Research and Community Initiatives

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Overview

USF’s Family Study Center (FSC) has been an internationally recognized hub for cutting edge thinking and research on coparenting in family systems. From smaller scale community initiatives co-developed with and carried out in partnership with community leaders and local agency collaborators, to larger scale federally sponsored investigations, randomized trials, and implementation studies, the FSC continues to provide national and global leadership in helping to better understand coparenting and its impact on early child development. We explore solutions that honor modern families and family configurations, such as our innovative Focused Coparenting Consultation model that has been modified for unmarried, divorced, and multigenerational families, and for families reestablishing adaptive rhythms after a period of child welfare involvement. In everything we do, we work to assure that all family voices are heard, honored, and supported.

Current and Ongoing Research Programs

International Coparenting Collaborative
The FSC leads a collaborative of family-oriented infant mental health professionals from eight nations, partnering to identify means for framing initial infant mental health encounters and intakes with families to better assess, and raise family consciousness about, the importance of coparenting for infants and toddlers.

Within My Reach
A five-year demonstration project funded by the Administration for Children and families is testing the feasibility of delivering a Healthy Relationship intervention, Within My Reach, to parents during challenging times to strengthen relationships between family members and create safe and supportive households.

Figuring It Out for the Child (FIOC)
Over a decade in the making, the FSC’s “Focused Coparenting Consultation” model showed enduring benefits for coparenting, infant mental health, and other family outcomes for unmarried African American parents transitioning to new parenthood

Guidance for the Field: Special issue of the ZERO TO THREE Journal
The flagship ZERO TO THREE Journal devoted an entire special issue, edited by FSC Director James McHale and colleague Vicky Phares, to the topic: Supporting Fathers and Mothers as Coparents; The Next Frontier for Infant and Toddler Mental Health

Current and Ongoing Community Initiatives

Baby Talk
Since 2010, the Family Study Center has partnered with Concerned Organization for Quality Education for Black Students (COQEBS) on a grassroots community initiative for families with children birth to age 3, “Baby Talk”, and a 10-year sister program “Listening to Babies”.

Connected Coparenting
Initiatives funded by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and by the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County provide training and consultation to area agencies serving families of children 0-3 to help front-line providers offer and effectively deliver trauma-informed, family-centered coparenting supports.

Cafes, Community and Coparenting
Collaborating with New Visions of the Well, Inc., an agency partner in south St. Petersburg, the FSC provides developmental screenings and ongoing “Parent Café” groups on major topics of interest to families raising young children in today’s complex world, in the ways families wish and the neighborhoods where they live.

TRAININGS AND WEBINARS

During our 20th anniversary celebration year in 2023-24, the FSC has put together a conference series called “Thinking Three”, elevating some of the cutting-edge topics in the field of coparenting research, theory and practice. Click here to learn more about and register for our upcoming events.

Situational Partner Aggression: Screening Considerations in Evaluating Parents for Dyadic Coparenting Intervention
To open the Thinking Three series, Dr. Carla Stover from Yale University addressed triaging and intervening with families from a coparenting frame when there have been past instances of IPV in the family. This series-opening event was offered free to the professional community, in tribute to our colleague, Dr. Katherine McKay

Coparenting Brief
View Dr. McHale's June 2021 keynote address to over 2,000 attendees taking part in the Texas Fatherhood Summit.

Engaging Fathers in Home Visiting Services
The importance of involving fathers in home visiting programs, biases that may disrupt home visitors’ work with men, and steps home visitors can take towards better engaging fathers.

Supporting Respectful Partnerships: Coparenting
Florida’s Partnership Plan for families with child welfare involvement calls for caregivers and agency staff to partner together to assist birth parents in improving their ability to care for and protect their children. More importantly, it provides that all will act in a supportive and respectful manner that allows children to maintain ties to their family. This “Just In Time” training covers expectable challenges and keys to building successful coparenting partnerships.

For the Quality Parenting Initiative: Supervised Visitation: Foster Parents Supervising Visits and Coparenting (11/18/15)
Some of the best outcomes occur when the relationship between children’s families and the foster caregivers looking after them until they can return home establish a trusting, authentic partnership. An important component of these partnerships is supervised visitation. This video addresses ways to better assure that strong alliances materialize to support young children during their time out of home.

For DCF’s Project Launch: IFMH Concepts and Considerations
Led by a partnership between the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Department of Health, Florida’s Project LAUNCH supported families of young children on the Lealman Corridor, an area consisting of four zip codes in Pinellas County. This video was designed to offer basics about infant-family mental health for the project team.

