Two Generations Thrive: Bidirectional Collaboration Among Researchers, Practitioners, and Parents to Promote Culturally Responsive Trauma Research, Practice, and Policy

• Published in: Psychological trauma 2023-02, Vol.15 (2), p.181-188
• Main Authors: Woods-Jaeger, Briana, Kleven, Lauren, Sexton, Chris, O'Malley, Donna, Cho, Bridget, Bronston, Sosha, McGowan, Kori, Starr, Debbie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child; Child Welfare; Child, Preschool; Childhood Adversity; Collaborative Learning; Community Psychology; Community-Based Participatory Research; Cross Cultural Differences; Delivery of Health Care; Female; Human; Humans; Humility; Male; Parents; Parents - psychology; Policy; Policy Making; Research and Development; Scientists; Stress; Trauma
• ISSN: 1942-9681; 1942-969X
• DOI: 10.1037/tra0001209

Objective: Prolonged exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the absence of protective relationships and systems contributes to toxic stress and can lead to numerous psychological and physical health consequences. Disproportionate exposure to ACEs and lack of appropriate responses stemming from systemic racism contributes to racial inequities. Culturally responsive practices and policies focused on early childhood are critical to prevent toxic stress and subsequent health inequities. This paper describes a collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and parents of color with lived experiences of ACEs entitled: Two Generations Thrive, which aims to prevent the intergenerational transmission of ACEs through improving practices and policies within the health care, education, and child welfare systems. Method: Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) and cultural humility provided a framework and key principles for our collaboration, with an emphasis on critical reflection, mitigating power imbalances, and institutional accountability. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate outcomes. We describe our process of building an infrastructure for bidirectional collaboration and key lessons learned to offer a roadmap for researchers, clinicians, and advocates who seek to partner in preventing ACEs and subsequent health inequities. Results: Key lessons learned include: the importance of building and maintaining trust, consistently working to mitigate power imbalances, and the power of bidirectional collaboration to maximize the benefit of research and action for communities traditionally marginalized in research and practice. Conclusions: Cultural humility and CBPR provide a strong foundation to promote bidirectional collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and parents with lived experience of ACEs. Clinical Impact Statement Repeated exposure to adversity can cause toxic stress, which is damaging to physical and mental health. Disproportionate exposure to ACEs and lack of appropriate responses stemming from systemic racism contribute to racial inequities associated with toxic stress including disproportionate intergenerational transmission of ACEs among families of color. This article describes a bidirectional partnership among researchers, practitioners, and parents initially focused on intervention research that grew to focus on building capacity across systems to reduce racial inequities associated with toxic stress.