Media Room: News ReleasesEugene-Based Foster Parenting Program Highlighted by the National Institute of Mental Health: Good Parenting Helps Reduce Stress in Young ChildrenPosted December 6, 2007Contact: Phil Fisher, PhD., Oregon Social Learning Center, (541) 485-2711 EUGENE, OR -- The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Science News recently featured information about a Eugene-based parenting program on its Web site. The program, developed at the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC), is aimed at positively affecting young foster children through supporting positive foster parenting skills. OSLC researchers looked at stress hormone levels of children whose foster families were involved in this program. “We know that stress at a young age negatively affects brain development,” said Phil Fisher, Ph.D., a scientist at Oregon Social Learning Center and the developer of the program featured in the NIMH coverage. “What we also are learning now is that if we help foster parents provide stable and nurturing homes for young foster children, brain functioning can be improved,” Fisher explained. Fisher said that he was pleased with the national recognition of his work primarily because it means that more attention will be placed on the power of good parenting in foster care, and in families in general. “The more we can get the word out about relatively simple strategies that can significantly improve any child’s chance for success later in life, the better,” said Fisher. The study focused on foster children aged three- to six-years old who had a history of severe early-childhood neglect. For more information about the study, go to NIMH’s Web site, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2007/behavioral-program-may-stabilize-stress-hormone-patterns-in-foster-children.shtml
Statewide Collaboration Provides Parent Training for Inmates
Posted October 9, 2007 Contact: Diana Wilcoxen, OSLC, 541-485-2711; Sgt. Anna Marie Freeman or Sgt. Steve French, Lane County Sheriff's Office, 541-682-2297; Lauren Booth, CJA, 503-892-5396 EUGENE, OR -- The Lane County Sheriff's Office in collaboration with Oregon Department of Human Resources, Children's Justice Alliance (CJA), Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) and Pathfinders of Oregon to deliver a research based parent management training program for inmates residing in the Lane County Community Corrections Center (CCC), the County's correctional work release / re-entry center. The parenting program is congruent with the primary goal of the CCC, which is to assist inmates in transitioning back into the community with gainful employment and the skills to maintain a clean, sober and productive lifestyle. The majority of inmates in Oregon (approximately 60% statewide) are parents. The parenting program, called Parenting Inside Out (PIO), was originally developed in part by Dr. Mark Eddy, a local Research Scientist at the OSLC. PIO brings together the core elements of OSLC's parent management training (PMT) programs, which have been nationally recognized by a variety of federal peer review "best practice" panels. The PIO program focuses on key parenting skills such as positive encouragement, monitoring and supervision, discipline and problem solving, as well as important parenting knowledge such as child development and how the "job" of a parent and the "job" of a child change over time. The program is aimed at breaking the cycle of criminality; reducing recidivism of the incarcerated parents and reducing the chance that the children of incarcerated parents will themselves become in involved in the criminal justice system in the future. The program will be paid for through contracts from the Oregon Department of Human Services to the CJA, a Portland non-profit focused on advocacy for the children of incarcerated parents. Children of Incarcerated Parents Project Highlighted on Oregon Public BroadcastingPosted August 28, 2007Contact: Diana Wilcoxen, OSLC, 541-485-2711 PORTLAND, OR -- As part of its Oregon Lens series, Oregon Public Broadcasting will broadcast short films by University of Oregon students this week, including a documentary on the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Children of Incarcerated Parents Project, which Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) staff members have been involved with since its inception earlier this decade. One outcome of the project that is highlighted in the documentary is the Parenting Inside Out (PIO), an OSLC parent management training program. PIO was developed and piloted during a three year collaboration between OSLC and DOC, and the impact of the program is currently being investigated in the five year National Institutes of Health-funded Parent Child Study. "What About Us? The Children of Incarcerated Parents Project" is part of the Oregon Documentary Project, which is led by Dr. Daniel Miller, School of Journalism and Communication Assistant Professor and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The broadcast will be August 29th at 10 p.m. Grant Awarded to Fund National Long-term Mentoring StudyPosted August 10, 2007Contact: Diana Wilcoxen, OSLC, 541-485-2711; Jani Iverson, FOTC, 503-281-6633 PORTLAND, OR – The National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) has awarded $2.91million over the next five years to the Eugene-based non-profit Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) to fund a national study of the Friends of the Children youth mentoring program. Additional funds to support the costs of delivering the program during the course of the study will be paid for through private funding sources. The study, called the Friends of the Children Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial, will be conducted in collaboration with the National Office of Friends of the Children, as well as Friends of the Children chapters located in the inner city areas of Portland, Seattle/King County, Boston, and New York City.
