News 2020: College of Nursing & Health Sciences presents annual summit on the impact of childhood adversity on health

Summit on March 3 will feature speakers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University with a viewing of the documentary film, No Small Matter

Numerous studies have shown that adverse childhood events (ACEs) contribute to over 25 percent of chronic mental and medical health issues across the lifespan. ACEs is a topic of strong current interest in nursing and mental health and will be the subject of the third Annual Summit presented by the College of Nursing & Health Sciences on Tuesday, March 3.

“Impact of Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) on Health Over the Lifecourse” will focus on how childhood adversity affects health, from early childhood through adulthood.

Nurses working with patients and families have long recognized that childhood adversity is a major risk factor for chronic disease across a person’s life, according to Dr. Nancy Street, associate professor of community nursing. Street is co-leading the summit with community nursing faculty Dr. Marni Kellogg, assistant professor; Karen Pounds, clinical associate professor; and Valerie Seney, clinical assistant professor.

“Today, there is a clear understanding of the impact of childhood experiences on health. As nurses and educators, we seek to engage the university community in a half-day seminar that explores the impact of adversity during childhood on health over the lifecourse,” said Kellogg.

Understanding the impact of adverse childhood events on mental health is necessary in health care as over 20% of adults are living with a mental illness each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Illness. The organization also reports that people with mental illness have a higher rate for chronic medical conditions and die on average 25 years earlier than their counterparts.

“Today, there is a clear understanding of the impact of childhood experiences on health."

Summit includes experts in child health and education

Keynote speakers at the summit include Dr. Erin Dunn, ScD, MPH, assistant professor at Massachusetts General Hospital, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, and Susan Crowley, MSN, RN, Project Manager, Early Childhood Innovation Partnership, Center on The Developing Child at Harvard University.

Dunn will provide an overview of ACEs and its utilization in child health assessment while providing evidence of the impact of ACEs on health care outcomes over the lifecourse. Crowley will present a nursing perspective focusing on current innovations in early childhood care, including nurse-led partnerships.

No Small Matter, a documentary about the importance and impact of quality early childcare and education, will be shown.

“Through poignant stories and surprising humor, the film presents compelling evidence for the importance of the first five years of life and reveals how our failure to act to improve early childhood education has resulted in an everyday crisis for American families,” Kellogg added.

The presentations will wrap up with a panel discussion featuring community nurses Allison Alberto, MSN, RN-BC and Kathy Flanagan, MSN, RN; Seney and Karen Pounds, clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences; and nursing students Tova Bittner ’20, Stephanie Brogda ’21, and Jessica O’Reilly ’20.

Schedule:

9 a.m., Welcome, Dean of the College of Nursing & Health Sciences Dr. Kimberly Christopher
9:10 a.m., Keynote Address, Dr. Erin Dunn, ScD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital, Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine
10 a.m.-11:15 a.m., Documentary presentation, No Small Matter
11:15 a.m., Keynote address, Susan Crowley, RN, Project Manager, Early Childhood Innovation Partnership, Center on The Developing Child at Harvard University
11:45 a.m., Panel Discussion featuring community nurses Allison Alberto, MSN, RN-BC and Kathy Flanagan, MSN, RN; clinical assistant professors Valerie Seney and Karen Pounds; and nursing students Tova Bittner '20, Stephanie Brogdan '21, and Jessica O'Reilly '20.

The summit is sponsored by the Pilgrim Foundation and is free and open to the public.