Research for the Public Good Applying the Methods of Translational Research to Improve Human Health and Well-Being

by Wethington, Elaine; Dunifon, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9781433811685
• ISBN10: 1433811685
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-15
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

Translational research links scientific findings with programs and policies that improve human health and well-being. It includes research that evaluates interventions or policies for efficacy and effectiveness, as well as research that applies field expe

Author Biography

Elaine Wethington, PhD, is professor of human development and of sociology at Cornell University, Ithaca. She is a specialist in the sociology of mental health, aging, and the life course. She received her PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1987.
 
Since 2003, she has been both the codirector of the Cornell–Columbia Edward R. Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging and the director of its Pilot Studies Core (funded by the National Institute on Aging). She is also an associate director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.
 
Dr. Wethington is the author of many papers on life stress and health, translational research on aging, health and the work–family interface, and life turning points. Currently, she is also the coprincipal investigator for Small Changes and Lasting Effects, an obesity behavioral intervention study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); coinvestigator for a cohort study of life stress and heart disease (Novel Measures of Psychosocial Stress, funded by NHLBI); and coinvestigator for Nudging Nutrition: Setting Healthier Defaults in Supermarkets and Homes (funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Challenge Program).
 
Rachel E. Dunifon, PhD, is associate professor in the department of policy analysis and management at Cornell University. She received her PhD in human development and social policy from Northwestern University in 1999 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Poverty Research and Training Center.
 
Her expertise is in the area of child and family policy, with a focus on how policy-relevant family factors influence child well-being. Her recent research focuses on maternal employment patterns, family functioning and child well-being, and the role of grandparents in the lives of children.
 
Dr. Dunifon is also the associate director in Cornell's Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and leads an outreach program called Parenting in Context, designed to use research-based information to inform parent education programs.
 

Table of Contents

Contributors

Preface

Introduction: Translational Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences 
Elaine Wethington, Helena Herman, and Karl Pillemer

I. Social and Behavioral Science Models for the Translation of Research

1. Translation in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: Looking Back and Looking Forward 
   V. Jeffery Evans
2. If Translational Research is the Answer, What's the Question? Who Gets to Ask It? 
   Abraham H. Wandersman and Catherine A. Lesesne
3. Opportunities for and Challenges of Translating Educational and Developmental Research Into Policy and Intervention 
   Robert Crosnoe
4. A Systematic Review of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Adaptations: How Are Programs Adapted? 
   Ludmila N. Krivitsky, Samantha J. Parker, Anusmiriti Pal, Leigh Meckler, Rouzi Shengelia, and M. Carrington Reid

II. Four Case Studies for Translating Social and Behavioral Science to Improve Well-Being, Health, and Professional Practice

1. Pursuing and Sharing Knowledge to Inform Practice and Policy: The Value of Qualitative Research in Translational Research 
   Jean M. Ispa
2. Translational Research on Work and Family: Daily Stress Processes in Hotel Employees and Their Families 
   David M. Almeida, Kelly D. Davis, John W. O'Neill, and Ann C. Crouter
3. The Science of Law and Memory 
   Eric Zember, Charles J. Brainerd, Valerie F. Reyna, and Kimberly A. Kopko
4. Community–Researcher Partnerships in Aging: The Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging 
   Elaine Wethington, Karl Pillemer, and Rhoda Meador

Afterword 
Rachel E. Dunifon and Elaine Wethington

Index

About the Editors