Adverse Childhood Experiences: Using Evidence to Advance Research, Practice, Policy, and Prevention

Adverse Childhood Experiences: Using Evidence to Advance Research, Practice, Policy, and Prevention defines ACEs, provides a summary of the past 20 years of ACEs research, as well as provides guidance for the future directions for the field. It includes a review of the original ACEs Study, definitions of ACEs, and how ACEs are typically assessed. Other content includes a review of how ACEs are related to mental and physical health outcome, the neurodevelopmental mechanisms linking ACEs to psychopathology, sexual violence and sexual health outcomes, and violence across the lifespan. Important and contemporary issues in the field, like reconsidering how ACEs should be defined and assessed, the appropriateness of routine ACEs screening, thinking about ACEs from a public health and global perspective, strategies for preventing ACEs, understanding ACEs and trauma-informed care and resilience, and the importance of safe stable and nurturing environments for children are discussed. Adverse Childhood Experiences is a useful evidence-based resource for professionals working with children and families, including physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, lawyers, judges, as well as public health leaders, policy makers, and government delegates.

• Reviews the past 20 years of ACEs research
• Examines ACEs and mental and physical health
• Discusses the neurodevelopment mechanisms of ACEs and psychopathology
• Examines ACEs and violence across the lifespan
• Reconsiders the definition and assessment of ACEs
• Examines the issue of routine ACEs screening
• Discusses ACEs from a public health and global perspective
• Summarizes effective ACEs prevention, trauma-informed care, and resilience
• Provides recommendations for the future directions of the ACEs field

Gordon J. G. Asmundson, Ph.D. is an international expert on psychopathology and its overlap with chronic health conditions. He is a Registered Doctoral Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Regina. He was born in Zweibrucken Germany on a Canadian Air Force Base and was raised in Canada where he received his BA, MA, and doctorate in Psychology from the University of Manitoba. In 2005-2006 he trained as a Beck Scholar at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in Philadelphia. He holds several editorial posts, including Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders and of Clinical Psychology Review, and serves on the editorial boards for nine other journals. His research and clinical interests are in assessment and basic mechanisms of fear, the anxiety and related disorders, and chronic pain, and the association of these with each other, maladaptive coping, and disability. His pioneering work on fear and avoidance in chronic pain and his shared vulnerability model of co-occurring PTSD and chronic pain have led to significant advances in understanding and treating these prevalent, disabling, and costly conditions. His empirical work on PTSD and other anxiety-related conditions has also influenced changes in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Dr. Asmundson has published over 380 peer-reviewed journal articles, 70 book chapters, and 8 books. He is a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and of the Canadian Psychological Association. In addition to numerous prestigious awards received over the course of his career, in 2009 Dr. Asmundson received the highest accolade available to scientists and scholars in Canada – induction as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada – and in 2014 received the Canadian Psychological Association Donald O. Hebb Award for outstanding contributions to the science of psychology. Dr. Asmundson is married and has two children.

Tracie O. Afifi, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). She is also an Associate Editor of Child Abuse & Neglect. Her research expertise is in child abuse, neglect, physical punishment, mental health and resilience. Dr. Afifi has published over 115 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented her research in more than 130 national and international conferences. In 2013, Dr. Afifi was the recipient of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, Children’s Rights Support Award. This award is presented to an individual or group who has demonstrated exemplary efforts to respect the rights of children as described in the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2014, Dr. Afifi received the Falconer Emerging Research Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research. Dr. Afifi was also named as one of CBC Manitoba Future 40 in 2016. In 2017, Dr. Afifi was inducted as a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s (RSC) College for New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. In 2018, Dr. Afifi was selected as the recipient of the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research.