Principal investigator for the study will be Dr. J. Mark Eddy, a Research Scientist and Licensed Psychologist who received his doctorate from the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon and has worked at OSLC since 1987. Project Coordinators for the study will be Ms. Danita Herrera at OSLC, and Ms. Catherine Beckett at the National Office of Friends of the Children. Other scientists on the research team will be Dr. Charles Martinez, Jr. of the University of Oregon and OSLC; Dr. Jean Grossman of Public/Private Ventures and Princeton University; Dr. Mike Stoolmiller of Marquette, Michigan; Dr. Dana Foney of OSLC; and Dr. Kevin Alltucker of OSLC and the University of Oregon.
Friends of the Children (FOTC) is an established, long-term (12 year) mentoring program for children considered high risk for conduct disorder and delinquency, academic failure and high school dropout, and teen parenthood. The program was developed in Portland and is currently delivered through independent non-profit FOTC chapters throughout the United States. Children eligible for the program are identified through intensive screenings conducted by FOTC during kindergarten or first grade. Mentors, called “Friends”, are full-time, paid, trained, and supervised employees. Friends work with no more than eight children at a time and receive extensive training and supervision to help youth reach their short and long-term goals.
Data on outcomes for youth participating in FOTC over the past 15 years have been promising. With the support of their Friends, youth in the program have excelled in the face of countless barriers and challenges. Of the nearly 300 youth currently served by FOTC’s Portland chapter, 96% of the youth regularly attend school, 92% of the youth are not involved in the juvenile justice system, 99% of the youth avoid early parenting, and 80% of the youth have achieved a high school diploma or GED and 40% of the graduates have attended some post secondary education.
In the study, 256 kindergarten aged participants and their parents will be recruited through collaborating public schools in each of the four participating cities. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive a mentor through FOTC or a to a no-intervention control group, and then will be followed for three years. Data will be collected on social, educational, and developmental milestones. By comparing the results of the two groups over time, the study will be able to determine the immediate impacts that Friends of the Children has on the lives of extremely at-risk youth.
Both the FOTC National Office and OSLC are thrilled to be a part of this study that will generate a wealth of new data on intensive, long-term mentoring programs. The study is one outcome of a decade-long collaboration among FOTC, the Philadelphia-based non-profit Public/Private Ventures, and OSLC that was supported by a variety of foundations and funding agencies, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. Positive results from the study could revolutionize how funds are used in the future to support mentoring efforts for society's most at-risk children. In addition, information collected from the study will further assist in enhancing the program to have an even greater impact.
Dr. Orin Bolstad, clinical psychologist and Board member of FOTC National, states, “I consider the NICHD funding to be a most welcome endorsement. It reflects a sense of confidence in the Friends of the Children model, enough so to provide grant funding to examine the effectiveness of the program over the long-term against a randomly assigned control group. This gives us an opportunity to examine scientifically the positive results we experience anecdotally on a daily basis. If successful, the results of this landmark study will promote our model to a new level nationally, allowing us to serve many more at-risk children.”
The national network of FOTC reaches more than 600 children and teens across the United States through seven chapters: Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Klamath Falls, Oregon; New York, New York; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; and Seattle/King County, Washington. The National Office, based in Portland, Oregon, was created in 2000 for the purpose of refining and replicating the mentoring program in other communities to break the cycles of poverty, abuse, and violence in order for youth to become contributing members of society. For more information about FOTC, including success stories, please visit www.friendsofthechildren.org. For more information about OSLC, please visit www.oslc.org. OSLC Senior Scientist Gerald R. Patterson to Receive Lifetime Contribution Award from the Developmental Psychology Division of the American Psychological AssociationPosted June 11, 2007Contact: Marion Forgatch, Phone 541-485-2711 WASHINGTON, DC – Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association recently announced that OSLC Senior Scientist and clinical psychologist Dr. Gerald R. Patterson will be awarded the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society at their annual meeting in Boston. The award is given to an individual whose work has, over a lifetime career, contributed not only to the science of developmental psychology, and who has also worked to the benefit of the application of developmental psychology to society. The individual's contributions may have been made through advocacy, direct service, influencing public policy or education, or through any other routes that enable scientific developmental psychology to better the condition of children and families. This is the second major award that Dr. Patterson has received from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association. In 1998, he received the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology, given to a single individual who has made distinguished contributions to developmental psychology, including contributions