The development of a Preventive Intervention Research Center (PIRC) for Child Health at AECOM-MMC is proposed which will be organized around the theme of prevention of mental health problems in children with significant physical health problems and in their families. While an increasingly significant proportion of children are affected at some point during childhood by physical illness, there has been little focus on understanding the mental health consequences of these problems even though these secondary effects are among the most serious consequences of significant childhood disorders. Having identified children and families at risk for mental health problems as a result of the presence of a child's physical health problem, the PIRC will focus on the implementation and scientifically sound evaluation of effective, low cost, replicable preventive intervention strategies to interrupt processes which might otherwise lead to adverse mental health outcomes. The PIRC will bring into closer collaboration a number of multidisciplinary research teams who work on various segments of childhood development. Their interventions and research encompass health problems in perinatal and neonatal periods, throughout childhood, and into adolescence. The PIRC will seek to: 1) implement preventive interventions to reduce significant mental health consequences for the child and family which arise from child health problems; 2) increase understanding of the relationship of physical and mental health; 3) foster new and rigorous research on preventive interventions; 4) foster an interdisciplinary research environment targeting the identification and prevention of mental health sequelae of children's physical illness; 5) bring research and intervention activities within the Department of Pediatrics and the University into an even closer working relationship in order to stimulate collaboration and communication among groups of investigators; 6) stimulate and promote the development of new research efforts in preventive intervention; 7) serve as a local, regional, and national resource on preventive intervention for children and their families; and 8) disseminate research findings and knowledge about the implementation of effective preventive interventions.
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