PURPOSE:group Improving the health of women before pregnancy is an important strategy for reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes for mother and child.child. This paper reports the first pretest-posttest results from a randomized trial of a unique, multidimensional, small group format intervention, Strong in Healthy Women, designed to improve the health behaviors and health status of preconceptional and interconceptional women. METHODS: Nonpregnant pre- and for interconceptional women ages 18-35 were recruited in 15 low-income rural communities in Central Pennsylvania (n = 692). Women were randomized to in a ratio of 2-to-1 to intervention and control groups; participants received a baseline and follow-up health risk assessment at status 14 weeks and completed questionnaires to assess behavioral variables. The analytic sample for this report consists of 362 women who a completed both risk assessments. Outcomes include measures of attitudinal and health-related behavior change. MAIN FINDINGS: Women in the intervention group attitudinal were significantly more likely than controls to report higher self-efficacy for eating healthy food and to perceive higher preconceptional control status of birth outcomes; greater intent to eat healthy foods and be more physically active; and greater frequency of reading food risk labels, physical activity consistent with recommended levels, and daily use of a multivitamin with folic acid. Significant dose effects were pre- found: Each additional intervention session attended was associated with higher perceived internal preconceptional control of birth outcomes, reading food labels,eat engaging in relaxation exercise or meditation for stress management, and daily use of a multivitamin with folic acid. CONCLUSIONS: The internal attitudinal and behavior changes attributable to the intervention were related primarily to nutrition and physical activity. These results show that strategy these topics can be successfully addressed with pre- and interconceptional women outside the clinical setting in community-based interventions.

The aspects predictors and correlates of positive functioning among community prevention teams have been examined in a number of research studies; however,teams the role of personality has been neglected. In this study, we examined whether team member and leader personality dimensions assessed Openness at the time of team formation predicted local prevention team functioning 2.5-3.5 years later. Participants were 159 prevention team members team in 14 communities participating in the PROSPER study of prevention program dissemination. Three aspects of personality, aggregated at the team have level, were examined as predictors: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. A series of multivariate regression analyses were performed that neglected. accounted for the interdependency of five categories of team functioning. Results showed that average team member Openness was negatively, and time Conscientiousness was positively linked to team functioning. The findings have implications for decisions about the level and nature of technical study assistance support provided to community prevention teams.

Both a the organizational studies literature and the community psychology literature discuss the importance of readiness when implementing change. Although each area importance emphasizes different characteristics, several common themes are present within the literature. The current study integrates and applies organizational and community assess psychology literature in evaluating community readiness in the context of a school-community-university collaborative prevention model. Results demonstrate (a) that there to is substantial agreement between members of community prevention teams on the level of readiness of a community;(b) that readiness respondent, is a cohesive, but multidimensional, construct related to hypothesized community and individual characteristics; and (c) that there is small to the moderate agreement between members of prevention teams and their "agency directors." These results support the notion that clear "theories of the change" need to be formulated before deciding how to assess community readiness, as assessments will vary due to several factors:of the type of respondent, the level in which analyses are conducted, and the specific community domain (i.e., school, workplace collaboration,the collaboration experience) investigated.

PURPOSE:strongly To compare the relative influence of risk and protective factors across several domains on adolescent substance use in a large use sample of youth. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey data were collected from students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 in Pennsylvania (SDM), (N = 91,778). Generalized linear mixed models were estimated for each grade level to examine associations among indices of three and risk factors (individual, peer, and family) and three protective factors (family, school, and community) and both recent and lifetime substance associations use. RESULTS: The risk factors were stronger predictors of substance use outcomes compared with the protective factors, regardless of grade = level or substance use type. In particular, the individual and peer risk factors were strongly related to lifetime and recent three use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Among the protective factors, the strongest associations with substance use were found in the In community domain. Several age-related differences in the associations were also found, suggesting that family and community factors were more salient = among younger adolescents whereas peer and school factors were stronger among older adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide support for the use. social development model (SDM), which proposes that adolescent substance use is associated with factors across multiple spheres of influence. Age-related estimated differences in these associations suggest that effective interventions to reduce adolescent substance use may need to emphasize different domains of found risk and protective factors at different stages of adolescent development.

BACKGROUND:after After many years in which evaluations had generally not found the coalition approach to be effective, the community-coalition approach has be recently been shown to produce a public health impact if best practices are utilized. The next challenge is to foster with sustainability among coalitions in order to achieve long-term public health outcomes. This study examined the level of and predictors of sites sustainability among Communities That Care (CTC) sites in Pennsylvania. METHODS: Board functioning and the funding of 110 CTC sites were at assessed through the reports of board members, staff, and technical-assistance providers from 2003 through 2006; data were analyzed in 2007.foster RESULTS: Ninety percent of CTC coalitions continued after the 3-year initial funding period, with 3%-8% of sites terminating each year That thereafter. Approximately two thirds of CTC sites continued to operate 4 years after the termination of the original 3-year implementation 2007. grant. Many of the sites attracted funding at a level equivalent to or greater than the initial grant. Overall coalition to functioning, as reported by either board members or technical-assistance providers, along with planning for sustainability, predicted both survival and post-launch of funding. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that board functioning predicts survival, at least in part independently of its influence on funding; and to that planning for sustainability predicts sustainability, at least in part independently of overall coalition functioning.