in research, student training and other scholarly endeavors. Evaluations for these awards are based on criteria such as the scientific merit of the individual's work, the importance of this work in opening up new empirical or theoretical areas of development psychology, and the importance of the individual's work in linking developmental psychology with issues confronting the larger society or with other disciplines. OSLC Scientists Organize Early Career Research CompetitionPosted June 11, 2007Contact: Diana Wilcoxen, Phone 541-485-2711 WASHINGTON, DC – For the second year, OSLC Research Scientists Dr.’s J. Mark Eddy and Charles Martinez, Jr. chaired the Sloboda and Bukoski Society for Prevention Research (SPR) Cup Competition, held at the annual meeting last week. Teams of early career prevention scientists competed for the honor of winning the traveling cup, named for two of the founders of SPR, Dr. Zili Sloboda and Dr. Bill Bukoski. Teams applied last fall, and three teams were accepted to compete: the Standard Deviations from Claremont Graduate University; Team Violence Prevention, with members from the University of New Hampshire, the University of California at Davis, the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Riverside, and Texas Tech University; and the Prevention Geeks, from the State of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Two months before the meeting, teams were given a data set, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-sponsored National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003-2004. Their task was to choose variables of interest, conduct a literature review, develop hypotheses, conduct analyses, and create a 15-minute presentation. After each presentation, a panel of eight judges and audience members rated the quality of the work of the team and their presentation style. The team with the highest total rating was the Prevention Geeks, whose members examined the relationships among marital status, sex, and age and binge drinking across the lifespan. Team member Ms. Andrea LaFazia accepted the Cup from the captain of last year’s winning team, Dr. Michelle Little from the Prevention Research Center at Arizona State University. The Prevention Geeks were invited by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to present at an upcoming director’s seminar in Washington, D.C. The Prevention Geeks also were invited to submit a manuscript to SPR’s flagship journal, Prevention Science. If submitted, the manuscript will undergo the regular peer review process. Next year, a representative of the winning team will return to the SPR Annual Meeting in San Francisco to pass the Cup on to the 2008 winning team. Senior Scientist from the Oregon Social Learning Center to Receive Science to Practice Award from the Society for Prevention ResearchPosted May 30, 2007Contact: Judy Boler, Phone 541-485-2711 WASHINGTON, DC – OSLC Senior Scientist and psychologist Dr. Patti Chamberlain will receive the prestigious Science to Practice Award this week at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). The mission of SPR is to advance science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. The international membership of the organization includes over 700 scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators, and policy makers who are concerned with the prevention of social, physical and mental health problems and the promotion of health, safety, and well-being. The members of SPR represent a wide variety of academic disciplines, including psychology, public health, social work, medicine, sociology, anthropology, communications, economics, and biostatistics. The Science to Practice Award is given to an individual or team “in recognition of continued support the implementation of research based prevention practices in real world settings.” Dr. Chamberlain and her team developed a therapeutic foster care program, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC). Her intervention program has been demonstrated to be efficacious with high risk boys and girls in a number of randomized clinical trials. She is currently the principal investigator on a large scale dissemination study of MTFC taking place in various locales throughout the state of California. New Project to Focus on Multifaceted Intervention for Women Involved in Criminal Justice SystemPosted February 5, 2007Contact: Mark Eddy, Phone 541-485-2711 EUGENE, OR – OSLC Research Scientist Dr. J. Mark Eddy is part of a local collaborative effort funded through an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to provide services and to assess their effectiveness with women on probation or parole who have experienced domestic violence and have substance use problems and/or other mental health issues, such as PTSD. Dr. Eddy and his team will evaluate outcomes due to services provided by the non-profit agencies Womenspace, Sponsors, Looking Glass, and Willamette Family Treatment. This grant continues and expands collaborative research that OSLC and Sponsors began several years ago with women on probation or parole. In a study of over 200 women, the vast majority (over 90%) of women on probation or parole had been or were in relationships that included domestic violence (DV). Issues of DV were clearly intertwined with a variety of other problems, including substance abuse and mental health problems. Subsequent work with the Oregon Department of Corrections and women in prison has revealed similar findings. Work on the evaluation of the project will occur through the non-profit OSLC Community Programs. Eugene Scientist to Serve as Distinguished Lecturer at Queen's UniversityPosted February 1, 2007Contact: Sally Schwader, Phone 541-485-2711 KINGSTON, ONTARIO –OSLC Senior Scientist Dr. Deborah Capaldi will present findings from the long term Oregon Youth Study on the relationship between intimate partner violence and crime as an invited speaker for the Queen’s University