Shaquanna Brown , PhD , a STAR postdoctoral fellow , studies the impact of child maltreatment on the development of the prefrontal cortex — which among other things governs impulse control — and how those changes influence risk for substance use . She supports the initiative ’ s commitment to turn research into action . If a teacher or clinician can ’ t access her journal articles because they ’ re behind a paywall , “ How exactly am I helping that person ?” she says .
“ How do we give our research legs so that it can walk out into the community and be able to help the people that we really are passionate about helping ?” Brown continues . “ You have to go out and have these conversations with the people who need this information . … Everyone [ at STAR ] talks about it because it is so important to us . And that ’ s one of the things that we definitely want to highlight , because we know it matters .”
LISTENING TO TEENS
Turning research into action requires meeting people where they ’ re at . For families , that ’ s often the home . For teachers , it ’ s school . For many teenagers , it ’ s their smartphones . Nugent , the associate director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health , is examining ways that technology and social media might help teens during times of stress and transition , and maybe even make things better .
Nugent ’ s team recruits teens who have been hospitalized for suicidal thoughts and behaviors , when statistically they ’ re at high risk for readmission for the next several weeks . She deploys digital tools to get an accurate picture of their lives , rather than rely on potentially unreliable self reports . “ In the past we ’ ve said , ‘ how supportive are your family and friends ?’ And of course , if kids had just thought about killing themselves , they tell us , ‘ not so supportive .’ But we don ’ t really know ,” she says .
An app called the EAR , for electronically activated recorder , lets researchers truly hear what ’ s happening . Participants download it onto their phones to record 30-second “ audio snapshots ” several times a day ( teens don ’ t know exactly when it ’ s recording ) that Nugent ’ s team later listens to and codes . Are they arguing , laughing , crying ? Are they alone ? Are there signs they might be struggling ? “ For example , we found that if parents are dismissing , if they ’ re not validating their kid ’ s experiences , then those kids are more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-injury ,” Nugent says .
Nugent also looks at teens ’ texts and social media for clues : “ Are they looking for support ? What are the ways that these social networks can be helpful ?” she says . If they ’ re thinking about hurting themselves in the middle of the night , when parents and therapists are asleep , texting a friend might help . Nugent hopes these observations will suggest ways to help other at-risk kids .
She ’ s collecting similar data for another study of teens who ’ ve gone to the emergency department at Hasbro Children ’ s Hospital for a traumatic experience , like an assault or a car crash . The researchers get access to kids ’ online interactions before the event — a “ historic record ,” Nugent says , “ which is exciting , especially as a traumatic stress researcher , because most of the time all we have access to is post-trauma .”
THEN 2020 HAPPENED
One day a week Nugent , a clinical psychologist , takes off her research hat to treat children at Hasbro ’ s Refugee Health Clinic . She says their “ sense of community and hope and family connectedness ” help many kids adapt and cope , but some have an “ extensive trauma history ” that ’ s compounded by racism or anti-immigrant sentiment in their new homeland .
At first , the challenges of the pandemic didn ’ t touch many of the clinic ’ s refugee families . “ They know how to lock down . They know how to come together , be safe , be a family unit ,” Nugent says . “ They actually did quite well . And they were optimistic : ‘ Here we are in the United States . Of course , they ’ re going to handle it beautifully , and this is going to be a temporary problem .’”
But , of course , it wasn ’ t . Families struggled with remote schooling , “ essential ” jobs , and lost jobs . Reports of domestic violence and child abuse shot up . “ Even people who didn ’ t have prior existing psychiatric difficulties are really struggling now ,” Tyrka says . “ We are at the breaking point .”
Stroud calls COVID “ a worldwide stress test .” During lockdown , she saw pros and cons — some kids thrived with distance learning , while others struggled with isolation . Meanwhile , “ people who are home with their kids sometimes are super stressed out , so they ’ re using more coping strategies like substance use . And then some are like , ‘ I don ’ t want to smoke in front of my kid . I have to quit ,’” she says . Though that ’ s fascinating from a scientific or clinical perspective , the STAR researchers are humans too , who care and worry about their study participants . “ It ’ s a traumatic time to be studying trauma ,” Stroud says .
But the work they ’ re doing now may yield new solutions to age-old problems , and smoother roads ahead . HD
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