RECENT FSC PUBLICATIONS & ARTICLES

McHale, J., Coates, E., Collins, R. & Phares, V. (2024). Coparenting theory, research, and practice: Toward a universal infant-family mental health paradigm. In J. Osofsky, H. Fitzgerald, M. Keren & K. Puura (Eds.), WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

McHale, J. & Jenkins, K. (2023). Thinking three, revisited: Infants, coparents, gender roles, and cultural contexts. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1566

McHale, J., Tissot, H., Mazzoni, S., Hedenbro, M., Salman-Engin, S., Phillip, D., Darwuiche, J., Keren, M., Coates, E., Mensi, M., Corboz-Warnery, A. & Fivaz-Depeursinge, E. (2023). Framing the work: A coparenting model for guiding infant mental health engagement with families. Infant Mental Health Journal. 44, 638-550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/imhj.22083

Opie, J., Booth, A., Rossen, L., Fivaz-Depeursinge, E., Duschinsky, R., Painter, F., Hartley, E., Newman, L., Corboz-Warnery, A., Carr, A., Philipp, D. & McHale, J. (2023). Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: A qualitative inquiry and recommendations Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

Opie, J., McHale, J., Lieberman, A., Keren, M. & Paul, C. (2023). The rights of the infant in family therapy: Ensuring that the infant’s voice is heard and honoured. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

McHale, J. P., Stover, C., Dube, C., Sirotkin, Y., Lewis, S., & McKay, K. (2022). Randomized controlled trial of a prenatal focused coparenting consultation for unmarried black fathers and mothers: One-year infant and family outcomes. Infant Mental Health Journal, 44, 27-42. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.22030

McHale, J., Stover, C., Dube, C., Sirotkin, Y., Lewis, S. & McKay, K. (2022), Culturally grounded prenatal coparenting intervention: Results of a randomized controlled trial with unmarried Black parents, Journal of Family Psychology. 36(4), 479–489. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000965

Kuersten-Hogan, R. & McHale, J. (2021). Prenatal family dynamics: Couple and coparenting relationships during and postpregnancy. New York: Springer Publishers.

McKay, K., Gaskin-Butler, V., Little, T., DePalma, K. & McHale, J. (2021). Starting the conversation: Common themes typifying expectant unmarried Black parents’ discussions about coparenting a first child together. The Journal of Black Psychology, 47(7) 542–577. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984211016758

McHale, J. & Jones, S. (2021). Mothers, fathers, and coparenting others. In A. Vangelista (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Family Communication, 3e (pp. 203-220). https://doi.org/ 10.4324/97810030434239-19

Fidler, B. & McHale, J. (2020). Building and enhancing efficacious coparenting in parenting coordination. Family Court Review, 58, 747-759. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12510

McHale, J., Carter, D., Miller, M. & Fieldstone, L. (2020). Perspectives of mothers, fathers, and parenting coordinators concerning the process and impact of Parenting Coordination. Family Court Review, 58, 211-226. https://doi-org/ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/10.1111/fcre.12462

RECENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

McHale, J. (2023, July). The next generation of coparenting progress for the field of infant mental health. Invited Master Class presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Dublin, Ireland.

McHale, J. (2023, July). Men's mental health and the centrality of fathers in infant-family mental health approaches. Invited Discussion presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Dublin, Ireland.

McHale, J., Tissot, H., Mazzoni, S., Hedenbro, M., Salman-Engin, S., Phillip, D., Darwuiche, J., Keren, M., Coates, E., Mensi, M., Corboz-Warnery, A. & Fivaz-Depeursinge, E. (2023, July). Framing the work: A coparenting model for guiding infant mental health engagement with families. Workshop presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Dublin, Ireland.

Sirotkin, Y., Coates, E., Stover, C. & McHale, J. (2023, July). Infant eye gaze. emotion regulation and coparenting during triadic interactions of unmarried Black parents. Paper presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Dublin, Ireland.

McHale, J. (March 2022). Coparenting Forskning: An overview of practice guidelines with new parents for nurses and home visitors, Keynote address, Redovisningsenheten, Stockholm, Sweden

McHale, J. (March 2022). Advances in Coparenting 2022: Supporting children in diverse family circumstances, Invited Presentation, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

McHale, J. (March 2022). Coparenting i Triaden, Plenary address and practice workshop, Hedenbro Institut, Stockholm, Sweden

McHale, J. (March 2022). Coparenting: Theory, Research and Practice, Lectio Magistralis for the European Dana Alliance for the Brain and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (USA) World Conference: The role of the family in the care of patients: Typical and atypical settings. Pavia, Italy.

McHale, J. (2021, November). Coparenting: Theory, research, and practice. Keynote presentation for the PROGRAM INTERNATION SEMINAR CARE 2021, Santiago, Chile.

McHale, J. (2021, November). Assessment of coparenting and family-level dynamics. Invited workshop presented at the PROGRAM INTERNATION SEMINAR CARE 2021, Santiago, Chile.