Dr. Skowron will introduce Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and share novel findings from a recent clinical trial. Research on some ‘invisible’ drivers of problem parenting and moderators of PCIT intervention effectiveness will be woven into the discussion. She will describe how dynamic associations in the peripheral physiology and behavior of parent-child dyads can impede caregiving in some high-risk families and moderate response to the PCIT intervention.
About the Speaker
Dr. Skowron is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and runs the Family Biobehavioral Health Lab. She is a certified PCIT therapist and Level I Within-Agency Trainer. Dr. Skowron earned her Ph.D. at the State University of New York, Albany, and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center. Following her post-doctoral fellowship in child clinical psychology at the University of California, San Francisco’s Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, she worked in the Irving B. Harris-funded Child Trauma Project at San Francisco General Hospital with Dr. Alicia Lieberman, evaluating attachment-based child-parent psychotherapy for mothers and preschool children from violent families.
Dr. Skowron served as a former Fulbright Scholar to Ireland (2009-2010); as chair and member of various NIH scientific review panels; and as President of the University Senate in 2019-20. Dr. Skowron and her students study the effectiveness of child and family interventions, including Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and a newly developed trauma-informed adaptation to PCIT, for supporting caregivers and strengthening biological and behavioral markers of emotion regulation and self-control in caregivers and children.
