October is National Children’s Health Month, and the College of Social Work would like to take this time to recognize one of its faculty members whose expertise lies in addressing the well-being of children.
Dr. Elinam Dellor, assistant professor, is a community-engaged researcher with a background in public health. Her research investigates the effects of child abuse and neglect on child development and wellbeing, and the extent to which community-based interventions can be used to improve health outcomes for vulnerable children and their families. Her work falls into three general categories: 1) implementation and evaluation of evidence-based practices for child welfare-involved families, 2) the use of technology to address inequitable access to health and social services, and 3) the healthimpacts of childhood trauma exposure.
Dellor is currently leading the evaluation of the Ohio Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma (START) model, an evidence-supported intervention serving families with co-occurring substance abuse and child maltreatment. Led by the Public Children’s Services Association of Ohio (PCSAO), the intervention is a collaboration between child protective services and behavioral health and treatment providers who work closely to help parents achieve sobriety and children to heal from any trauma they may have experienced. Together, Dellor and her team oversee data collection and quality assurance that help practitioners better understand how participating parents and children are doing, and the larger research community to better understand Ohio’s implementation of the intervention.
“Interventions like Ohio START rely on local service providers but availability of services can look very different depending on where you live,” says Dellor.
To address this barrier, Dellor and her research partners have used the Needs Portal, an internet-based resource referral and management information system to query and link families to local services.
Dellor was recently awarded the Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment grant to develop a mobile app version of the Needs Portal to support the coordination of social service delivery in Accra, Ghana.
“In Ghana and other lower and middle-income countries, poverty is the primary driver of family separation,” says Dellor. “This project allows us to identify and leverage resources across government, non-governmental and local sectors in support of keeping families together whenever possible.”
Across all projects, Dellor bridges research and real-world practice by working closely with individuals with lived and professional experience.
“We must draw on expertise from practitioners and researchers alike to ensure all children have an equal chance to grow and thrive in their homes,” she adds.
