The purpose of the application for this award is twofold: 1) to gain additional training in conducting research and primary data collection in developing countries, with a focus on issues related to international nutrition; and 2) to obtain more knowledge on contributors to child malnutrition in developing countries, specifically the influence of psychosocial factors. The candidate wishes to pursue a career in International Health, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the improved health and well-being of mothers and children living in impoverished environments. The candidate's immediate goals are to combine her backgrounds in Child Health Psychology and Public Health to address global health issues such as psychosocial factors influencing child malnutrition, growth, and development. The candidate's long-term goals include embarking on a career of independent research and teaching in international health, conducting field research, and working in an academic environment. This award will allow the candidate to benefit from a period of mentored research in international nutrition and gain necessary experience in conducting field research and primary data collection in a developing country. The candidate plans to spend two years at the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, Mexico under the guidance of Dr. Juan Rivera and Dr. Reynaldo Martorell, with a third year spent in the Department of International Health at Emory University. During this time, she will attend relevant nutrition and maternal and child health seminars and courses at both institutions, and receive intensive Spanish language training. She plans to conduct a study on the influence of psychosocial factors on child nutrition, growth, and development in Mexico. Specifically, home observations of caregiver-child interactions, and self-report measures of caregiver's depressive symptoms, parenting stress, and perceived social support will be obtained for approximately 360 children during the second year of life and their primary caregivers. The project will be part of a larger collaborative study with the proposed mentors assessing the effects of prenatal and postnatal multiple micronutrient supplementation on child growth and development. These data will be used to test the hypotheses that poorer caregiver-child interactions, greater stress and distress experienced by the caregiver, and less perceived available social support will be associated with poorer outcomes of child growth and development.
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