate populations impact the levels of TGF-β2 and IL-1ra in human milk.

Virtual Support for Bereaved Parents: Acceptability, Feasibility, and Preliminary Efficacy of HOPE Group.

Hospital-based supports for families following the death of a child are rare. Virtual interventions may address key barriers to providing bereavement care, but little is known about their acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy. Our hospital's palliative care program offered a six-week closed virtual support group for bereaved parents five times between 2021 and 2024.

Maternal Literacy Skills and Children's Kindergarten Outcomes in Rural Communities with Low Incomes: The Moderating Role of Hours in Child Care.

Based on theoretical premises of ecological systems theory and the compensatory hypothesis, a subset of data from the Family Life Project ( = 773), a population-based study of rural families with low incomes, were used to test for associations between maternal literacy in infancy and children's academic outcomes and teacher-reported problem behaviors in kindergarten. A second aim tested whether increased time in child care averaged from 6-36 months moderated such relations. Results indicated that maternal literacy was significantly positively related to academic outcomes ( = .

Perceptions of substance use disorder in rural areas: how the brain disease model impacts public stigma.

Background: Rural communities are disproportionately affected by substance use disorder (SUD) and public stigma impedes access to and utilization of treatment and support services.

Methods: This study compares data from a 2020 study conducted in rural Ohio (N = 173) with results from a recent study conducted in South Dakota (N = 41) on publicly-held stigmatizing views of SUD. South Dakota participants were recruited at several public events across the state via convenience sampling between August 2022-February 2023 to complete a survey.