Distinguished Lecture Series on February 9, 2007. The Oregon Youth Study of 206 fourth grade boys from randomly selected lower-income neighborhoods in the Eugene-Springfield area began in 1983, and has expanded over the years to include studies of the siblings, the intimate partners, and the children of the original participants. Dr. Capaldi’s address, entitled “Intimate Partner Violence and Crime: Women’s Influence on Men’s Behavior”, will report on patterns of aggression to partner in young men and women and their mutual influences across time. Recent work will be discussed in which Dr. Capaldi and her team investigated the influence of the behavior of men’s female partners on men’s onset of crime as well as persistence in crime during the early adult period. Her findings suggest that girls and women should be included in preventive efforts targeting decreases in criminal behavior and intimate partner violence by men. OSLC Scientist to Address Patient and Family Advocacy Groups at the National Institute of Mental HealthPosted January 18, 2007Contact: Judy Boler, Phone 541-485-2711 WASHINGTON, DC – OSLC Senior Scientist Patti Chamberlain will be an invited speaker tomorrow at the National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) bi-yearly gathering of representatives from the major national patient and family advocacy groups with interests in mental health and the prevention and treatment of mental disorder and related problems. The meeting is being convened by Dr. Thomas Insel, the Director of NIMH, and will focus on presentations of ongoing research and exciting and promising new research findings relevant to mental health. Dr. Chamberlain’s address will be entitled “Effective Interventions in Foster Care”. Dr. Chamberlain has led a research group that has done pioneering work in the development of therapeutic foster care interventions over the past 25 years. Her internationally known program, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, has been shown to be an efficacious intervention in a number of scientifically rigorous studies, and she is currently one of the lead investigators of a National Institute on Drug Abuse-supported research center dedicated to developing effective and feasible parenting interventions for children and their families in the child welfare system. Scientists Affiliated with the Oregon Social Learning Center Recognized for their Professional Contributions to PsychologyPosted January 9, 2007Contact: Mark Eddy, Phone 541-485-2711 EUGENE, OR – Two senior scientists affiliated with the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) were recently recognized for their significant professional contributions to the field of psychology. Gerald R. Patterson, Ph.D., co-founder and a Senior Scientist at OSLC, was presented the Scott Award from the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) for his lifetime contributions to the study of the development of human aggression. ISRA is a society of scholars and researchers interested in the scientific study of violence and aggression. The society is both international and interdisciplinary, and members gather for World Meetings every other year on alternating continents. Currently there are about 250 members from over two dozen countries with specialties in psychology, psychiatry, physiology, sociology, anthropology, animal behavior, criminology, political science, pharmacology, and education. The Scott Award is named after the late Dr. John Paul Scott, a distinguished researcher in the area of aggression in animals, and one of the co-founders and first president of ISRA. Thomas J. Dishion, Ph.D., OSLC Affiliated Scientist and professor in the Department of Psychology and the School Psychology Program in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, was honored by the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association for distinguished contributions to the field of family psychology. He was also presented with a Research Innovation Award by the University of Oregon for bringing more than $15 million in external research grant funding to the university during the past five years, and for being one of the top three professors on campus in terms of dollars brought to the university during that period. Dr. Dishion worked as a researcher at OSLC from 1977 to 2000 prior to founding the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon. Community Conference Covers Issues Surrounding Children of Incarcerated ParentsPosted November 2, 2006Contact: Mark Eddy, Phone 541-485-2711 EUGENE, OR – Lane County community leaders will be convening at the University of Oregon on Thursday, November 9, 2006, to raise awareness of how parental incarceration impacts children and to provide strategies to communities, their justice partners and human service providers to work together to better meet the needs of these children. The University of Oregon School of Law, in partnership with The Portia Project, which is dedicated to helping women prisoners, are co-hosting the conference. They will present a full-day workshop for Lane County community leaders entitled "And How Are the Children? A Community Approach to Prioritizing, Protecting and Parenting Children." The primary goal of the training is to build a base of understanding and awareness that includes information about the impact of parental criminality on child development, family dynamics and the parent-child relationship; thus resulting in a shared vision and community action plan. "Lane County needs to formulate a collaborative plan to help children from incarcerated families. These children need to feel supported to grow into happy and productive adults while learning how to cope with the stigmas that often come with having a parent in prison" says Barbara Aldave, Law professor at the University of Oregon and president of The Portia Project. Approximately 10 million children nationwide have a parent who has been incarcerated. 