young girl and therapist talk in therapists office

Community-partnered study aims to reduce recurrence of child sexual abuse

Researchers in the College of Public Health have partnered with the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance (PCA) to fund and help lead a project aimed at reducing recurrence of child sexual abuse. PCA is Philadelphia’s only child advocacy center, providing forensic interviews, victim services, trauma-focused therapy and other services for thousands of children with suspected abuse or neglect that has been reported to the police or the Department of Human Services.  CPH faculty members Julia Kobulsky, Carolina Villamil Grest, and Bernie Newman will work with PCA to pull importan...
Children
Community
School of Social Work
parent and child reading

Study to examine how caregivers impact childhood language learning

Early childhood language difficulties can have a snowball effect, impacting children’s ability to learn and express themselves. As director of the Language, Literacy, and Learning Lab in the College of Public Health, Rebecca Alper knows that parent-implemented early language intervention can be very effective—but approaches that work well for some families don’t work as well for others. There’s been much research on different kinds of interventions and childhood factors that may predict success. But, surprisingly, researchers haven’t closely examined how much the re...
Language and cognition
Children
Communication Sciences and Disorders
sad man

Research calls for better understanding of father-perpetrated maltreatment

There’s a growing body of research on the importance of fathers in child development and well-being. But there has been relatively limited work exploring what kinds of programs help fathers with parenting skills, particularly fathers in low-income families and underrepresented populations who have made mistakes such as child maltreatment. “We're trying to get fathers more involved in child welfare and include them more as an important resource for kids. Historically it hasn't been done,” says Julia Kobulsky, assistant professor in the School of Social Work. Developing ef...
Parenting
Children
School of Social Work
phone

Phone calls, pediatric visits could lower secondhand smoke exposure, improve quit rates

Secondhand tobacco smoke is no longer an issue in most public places, but it remains a clear health threat for children whose parents smoke at home. Tobacco-smoke exposure (TSE) is a major cause of preventable disease in children, from sudden infant death syndrome and respiratory diseases to illnesses later in life. It’s more prevalent in low-income households. Across multiple studies, lower income and education have been observed as high barriers to maternal smoking cessation. Children in those homes are more vulnerable to the health effects of TSE. College of Public Health...
Smoking cessation
Children
Social and Behavioral Sciences