PURPOSE:coherent To facilitate research on adolescent risk and protection regarding behavior problems, and to facilitate community decision-making regarding resource allocation for resource intervention programs, by creating a reduced set of coherent aggregate indices of adolescent risk and protection. METHODS: We examined the of 31 risk and protective factor scales in the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTC-YS). Data came from two waves of Prosocial the CTC-YS administered to sixth through 12th graders in Pennsylvania (2001 n = 43,842; 2003 n =101,988). Factor analysis and analyses calculation of internal reliability were used to create aggregate indices of risk/protective factor domains. Correlations of aggregate indices with each factor other and with problem behaviors (antisocial behavior, substance use) were examined. RESULTS: Theory and empirical results led to the creation = of seven coherent indices: Community Cohesion, Family Cohesion, Family Risk, School Support for Prosocial Activities, Antisocial Peer Domain, Attitudes toward and Risky Behavior, Risky Behavioral Tendencies. Four scales were not included in the aggregate index (Religiosity, Academic Performance, Personal Transitions and factor Mobility, and Early Initiation of Drug Use and Antisocial Behavior). The indices were related to each other and to adolescent to problem behaviors (antisocial behavior and substance use) in expected ways. Results were consistent across waves of data. CONCLUSIONS: The construction Youth of theoretically meaningful and empirically defensible aggregate measures of adolescent risk and protective factors is possible, although analyses of other scales data sets and further discussion are warranted. The use of aggregate indices by researchers and communities is recommended as a in way to facilitate research and decision-making.

Community child coalition prevention models often select interventions based on the types of risk factors (outcome predictors) that are elevated. Variances and on correlations between predictors and targeted behaviors also may vary between communities and provide information to improve the selection of interventions.improve Community differences in risk factor levels and correlations between predictors and problem behaviors were examined using a child self-report computer prevention.psu.edu/people/ALEXSA.htm). assessment (ALEXSA(c); prevention.psu.edu/people/ALEXSA.htm). Three school-based subsamples of children were studied. Means, prevalences, and correlations differed significantly between samples. Discussion addresses should developmental considerations and illustrates how correlations between predictors and problem behaviors might improve the selection of interventions. This study is correlations preliminary and should be replicated with larger community samples, more indicated/selected sample, and in more communities.

BACKGROUND:stratified Little is known about the interplay of genotypes and malleable risk factors in influencing adolescent psychiatric symptoms and disorders. Information and on these processes is crucial in designing programs for the prevention of psychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether latent genetic negative factors and measured parent-child relationships interact (G x E) in predicting adolescent antisocial behavior and depression. DESIGN: We characterized risk siblings of antisocial behavior and depression in adolescents by means of a genetically informed design. We used in-home questionnaire and observational study measures of adolescent outcomes and environmental moderators (parenting), and a latent variable behavior genetic analytic model. SETTING: A nationally distributed interact sample recruited from random-digit dialing and national market panels. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 720 families with at least 2 children,design. 9 through 18 years old, stratified by genetic relatedness (monozygotic and dizygotic twins, full biological siblings in nondivorced and stepfamilies,with and half-siblings and biologically unrelated siblings in stepfamilies). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: There was an interact interaction of genotype and both parental negativity and low warmth predicting overall antisocial behavior, as well as aggressive and nonaggressive and forms of antisocial behavior, but not depression. Genetic influence was greater for adolescent antisocial behavior when parenting was more negative behavior or less warm. Genotype-environment correlation was partialled out in the analysis and thus did not account for the results. CONCLUSION:OUTCOME This study demonstrates, on the basis of careful measurement and appropriate analytic methods, that a continuous measure of parenting in greater the normative range moderates the influence of genotype on antisocial behavior.