2.3 million of those children in our country - or roughly one child out of every 30 - currently has a parent in state, federal prison or local jail. According to estimates from Oregon Social Learning Center researchers, on any given day in Lane County, there are approximately 3,695 children with one or both parents in jail or prison. Many of these children experience poverty, the effects of substance abuse and/or illegal activities and family instability prior to the parent's incarceration. Once the parent is taken away the experience worsens. They must cope with the stigma of family involvement in the criminal justice system, the loss of a parent and the isolation that comes with coping with issues in silence. The "And How are the Children?" interactive training is designed to create a training atmosphere that fosters open exchange among participants while providing an opportunity for respective disciplines to examine their own policies, procedures and practices in relation to the children of incarcerated parents. Participants will additionally acquire tools that will allow them to address the complex issues surrounding parental incarceration. The audiences targeted for this curriculum are multidisciplinary teams consisting of criminal justice officials and community leaders, which may include but are not limited to, leaders in law enforcement, community corrections, child welfare, early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, community-based services, and the criminal justice system, as well as a number of formerly incarcerated parents, in this day of training and workshops. The presentation will also include a youth panel from the community who will help the assembled participants more fully understand the issues faced by the children of incarcerated parents. The format and content of the conference was developed by the Children's Justice Alliance of Portland, Oregon, for the purpose of building an infrastructure for the assistance of the children of incarcerated parents. The conference has been piloted in other Oregon counties, where it has been instrumental in increasing awareness and effecting positive change. "And How Are the Children?" will bring together a significant number of local leaders to engage in multi-disciplinary training and to establish community teams that will subsequently work together to facilitate the provision of services to children whose parents are incarcerated. This conference follows a national conference on Nov. 6 sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on "Children of Parents in the Criminal Justice System: Children at Risk," which will be co-chaired by local Oregon Social Learning Center research scientists and psychologists Mark Eddy and Lew Bank. The conference organizer is Dr. Eve Reider, Deputy Branch Chief of the Prevention Research Branch at NIDA. This conference will bring together researchers from around the world with federal agency officials to discuss recent research findings on the children of incarcerated parents. Eddy is the principal investigator of an ongoing study of parents incarcerated in Oregon state prisons and their families funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, and Bank is the principal investigator of a study of parents on probation or parole in Oregon coastal counties and their families funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. For general information about the "And How Are the Children?" training contact Katina Saint Marie at the University of Oregon at 346-1482 or e-mail Katina at katina@uoregon.edu. To learn more about The Portia Project contact Professor Barbara Aldave National Conversation on Brain Imaging, Molecular Genetics, and Neuroscience to Come to Eugene this WinterPosted October 20, 2006Contact: Kristen Greenley, Phone 541-485-2711 EUGENE, OR – OSLC Research Scientist Dr. Phil Fisher will be an invited speaker on “Interventions for Improving Regulation in Children” at the Workshop on Neuroscience and the Prevention of Mental Illness and School Failure. The workshop will be held on January 27, 2007, at the University of Oregon, and will be co-sponsored by the Brain Biology and Machine Initiative, the Society for Prevention Research, the Oregon Research Institute, and the Oregon Social Learning Center. This is one of three meetings around the country planned in the coming year to inform people interested in the prevention of mental health problems about important new research findings from brain imaging, molecular genetics and neuroscience. Local Scientist Invited Speaker at Harvard Medical School to Commemorate the One-Hundreth Anniversary of the Boston Juvenile CourtPosted October 18, 2006Contact: Judy Boler, Phone 541-485-2711 BOSTON, MA – OSLC Senior Scientist Dr. Patti Chamberlain will be a keynote speaker today at the Judge Baker Children's Center Symposium on “Treating Multi-Problem Youth”. The event will be held at the Harvard Medical School, and celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Boston Juvenile Court. The Honorable Harvey Humphrey Baker was the first judge of the court. During his tenure, he helped change the usual approach to juvenile justice in Boston from punishment and incarceration to understanding and treatment. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Massachusetts' Department of Social Services, Department of Mental Health, and Department of Youth Services. Archive of Older News Releases |
Archive of Older News Releases
About the OSLCThe Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) is located in the Eugene-Springfield, Oregon metropolitan area. The center was established in 1977. The research group that founded OSLC was started by clinical psychologist Gerald R. Patterson in the late 1950s while he worked as a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon. READ MORE >>
How to Contact UsPhone: (541)485-2711
|
|
| © OSLC • 10
Shelton McMurphey Blvd, Eugene, OR 97401 • (541) 485-2711 |
||
