Many people who become interested in mental health-related research do so from a place of compassion: we want our work to help improve the lives of children and families. At the same time, there is a need to prioritize the accomplishments and productivity metrics that allow us to obtain competitive research positions, often in academia, that offer the resources to do this type of work. How many papers can I publish? How many grants can I get?
Translational Science is the science of translating new knowledge into health benefits through interdisciplinary collaboration. This approach facilitates more far-reaching impacts than publishing in academic journals, getting scientific findings out into the real world such that they have a meaningful impact on child well-being.
As an example, we know in part from work from our own lab that toddlers with an extremely fearful temperament, who show fear even in situations that are not objectively threatening, are at high risk for developing social anxiety disorder as adolescents (Buss et al., 2021; Clauss & Blackford, 2012). Where do we go next with this finding?
If we come back to our overarching goal of improving the lives of children and families, the next steps would be to figure out (1) how to prevent the development of social anxiety among these children and (2) how to get the preventive intervention to the families who need it.
#translational-science #child-well-being #mental-health-research #community-collaboration #interdisciplinary-approach
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