阿玛拉·科恩摄
克里斯汀•戴维森, director of a major research program on parenting and child health outcomes in underserved families and an expert on family-centered interventions for obesity prevention, has been named as Donahue and DiFelice Professor at the 太阳城网赌平台 School of 社会工作.
戴维森, who has also assumed the position of associate dean for research at BCSSW, 接替露丝·麦克罗伊, inaugural holder of the Donahue and DiFelice Professorship, who retired at the end of the 2018-19 academic year and is now a professor 荣誉退职的 在学校.
在加入BCSSW之前, 戴维森 spent eight years at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she was an associate professor and director of the school’s Public Health Nutrition doctoral program. She also has been on the faculty at the University of Albany School of Public Health following doctoral and postdoctoral training at Penn State University’s Human Development and Family Studies program.
“克尔斯滕·戴维森的奖学金, 教学, and service are focused on vulnerable children from a family and human development perspective,BCSSW院长Gautam Yadama说. “She has challenged researchers and practitioners to broaden their framework to include the entire family—particularly mothers and fathers—in supporting the healthy development of children who are at risk of obesity. Dr. 戴维森’s addition will expand and deepen BCSSW’s response to vulnerable children who are low-income and from communities of color here in Boston.”
新西兰人新西兰人, where she earned her bachelor’s degree at Otago University, 戴维森 said her move to BC came at “a turning point” in her career. “The opportunity to be in a leadership position at a major institution was appealing. I also had a very favorable impression of BC: Its alumni seem very enthusiastic, 承诺, and connected; and in conversations with people who worked at BC, 我听到了很多幸福和满足的声音.”
戴维森 studies family- and community-level factors that influence children’s lifestyle behaviors—such as diet, 体育活动, 以及基于屏幕的活动——以及它们的肥胖风险. 最近, her work has focused on the development and evaluation of family-centered interventions for obesity prevention in low-income children, 包括参加每各月(妇女)的儿童, 婴儿, 儿童营养计划)和启智计划. Supported by three National Institutes of Health grants, she is leading a series of projects: testing the efficacy of a childhood obesity preventative intervention for low-income families; examining links between sleep and growth in children from birth to two years; and assessing the role of fathers in childhood obesity prevention.
These research interests are well suited to a social work context, 戴维森 believes.
“基本上, 我太阳城官网为什么父母会这样做, 尤其是低收入家庭, and the many forces that influence their decision-making. It’s important that those most affected by health-related problems like child obesity have a seat at the table and the ability to offer their perspectives and participate in devising solutions.”
“我已经习惯了在不同学科之间游走, having started in developmental psychology and then going into public health, 健康行为, 和营养,”她说。. “So, in a way, coming to the School of 社会工作 brings my work back to its roots. 我认为公共卫生和社会工作是交织在一起的, where social work has a very strong focus on social justice.”
她的太阳城官网计划的主要重点, 她解释说, “is the need to consider the family unit as a whole and address factors beyond the family, 包括社交网络, 社区和组织因素, and parents’ own childhood histories that impact parent-child interactions around healthy lifestyles.
“基本上, 我太阳城官网为什么父母会这样做, 尤其是低收入家庭, and the many forces that influence their decision-making. It’s important that those most affected by health-related problems like child obesity have a seat at the table and the ability to offer their perspectives and participate in devising solutions.”
不幸的是, 戴维森补充道, many programs and initiatives intended to aid families wind up being burdensome, placing demands on parents or children that “take them out of their daily living routine.
“The solution is not so much to create new approaches or programs,”她说。, 而是要改善那些已经存在的问题.”
在最近发表在杂志上的一篇文章中 肥胖, 戴维森 and her co-authors proposed strategies to reach and engage fathers—who have been overlooked to date—in the prevention of obesity in young children through five existing programs including prenatal care, 儿科, 每各月, 早开始, 以及家访.
结合她的太阳城官网, 戴维森 has led transdisciplinary post太阳城官网生 training programs, including the Public Health Nutrition doctoral program and the Cancer Prevention and Control fellowship program at Harvard, 并且在指导本科生方面有着丰富的经验, 太阳城官网生, 还有博士后. She looks forward to putting this experience to work in her support of faculty as associate dean for research.
“Social work has not had the obvious access to large public funding as have other professions, but there are strategies to frame the research so that it will attract the support of NIH and similar organizations,”她说。. “BCSSW has a lot of strong young researchers on its faculty, and there is a great capacity for growth in external funding.”
Funding for the Donahue and DiFelice Professorship was established in 2008 through gifts from John F. 和Rhodora J. Donahue，太阳城网赌平台的家长们，以及Mary A. 和埃米利奥·迪菲利斯. The professorship is awarded to a faculty member engaged in research and 教学 in the area of the Catholic family.
–Sean Smith, University Communications | November 2019