About this session

Thursday, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

It takes a village: Promoting resilience in families with high psychosocial need through community-based programming

“The work of parenting is essential not only for the health of children but also for the health of society.” (US Surgeon General Dr. Murthy, 2024). Parenting stress and mental health concerns are at an all-time high across our nation and families who experience high psychosocial stressors (e.g., poverty, history of ACEs, substance misuse) are at an even higher risk for experiencing poorer psychosocial outcomes. Community-based research is a crucial tool for understanding, preventing, and/or mitigating the sources and consequences of parental mental distress. This symposium will present novel results from four independent research projects: each examining the efficacy and/or effectiveness of community-based parenting interventions for families with high psychosocial risk. These papers are tied together though engaging with parenting communities with high psychosocial need and their use of evidence-based infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) programming; grounded in attachment theory, trauma-informed practice, and culturally responsive care. Results will be presented from 1. A study that examined the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of Mom Power (MP), an IECMH-based two-generational group parenting intervention, with mothers living in rural Appalachian Highlands; 2. A study examining the psychological and neurological (ERP and fMRI) benefits of virtual Mom Power (vMP) for women with a history of Opioid Use Disorder; 3. A RCT examining efficacy of vMP for women experiencing economic marginalization in an urban area (80% Black mothers); and 4. A study that examined a peer-led adaptation of MP grounded in the Parent Café model (Strong Roots Parenting Cafes).

Paper #1
Title	Pilot Implementation of Mom Power in the Appalachian Highlands
Presenting author	Dr. Diana Morelen, Ph.D., East Tennessee State University, Department of Psychology; Association of Infant Mental Health in Tennessee, United States

Paper #2
Title	Virtual Mom Power for Mothers with High Adverse Childhood Experiences: Preliminary Results from a RCT
Presenting author	Sarah Gray, University of Connecticut, United States

Paper #3
Title	Mom Power Intervention Effects on Mental Health and Parenting in Mothers with Opioid Use Disorder
Presenting author	Katherine L. Rosenblum, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Michigan Medicine, United States

Paper #4
Title	Connecting with My People: Strong Roots Parent Cafés Address the Parenting Stress and Loneliness Epidemic
Presenting author	Barb Duran, Department of Psychiatry, Michigan Medicine, U.S.A.

View all paper details

Session chair
Dr. Diana Morelen, Ph.D., East Tennessee State University, United States

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