In our lab we are interested in factors that increase risk and provide protection during pre-adolescence and adolescent development. Our work integrates research on both normative and atypical developmental trajectories with the goal of understanding how we can support healthy development and intervene during critical transitions to reduce risk. Please see below for our current research projects:
Reducing Risk and Promoting Health Among Vulnerable Teens and their Families in the Context of COVID-19: A Multisite National and International Implementation and Evaluation Study
Principle Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Operating Grant: COVID-19 Mental Health & Substance Use Service Needs and Delivery
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Addressing the mental health consequences of COVID-19 is critical, especially as there are significant and longstanding gaps in the availability and accessibility of mental health services for youth. COVID-19 exacerbates this shortage and potential long-term impacts that will follow. eConnect Online offers a highly promising strategy to mitigate the immediate and long-term mental health impacts of COVID-19 for families nationally and internationally. Like Connect, it is sensitive and flexible to cultural, gender, economic, and other diversities related to parenting practices, family and social dynamics, and expectations about youth behaviour, while retaining core therapeutic components. This project engages an established and highly skilled network of clinical researchers, community partners, mental health workers, agency and government stakeholders. The aim of this research is to evaluate the training, implementation, uptake, client fit, and mental health outcomes of eConnect Online for parents of adolescents (ages 10-18) with serious behavioural and other mental health problems. Thus far, we’ve engaged researchers from around the world, including sites in Canada, Sweden, Italy, Australia, South Africa, and Mexico, and have trained 14 facilitators in the delivery of eConnect Online and eConnect Online for Kinship & Foster, with many more training sessions on the way!
Supporting Kinship & Foster Parents Promotes Resilience and Wellbeing in Teens in Care: An Attachment and Trauma Informed Intervention
Principle Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti
Public Health Agency of Canada Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF)
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Adolescents in foster care are particularly at risk for social-emotional problems during adolescence and into adulthood. One of the most profound inequities experienced by all children placed in care is the disruption of their attachment relationships with primary caregivers, which is a critical protective factor when facing adversity. Extensive research shows that adolescents who lack a sense of connection and security with caring adults are at significant risk for a wide range of adverse outcomes; conversely, a sense of security in relationships is a powerful asset that buffers them against risk and promotes resilience, including strong emotion regulation skills (Allen & Miga, 2010; Allen, Porter, McFarland, McElhaney, & Marsh, 2007). Despite experiences of trauma and loss, children in care can develop secure attachment with their foster parents and this is reliably predicted by caregiver sensitivity (Gabler et al., 2014). The aim of the current project is to establish a strong foundation for implementation of Connect for Kinship and Foster Parents as the first step in determining its fit, feasibility, and effectiveness in sites across four provinces, especially in relation to cultural and gender diversity. The second aim of this study will be an evaluation of mental health clincians and practitioners’ experience of the Connect/Connect for Kinship & Foster Parents group facilitators. With respect to the virtual dissemination of Connect (eConnect Online for Kinship and Foster Parents), the intervention will be delivered in 2 formats: Version 1: Families will be recruited by local mental health agencies. In order to comply with social distancing guidelines, families will partake from their homes. Version 2: Similarly, families will be recruited by local mental health agencies who opt to partner with the host mental health agency to run the groups. The families recruited at each community will join the online group sessions from their respective local mental health agencies where a local coordinator will be present to manage risks and facilitate the running of the group sessions.
Strengthening Parent-Teen Relationships: Pathways to Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing of Aboriginal Youth and Caregivers
Principle Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti; Annette McComb
CIHR Team Grant: Pathways Implementation Research Team LOI
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The rate of suicide among Aboriginal youth is approximately five to six times that of non-Aboriginal youth. Extensive research has demonstrated that attachment security within the adolescent-caregiver relationship is associated with significantly lower levels of depression and suicidal ideation. The Connect Parent Group program is an attachment based intervention with demonstrated effectiveness that has been developed and evaluated in communities across British Columbia; however uptake has been more gradual among Aboriginal caregivers. Over the last 18 months, in collaboration with our partners in Aboriginal communities, we have held a series of focus groups and interviews with service providers, program facilitators, community leaders and caregivers living on-reserve and found that there was universal interest among those with whom we spoke to co-create an adapted version of the Connect program that would: strengthen attachment between caregivers and teens; honour the inherent strengths of Aboriginal caregivers; and respect traditional teachings related to parenting. This project of adaptation, implementation and evaluation of the Connect program for Aboriginal caregivers will move forward through four developmental phases. First, we will establish a Reflecting Team consisting of Aboriginal service providers, community members and leaders who will guide the process of adapting the program. Next we will work with the Reflecting Team to identify adaptations to the program and appropriate measures for evaluating the program that honour both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. In phase three we will pilot the adapted program in at least six diverse Aboriginal communities representing urban and rural settings as well as on- and off-reserve communities. Finally, we will work with communities to identify barriers to program uptake and produce a detailed implementation plan that will support the future scale-up of the intervention in diverse Aboriginal communities.
Effectiveness of a Relational Intervention in Reducing Violence and Victimization in At-risk Adolescent Girls and Boys
Principle Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti; Dr. Robert McMahon
CIHR Team Grant: Violence, Gender and Health
Read MoreStrengthening Parent-Teen Relationships to Reduce Risk and Enhance Healthy Development: A Sex and Gender Framework in Translating Research into Practice
Principle Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti, Dr. Robert McMahon
CIHR Operating Grant
Read MoreGirls at Risk for Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour: Risk, Resilience and Developmental Trajectories
Principal Investigators: Dr. Marlene M. Moretti
Co-Investigators: Dr. Margaret Jackson, Dr. Candice Odgers, Dr. Dick Reppucci
Read MoreThis research program extends our follow-up of these youth at three additional points across a five year period. Combined with existing data, this research will permit mapping of trajectories from early adolescence (age 13/14) to early adulthood (age 23/24). New waves of data collection assess a wider range of range of functional domains including adjustment in educational, vocational, romantic and parental roles. In addition, physical health outcomes will be evaluated. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are being used examine issues of cultural and social marginalization. Of particular interest is whether similar themes will emerge across girls of cultural minority status in Canada and the US; and whether experiences are shared across girls growing up in contexts characterized by varying levels of socioeconomic deprivation. This study will generate new findings on developmental trajectories among high-risk Canadian girls. It is the first comparative investigation of risk profiles and trajectories between Canadian and American girls.
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