Dominic Cappello

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Dominic Cappello is a strategist, writer, designer, and educator. He is the creator of the Ten Talks book series published by Hyperion in 2000 and 2001. Ten Talks received national attention when Oprah Winfrey created a show around the book on sex and character in October 2000, featuring parents who had used the books' approaches to family communication.

Cappello is also the author (with Susan Duron, PhD) of the parent-focused HIV prevention program "Can We Talk?" developed by the National Education Association -Health Information Network through a cooperative agreement with the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health in 1999.

Cappello, working for the New Mexico Department of Health, developed the youth injury prevention project called the Resiliency Corps. The Resiliency Corps focused on the implementation of evidence-based youth injury, violence and substance misuse prevention strategies. The five year pilot project promoted community mobilizing around policies shown to reduce injuries and offered the course "Youth Safety, Health and Resiliency" at the University of New Mexico-Valencia.

He is the co-founder of Safety and Success Communities, a socially-engaged non-governmental non-profit organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico, focused on implementing a data-driven, cross-sector, and systemic strategy for the prevention of adverse childhood experiences and adverse social determinants of health. Cappello and Katherine Ortega Courtney, Ph.D. developed and implemented the Child Welfare Data Leaders Program, a management training program focused on data analysis, research, and continuous quality improvement for child welfare systems in New York City, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. Cappello co-authored (with Katherine Ortega Courtney, Ph.D.) Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment, published in 2018.

Cappello now serves as the co-director of the Anna, Age Eight Institute focused on the data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and social adversity. Cappello and his Anna, Age Eight Institute co-director Katherine Ortega Courtney, Ph.D. are focused on using a data-driven, cross-sector and county-focused strategy throughout New Mexico to prevent and treat adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the adverse social determinants of health. Their approach, detailed in their book 100% Community: Ensuring 10 Vital Services for Surviving and Thriving, is informed by the research behind the social determinants of health, racial justice, collective impact, the social-ecological model, and health equity, acknowledging health and education disparities. Their 100% Community initiative mobilizes local change agents, elected officials, and stakeholders, working to ensure that all county residents have access to behavioral health care, medical care, stable shelter, secure food, and transportation to vital services. Once these services for survival are in place, further mobilizing focuses on securing access to parent supports, early childhood learning programs, community schools, youth mentoring and job training. It has been twenty years since the original Adverse Childhood Experience Study, [1] with little to show for systemwide prevention efforts on a national or statewide level to reduce the impact of ACEs and toxic stress. [2] A critical assessment [3] of the ACEs Study was published that recommends that prevention work focus on the social determinants of health. [4] Cappello and Ortega Courtney are also the authors of David, Age 14: Who and what determine our children's health, education and future and the fully illustrated social satire Attack of the Three-Headed Hydras.

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Related Research Articles

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Community health refers to simple health services that are delivered by laymen outside hospitals and clinics. Community health is also the subset of public health that is taught to and practiced by clinicians as part of their normal duties. Community health volunteers and community health workers work with primary care providers to facilitate entry into, exit from and utilization of the formal health system by community members.

A form of child abuse, child neglect is an act of caregivers that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, educational, and safety needs. All societies have established that there are necessary behaviours a caregiver must provide for a child to develop physically, socially, and emotionally. Causes of neglect may result from several parenting problems including mental disorders, unplanned pregnancy, substance use disorder, unemployment, over employment, domestic violence, and, in special cases, poverty.

The United States Children's Bureau is a federal agency organized under the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Today, the bureau's operations involve improving child abuse prevention, foster care, and adoption. Historically, its work was much broader, as shown by the 1912 act which created and funded it:

The said bureau shall investigate and report to [the Department of Commerce and Labor] upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and shall especially investigate the questions of infant mortality, the birth-rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, legislation affecting children in the several states and territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child abuse</span> Maltreatment or neglect of a child

Child abuse is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to act by a parent or a caregiver that results in actual or potential harm to a child and can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools, or communities the child interacts with.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), founded under the name Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) in 1982, is an American 501(c)(3) organization that has been widely criticized as a leading source of fearmongering and misinformation about vaccines. While NVIC describes itself as the "oldest and largest consumer-led organization advocating for the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections", it promotes false and misleading information including the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism, and its campaigns portray vaccination as risky, encouraging people to consider "alternatives." In April 2020, the organization was identified as one of the greatest disseminators of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social determinants of health</span> Economic and social conditions that influence differences in health status

The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions, rather than individual risk factors that influence the risk for a disease, or vulnerability to disease or injury. The distributions of social determinants are often shaped by public policies that reflect prevailing political ideologies of the area.