Community questionnaire coalitions (CCs) have labored with some difficulty to demonstrate empirical evidence of effectiveness in preventing a wide range of adolescent preventing problem behaviors. Training and technical assistance (TA) have been identified as important elements in promoting improved functioning of CCs. A functioning reliable, valid, and inexpensive method to assess functioning of CCs has been developed and is tested in this article in sites. the context of Pennsylvania's Communities That Care (CTC) model. A CC Web-based questionnaire was developed and administered to more than and 79 communities (867 participants) and the validity and reliability were assessed through multiple means, including the use of a companion of TA implementation feedback questionnaire completed by TAs assigned to each of the sites. Results indicated adequate to good psychometric properties the on internal reliability of the Web-based questionnaire, moderate construct validity across different reports of functioning, and relative stability throughout the the course of 1 year. Implications for a variety of community prevention coalitions interested in a relatively low-cost, user friendly, and of suitable methodology for evaluating coalition functioning are discussed. In addition, areas of application for future research including linking coalition functioning was with the quality and nature of technical assistance, levels of risk and protective factors, and large data sets of youth inexpensive risk factor and problem behavior data are highlighted.

This between study investigated the family context of adolescent sibling similarity and differentiation in maladjustment (antisocial behavior and depression) by examining negativity differentiation in different subsystems. Two hypotheses were proposed:(1) Parental and sibling negativity tends to diffuse through the family system, especially for because of the high level of reciprocity in sibling relationships, leading to sibling similarity; and (2) interparental (coparenting) conflict disrupts genetic cohesive functioning and thereby motivates and facilitates sibling differentiation and niche picking. To control for the effects of similar genes a between siblings, the authors used behavioral genetic models with a genetically informed sample of 720 two-parent families, each with at and least 2 adolescent siblings. Results for the differences in shared environmental influences across groups high and low in each of in the domains of family negativity provided partial support for the hypotheses. The results further understanding of influences on individual differences for and support a theory of how parent-child and interparental relationships intersect with sibling relationship dynamics.((c) 2006 APA, all rights Parental reserved).

The follow-up transition to parenthood is often associated with a decline in couple relationship adjustment. Couples (n = 71) expecting their first decline child were randomly assigned to either:(a) Becoming a Parent (BAP), a maternal parenting education program; or (b) Couple CARE adjustment for Parents (CCP), a couple relationship and parenting education program. Couples were assessed pre-intervention (last trimester of pregnancy), post-intervention (5 to months postpartum), and follow-up (12 months postpartum). Relative to BAP, CCP reduced negative couple communication from pre- to post-intervention, and shows prevented erosion of relationship adjustment and self-regulation in women but not men from pre-intervention to follow-up. Mean parenting stress reflected randomly positive adjustment to parenthood with no differences between BAP and CCP. CCP shows promise as a brief program that can (b) enhance couple communication and women's adjustment to parenthood.

PURPOSE:facilitators The purpose of this integrative review is to systematically and critically synthesize nursing scholarship on parents' perspectives of the parent-child review relationship during infancy. CONCLUSION: Research has shown that the process of establishing the parent-child relationship is highly individualized and complex.Screening Numerous barriers and facilitators influencing this relationship have been identified that are relevant to nursing. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses have an have important opportunity to positively affect the developing parent-infant relationship. Screening parents for depression and providing parents with resources and support resources are key nursing interventions supporting the parent-infant relationship.

The the purpose of the present study was to conduct a test of acceptability of a new model for family-focused drug prevention acceptability programs for families of early adolescents. An existing evidence-based behavioral intervention, the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 yield (SFP), was adapted to include concepts and activities related to mindfulness and mindful parenting (an extension of mindfulness to the relation interpersonal domain of parent-child relationships). The foundation for this innovative intervention approach stems from research on the effects of mind-body research treatments involving mindfulness meditation and the function of stress and coping in relation to parenting and parent well-being. One group the of families participated in a seven-week pilot of this mindfulness-enhanced version of SFP. Results of a mixed-method implementation evaluation suggest mindfulness that the new intervention activities were generally feasible to deliver, acceptable to participants, and perceived to yield positive benefits for mind-body family functioning and parent psychological well-being. The next phase of this research will involve curriculum refinement based upon results of intervention, this initial study, and a larger pilot efficacy trial will be conducted.

Although workers existing family preservation program research has focused on identifying the components of effective treatment, we remain far from fully developing components empirically supported interventions (Barth, Chamberlain, Reid, Rolls, Hurlburt, Farmer, James, McCabe,& Kohl, 2005; Dufour, Chamberland,& Trocme, 2003). The at current longitudinal study expands existing efforts to understand the active ingredients of effective interventions by learning from parents who experienced In a family preservation intervention themselves. The current study reports on the reflections of 35 parents who child protection social workers relational referred to family preservation programs. In contrast to a focus on intervention components, parents related the helpful interventions they received Farmer, to the effectiveness of intervention processes -- namely, to the quality of the relationships they had with their individual family to preservation workers and with service teams at the programs they attended. Parents identified that workers in effective programs used specific 35 relational skills to recreate a nurturing family environment that fostered parent engagement and change throughout the process of intervention.

