Research / Training
Toxic stress before birth: paths to personalised intervention
Multiple empirical studies have shown that a maternal history of antenatal trauma such as maltreatment and/or family violence can be toxic to the developing brain of the child before and after birth; this phenomenon is called toxic stress.
Fondation Dora is supporting a pilot study to identify, before and after birth, babies most at risk of toxic stress in order to refer their parents to services able to support their infant's mental health and development.
This study is conducted by infant mental health clinicians from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in cooperation with the University of Texas Medical Center in Houston, USA. If successful, it could lead to a large state-of-the-art screening programme to meet the needs of this vulnerable population.