We are beginning a series of new trials that will test augmentations of the program as it is being replicated in hundreds of communities across the nation.
One trial, funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, is designed to increase participant engagement in the program; and another will examine ways of helping nurses address maternal depression more effectively.
Another study, funded by the CDC and led by affiliated faculty member Dr. Harriet MacMillan, involves developing and testing an augmentation of the NFP to help nurses address intimate partner violence when they encounter it in the home.
We also are developing methods for NFP programs to use in strengthening nurses’ abilities to address maternal depression and other mental illness; this work is led by Drs. Marshall Thomas and Jeannette Waxmonsky in the UCD Department of Psychiatry.
With a gift from John and Marcie Fox, Dr. Nancy Donelan-McCall is developing new methods for nurses to use in evaluating qualities of parent-child interaction in the home, and new methods for nurses to use in promoting parents’ competent care of their babies.