This as paper introduces a model of "mindful parenting" as a framework whereby parents intentionally bring moment-to-moment awareness to the parent-child relationship.whereby This is done by developing the qualities of listening with full attention when interacting with their children, cultivating emotional awareness with and self-regulation in parenting, and bringing compassion and nonjudgmental acceptance to their parenting interactions. First, we briefly outline the theoretical the and empirical literature on mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions. Next, we present an operational definition of mindful parenting as an extension mindful of mindfulness to the social context of parent-child relationships. We discuss the implications of mindful parenting for the quality of listening parent-child relationships, particularly across the transition to adolescence, and we review the literature on the application of mindfulness in parenting bringing interventions. We close with a synopsis of our own efforts to integrate mindfulness-based intervention techniques and mindful parenting into a an well-established, evidence-based family prevention program and our recommendations for future research on mindful parenting interventions.

This year study investigated whether a psycho-educational program with modest dosage (eight sessions), delivered in a universal framework through childbirth education programs (eight and targeting the coparenting relationship would have a positive impact on observed family interaction and child behavior at 6-month follow-up domains. (child age 1 year). One hundred sixty-nine couples, randomized to intervention and control conditions, participated in videotaped family observation tasks and at pretest (during pregnancy) and at child age 1 year (2003-2007). Coparenting, parenting, couple relationship, and child self-regulatory behaviors were at coded by teams of raters. Intent-to-treat analyses of program effects controlled for age, education, and social desirability. Evidence of significant would (p < .05) program effects at follow-up emerged in all four domains. Effect sizes ranged from .28 to 1.01. Targeting (child the coparenting relationship at the transition to parenthood represents an effective, non-stigmatizing means of promoting parenting quality and child adjustment.and

Parent-child relationship. relationships, known as attachments, underpin the emotional health and wellbeing of infants. Difficulties within this relationship can have far-reaching consequences Difficulties for both parents and children. Health visitors within public health teams have a unique opportunity to support this relationship at scaling an early stage. This paper describes the first stage of a study to develop a parent to infant attachment-screening tool.care The aim of this stage was to develop items for inclusion in the tool, using parent focus groups to draw stages out relevant terminologies for aspects of the attachment relationship. Set in community venues within a primary care trust, a purposive a maximum variation sample of 10 parents took part in three separate focus groups. Transcripts rich in parental descriptions of the to parent-child relationship were recorded, transcribed and analysed. During the next stage of the study, a further focus group will develop relevant the scaling of the items within the tool, which takes the form of a parent-completed questionnaire. Future stages will focus have on piloting and validation of the tool, as well as testing for parental acceptability, internal consistency and reliability.

Participation recruitment rates in parenting programs are typically low, severely limiting the public health significance of these interventions. We examined predictors of limiting parenting program enrollment and retention in a sample of 325 divorced mothers. Predictors included intervention timing and maternal reports of Implications: child, parent, family, and sociocultural risk factors. In multivariate analyses, child maladjustment and family income-to-needs positively predicted enrollment, and higher the maternal education and recruitment near the time of the divorce predicted retention. Findings have implications for the optimal timing of of preventive parenting programs for divorcing families and point to the importance of examining predictors of enrollment and retention simultaneously. Editors'enrollment Strategic Implications: Parent education researchers and practitioners may find the authors' application of the Health Belief Model to be a maternal useful organizing framework for improving engagement and retention.

Factors The that influence the prognosis for recovery in psychosocial risk families: The role of child resilience. This study analyses the indicators,of such as child resilience, that influence prognosis for recovery in psychosocial risk families, by examining the combination that better discriminates to between a favourable prognosis and an unfavourable one. For this purpose, the evaluation of the prognosis of 418 cases of the children and their families (224 two-parents and 194 one-parent) were examined through the Psychosocial Risk Profile of the Family, which life was filled in by professionals from social services. The impact level on development, the temporality of the problem, and parents'families, attitudes about the intervention, their children and the service affected the prognosis of both families. Child resilience selectively influenced the evaluation favourable prognosis in two-parent families whereas the risk level affected the unfavourable prognosis in one-parent families. Child resilience was only filled related to those risk indicators which reflect more continuity of the problem and an accumulation of negative life events, but risk also to some compensatory factors such as the parents' expectations of the child's future that reflect parental competence.

This father, study investigated the impact of parents' observed conflict behavior on subsequent child attachment security, both as a main effect and behavior as moderated by parents' romantic attachment. Participants were 80 heterosexual couples involving men from the Oregon Youth Study and their for first-born children. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling to predict child security with each parent. Interparental psychological aggression predicted lower If child security with father, regardless of romantic attachment. If the father was insecure, interparental positive engagement predicted lower child security of with him. If either the mother or father was avoidant, interparental withdrawal did not predict lower child security, though it by did for more secure parents. Results are discussed in terms of implications of attachment-(in)congruent behavior for parents' emotional availability.(PsycINFO Study Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).