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B.A., M.S. University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
M.S.L., Yale School of Law
Dr. Pruett’s research areas focus on family dynamics and development, both normative and non-normative, with a specialization in the promotion of healthy child and family development during life transitions, particularly those transitions related to adverse events or circumstances. Her clinical research incorporates preventive interventions, consultation, program design, and evaluation.
A major area of research and intervention concentrates on increasing Father Involvement with their Children. The Supporting Father Involvement project aims to reduce child abuse and neglect, and enhance family well-being, through an intervention that encourages father involvement and couple co-parenting (among married and unmarried parents) in family resource centers. The Office of Child Abuse for the State of California has funded a ten-year study that examines the efficacy of father-only versus couples intervention groups against a third condition control group. The project is producing timely new data about how to involve men early in their children’s lives, and how to best work with parents to maintain the fathers’ involvement and promote the children’s development. Dissemination of the project is currently underway throughout the state and in the Department of Social Services.
A second area involves evaluating the Connecticut Judiciary’s Support Services Division (CSSD) Clinical Intake Screen. TheScreen is designed to rapidly and accurately recommend service levels for families in the court commensurate with their needs. An evaluation of the Screen in terms of its clinical utility and efficacy in improving court services for families includes an investigation into levels and types of reported domestic violence, timeliness moving through the court system, levels of agreements reached, numbers of motions filed, and types of family conflict. We also examine whether being represented legally impacts outcomes.
A third area centers on military families with young children (primarily but not exclusively ages 2-8 years). Dr. Pruett is working with Sesame Workshop, whose flagship show Sesame Street, has touched the lives of millions of children and their families. Sesame Workshop’s Talk, Listen, Connect (TLC2) consists of a public broadcast show and dissemination effort featuring beloved Sesame Street Muppets and documentary footage of real-life military families and their children. This project will also provide support and offer resources for spouses, friends, and relatives of military service personnel who are currently serving tours of duty or who have returned home with significant physical or psychological injuries. TLC2 will expand on Sesame Workshop’s research-based TLC project; like its parent project, TLC2 will use familiar Sesame Street characters to foster communication, guide parents and other caregivers to discuss challenges in age appropriate ways, and encourage children to share their feelings. Dr. Pruett's role is to head up an evaluation of the show’s effectiveness with military and civilian families. The research will include quantitative methods as well as focus groups with parents and children conducted in English and Spanish.
Finally, Dr. Pruett is in the process of developing new research on relocation/move-aways to help the courts assess their options when one parent wishes to move far away from the other after divorce, when they have been sharing the raising of their children. In the legal system, a typical relocation case begins with the residential parent filing a motion for permission to move away from the other parent. States laws vary widely on whether they carry a presumption in favor of or against relocation, and whether they place the burden of proof on the parent desiring to move or the parent opposing the move, or both. A body of large survey studies in demography and sociology has shown that relocation is associated with a range of behavioral, school, and adjustment problems for children in general, and that children of divorce are at greater risk for these problems. Purposes of this research program will be to assess the influence of post-relocation changes in children’s relationships with nonmoving parents on children’s adjustment, relative to other influences; to identify the mechanisms through which post-divorce relocation impacts children’s adjustment; and to identify the moderating factors that reduce or exacerbate the risks of post-divorce relocation on children’s adjustment.
Students are involved in every aspect of research and writing. Both undergraduates, especially through the STRIDE program which connects excellent Smith students with faculty research in their first and second years of college, and social work graduate students are involved in these various projects. The students have learned research skills and published book chapters and articles. Examples of former and current roles played by SSW Master's students include: co-writing a solicited book, coding parent-child videotapes, and developing curriculum. Doctoral students also attend conferences and seminars that Dr. Pruett attends in the local or national community. This research has often been accompanied by student stipends.
Cowan, P.A., Cowan , C.P., Pruett, M.K., Pruett, K.D. (in press). Six barriers to father involvement and solutions for overcoming them. National Council on Family Relations Report.
Cowan, P.A., Cowan , C.P., Pruett, M.K., Pruett, K.D. & Wong, J. (in press). Promoting fathers’ engagement with children: Preventive interventions for low-income families. Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy.
Ebling, R., Pruett, M.K., & Pruett, K.D. (in press). “Get Over It”: Perspectives on Divorce from Young Children. Family Court Review.
Pruett, M.K. & Barker, R. (in press). Influencing co-parenting effectiveness after divorce: What works and how it works. In Marc Schulz, Patricia Kerig, Marsha Kline Pruett, & Ross Parke (eds.), Feathering the Nest: Couple Relationships, Couples Interventions and Children’s Development. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Pruett, M.K. & Barker, R. (in press). Joint custody: A judicious choice for families - but how, when, and why? In R.M. Galatzer-Levy and L. Kraus (Eds.), The scientific basis of custody decisions (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Pruett, M.K., Cowan P.A., Cowan, C.P., & Pruett, K.D. (in press). Lessons learned from the Supporting Father Involvement Study: A Cross-cultural Preventive Intervention for Low-income Families with Young Children. Journal of Social Services Research.
Schulz, M., Kerig, P., Pruett, M.K. & Parke R. (Eds.). (in press). Feathering the Nest:Couple Relationships, Couples Interventions and Children’s Development. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Last updated 2/12/09. |
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