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Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children whose mothers have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy have an increased risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Charles L. Whitfield was an American medical doctor in private practice specializing in assisting survivors of childhood trauma with their recovery, and with addictions including alcoholism and related disorders. He was certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, a founding member of the National Association for the Children of Alcoholics, and a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Adolescent health, or youth health, is the range of approaches to preventing, detecting or treating young people's health and well-being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Burke Harris</span> Pediatrician and first Surgeon General of California

Nadine Burke Harris is a Canadian-American pediatrician who was the Surgeon General of California between 2019 and 2022; she is the first person appointed to that position. She is known for linking adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress with harmful effects to health later in life. Hailed as a pioneer in the treatment of toxic stress, she is an advisory council member for the Clinton Foundation's "Too Small to Fail" campaign, and the founder and former chief executive officer of the Center for Youth Wellness. Her work was also featured in Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed.

Early childhood trauma refers to various types of adversity and traumatic events experienced during the early years of a person's life. This is deemed the most critical developmental period in human life by psychologists. A critical period refers to a sensitive time during the early years of childhood in which children may be more vulnerable to be affected by environmental stimulation. These traumatic events can include serious sickness, natural disasters, family violence, sudden separation from a family member, being the victim of abuse, or suffering the loss of a loved one. Traumatic experiences in early childhood can result in severe consequences throughout adulthood, for instance developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety. Negative childhood experiences can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. However, not all children who are exposed to negative stimuli in early childhood will be affected severely in later life; some children come out unscathed after being faced with traumatic events, which is known as resilience. Many factors can account for the invulnerability displayed by certain children in response to adverse social conditions: gender, vulnerability, social support systems, and innate character traits. Much of the research in this area has referred to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE) study. The ACE study found several protective factors against developing mental health disorders, including mother-child relations, parental health, and community support. However, having adverse childhood experiences creates long-lasting impacts on psychosocial functioning, such as a heightened awareness of environmental threats, feelings of loneliness, and cognitive deficits. Individuals with ACEs are more prone to developing severe symptoms than individuals in the same diagnostic category.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse and household dysfunction during childhood. The categories are verbal abuse, physical abuse, contact sexual abuse, a battered mother, household substance abuse, household mental illness, incarcerated household members, and parental separation or divorce. The experiences chosen were based upon prior research that has shown to them to have significant negative health or social implications, and for which substantial efforts are being made in the public and private sector to reduce their frequency of occurrence. Scientific evidence is mounting that such adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have a profound long-term effect on health. Research shows that exposure to abuse and to serious forms of family dysfunction in the childhood family environment are likely to activate the stress response, thus potentially disrupting the developing nervous, immune, and metabolic systems of children. ACEs are associated with lifelong physical and mental health problems that emerge in adolescence and persist into adulthood, including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, autoimmune diseases, substance abuse, and depression.

Gene Howard Brody is an American developmental psychologist and prevention scientist and Regent's Professor at the University of Georgia and is the founder and co-director of the University of Georgia's Center for Family Research. He is known for his research on the physiological, biological, and mental health effects of poverty, community disadvantage, and racial discrimination and for the development of efficacious prevention programs for African American youth and their families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surgeon General of California</span> Public health official in California, US

The Surgeon General of California is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health within the State of California. The Surgeon General is one of only five State Surgeons General in the United States. The office was created on January 7, 2019, by Governor Gavin Newsom and requires confirmation from the California State Senate.

Cheryl K. Olson is a health and behavior researcher. She has done work researching the influence of media on childhood development and psychological well-being, and focuses on the relationship between childhood use of video games and violent behavior.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are identified as serious and traumatizing experiences, such as abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, substance use, and other harmful events or situations that occur within a child's household or environment. Unfortunately, exposure to ACEs within the child's community is all too common in low-income households and neighborhoods, with close to 43% of children in the United States (U.S.) living in low-income families. ACEs were first identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente's Adverse Childhood Experiences Study conducted from 1995 to 1997, where ACEs were examined and correlated with later-life well-being. With one in four children experiencing or witnessing a potentially traumatic event, children who grow up in an unsafe environment are at risk for developing adverse health outcomes, affecting brain development, immune systems, and regulatory systems.

Amanda Sheffield Morris is an American developmental scientist, known primarily for her work on parenting, emotion regulation, and the neuroscience of adversity and resilience in terms of optimal child and adolescent development. She is currently the Regents Professor of Psychology at Oklahoma State University.

References

  1. Felitti, V. J.; Anda, R. F.; Nordenberg, D.; Williamson, D. F.; Spitz, A. M.; Edwards, V.; Koss, M. P.; Marks, J. S. (May 1998). "Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 14 (4): 245–258. doi: 10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8 . ISSN   0749-3797. PMID   9635069.
  2. Wood, David L.; Pascoe, John; McGuinn, Laura; Garner, Andrew S.; Earls, Marian F.; Dobbins, Mary I.; Siegel, Benjamin S.; The Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Committee on Early Childhood; Garner, Andrew S. (2012-01-01). "The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress". Pediatrics. 129 (1): e232–e246. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2663 . ISSN   0031-4005. PMID   22201156.
  3. McEwen, Craig A.; Gregerson, Scout F. (2019). "A Critical Assessment of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study at 20 Years". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 56 (6): 790–794. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2018.10.016. PMID   30803781.
  4. "Social Determinants of Health | Healthy People 2020". www.healthypeople.gov. Retrieved 2019-08-27.