Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Knowledge Networks describes the role of networks in the knowledge economy, explains network structures and behaviors, walks the reader through the design and setup of knowledge network analyses, and offers a step by step methodology for conducting a knowledge network analysis.

"This book details practices of and technologies for e-collaborative knowledge construction, providing insights in the issue of how technologies can bring advancements for learning"--Provided by publisher.

A comprehensive guide to creating, implementing, and evaluating culturally competent HIV prevention programs. Recent literature on effective HIV/AIDS prevention programs underscores the importance of cultural sensitivity and cultural competence in the delivery of services and care. Successful prevention interventions must be tailored for their target populations. Yet many HIV/AIDS prevention professionals struggle to meet the specific needs of their communities. Tools for Building Culturally Competent HIV Prevention Programs contains a variety of well-informed, evidence-based approaches to HIV prevention programs. It offers all the tools practitioners need to launch an effective prevention program: from identifying program goals and objectives, to developing program models, to recruiting and retaining staff, and finally to conducting evaluations and reporting results. All material is filtered through a cultural perspective and methods are tailored to specific racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Additional resources are included to assist in the preparation and development of your prevention program, such as: Federal standards and guidelines for culturally competent health care and social service provision True-life case studies that show how other HIV prevention programs succeeded Checklists, worksheets and templates to create, monitor, and manage your program The CD includes: Customizable checklists and worksheets that you can use in your program A demonstration of the Virtual Program Evaluation Consultant (VPEC) software program, a program evaluation service offered by Sociometrics Corporation. Purchasers of this book will get a three-month license to VPEC free Use the companion volume, The Complete HIV/AIDS Teaching Kit (with CD-ROM, in your prevention program to assist you in providing an overview of the incidence, prevalence, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS to all your students, patients, or clients.