LAWRENCE — Excess stress is hazardous to everyone. But for infants and toddlers facing toxic stress due to traumatic and adverse events or living situations, it can mean stunted growth, behavioral challenges, struggles in school and troubled adulthood. University of Kansas researchers are part of a grant project that is implementing an intervention throughout the state to help families in adverse situations nurture their children to prevent such problems, all of which can help children be healthier, save communities money and keep children in their homes.
Project NeuroNurture is a $2.4 million intervention program that will serve 1,500 families at five sites covering 34 counties in Kansas. KU researchers will provide an evaluation of the intervention’s effectiveness and measure cortisol, or the “stress hormone,” in children taking part in the program.
Research has proven that a 10-week early intervention called the Attachment and Bio-behavioral Catch-up, or ABC, can help regulate cortisol levels in infants and toddlers. The hormone occurs naturally in humans, urging them to wake up, respond to threats and take action in adverse situations. The levels are higher in the morning and decrease during the course of the day. However, for children in consistently stressful situations, cortisol levels can stay elevated throughout the day and lead to long-term negative effects on the child’s development.
[For more on this story, go to http://news.ku.edu/2018/02/08/...se-family-situations]
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