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On this month’s “The UMB Pulse” podcast, University of Maryland School of Social Work researcher Lisa Berlin, PhD, MS, discusses how early infant-caregiver relationships shape children’s emotional, behavioral, and physical health development.

Berlin, the Alison L. Richmond Professor of Children and Families and an MPower Professor, is an expert in attachment security who explains why responsive caregiving helps infants build trust, regulate stress, and develop healthier long-term expectations about relationships and support.

Berlin also discusses Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), a 10-session parent coaching program designed to strengthen supportive caregiving behaviors. Her current collaborative study with 245 low-income Latina mothers and infants in East Baltimore examines how parenting behaviors, sleep, feeding, stress regulation, and immune system functioning may influence lifelong health outcomes.

Researchers are also exploring how programs like ABC could eventually expand through systems such as Head Start and Maryland Judy Centers to support more families across the state.

Learn more about Berlin's research at https://www.umaryland.edu/research/breakthroughs/strong-start/

Listen to “The UMB Pulse” on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you like to listen. “The UMB Pulse” is now also on YouTube. Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.

00:00 You Can’t Spoil a Baby: The Science of Early Attachment
00:30 Meet Dr Lisa Berlin
02:18 What Secure Attachment Means
05:20 ABC Program Explained
08:05 Study Community And Measures
13:28 Pick Up The Crying Baby
14:45 Brain Expectations And Plasticity
17:44 Stress Sleep And Immune Health
20:49 Key Takeaways For Caregivers
22:22 Research Timeline And Team
24:21 Scaling ABC And Prevention
26:56 Hopeful Closing And Resources

Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.

Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.

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On this month’s "The UMB Pulse Podcast," University of Maryland School of Medicine associate professor Jason R. Falvey, DPT, PhD, director of the Enhancing Rehabilitation to Improve Community Health (ENRICH) lab and inaugural director of the UMSOM Center for Disability Justice, discusses how hip fracture recovery depends on more than surgery and clinic-based therapy.

Falvey explains how neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, transportation, housing, and infrastructure affect older adults’ ability to age in place and avoid social isolation, and why current Medicare rules limit real-world mobility training. Funded by the National Institute on Aging, Falvey’s work to address these challenges includes partnerships such as GoGoGrandparent and plans for pilot testing and larger trials.

Learn more about the Center for Disability Justice: https://pt.umaryland.edu/research/center-for-disability-justice/

Learn more about the ENRICH Program: https://www.umaryland.edu/research/breakthroughs/how-does-where-you-live-affect-recovery-after-a-hip-fracture/

Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.

Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.

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What if the “behavior problems” we see in people living with dementia are actually signs of pain?

Host Dana Rampolla speaks with Barbara Resnick, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, Distinguished University Professor and associate dean of research at the University of Maryland School of Nursing who is an expert in aging and long-term care, about how pain often goes unrecognized in people with dementia. Because they may struggle to communicate discomfort, pain can show up as agitation, withdrawal, resistance to care, or sudden changes in appetite and engagement. These behaviors are sometimes misunderstood and treated with sedating medications instead of addressing the root cause.

Resnick explains what caregivers and clinicians should watch for, from facial expressions and lashing out to subtle shifts in participation and mood.

Health care professionals can learn more about pain management in long-term care settings in this Clinical Practice Guide co-authored by Resnick: https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(21)00911-7/fulltext

Chapters
00:00 Pain Without Words
00:28 Meet Dr. Resnick
02:36 Why Pain Gets Missed
06:15 The Vicious Cycle
07:28 Signs to Watch For
08:55 Find the Root Cause
10:40 Guidelines in Nursing Homes
11:37 Non-Drug Pain Relief
15:36 Questions for Care Teams
17:30 Key Takeaways
19:06 Why She Does This Work
20:55 NIH Study in Practice
22:56 Closing Credits

Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.

Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.