USU Ph.D. Student Receives Prestigious Grant

A Utah State University doctoral student recently received a two-year $50,000 dissertation grant that will help researchers and families better understand the impact fathers play in the lives of their growing children.

 

Sheila Anderson’s project is titled “Dads’ Parenting Interactions with Children — Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes.” Anderson is a doctoral student in the Department of Family, Consumer and Human Development in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. Called PICCOLO-D, the project will be funded by a Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant from the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Anderson said the research project itself will entail developing a valid, reliable, easy-to-use observational measure of father-child interaction that predicts positive child outcomes.

 

“Most of what programs encourage parents to do is based on research about how mothers influence outcomes,” Anderson said. “We are trying to better understand the unique strength fathers bring to parenting in order to help practitioners support positive father-child interactions and capitalize on fathers’ strengths.”

 

The grant is intended to support the development of doctoral student research skills in studying Head Start/Early Head Start populations. The money will provide the means to employ other students to assist with the project, fund travel expenses, provide materials and supplies needed for observational coding and compensate consultants. Anderson said the project will be completed over two years and would not be possible without the funding. Anderson is working with the Head Start/Early Head Start Fatherhood program serving Davis, Morgan and Summit counties.

 

FCHD Professor Lori Roggman is Anderson’s mentor and dissertation committee chairperson for the project. Roggman said Anderson began a doctoral program in FCHD after several years of working in the field of early childhood, so she came with a strong background of experience.

 

“She has been a highly engaged student,” said Roggman. “It was delightful working with her. This is the fifth doctoral student I have had who has received one of these grants (Vonda Jump, Lisa Boyce, Gina Cook and DeAnn Jones are also all former recipients of these grants).”

 

Roggman said she and Anderson collaborated on the research idea long before the opportunity to submit a grant became possible.

 

“We had already been having rich discussions about parenting behaviors specific to fathers, and she had been reviewing research articles on fathers and fathering for several months,” Roggman said. “We then collaborated on this grant proposal like colleagues often do, exchanging emails and having quick conversations at all hours while we reviewed and revised the grant proposal, section by section.”

 

The grant funding will provide support for Anderson to allow her to spend time on this project and also pay for some consulting time from another doctoral student, Gina Cook, who worked on the original PICCOLO project.

 

Other students, both graduate and undergraduate, will be involved in data collection that will provide them with hands-on experience in the research process. Undergraduate and graduate students will be recruited to help conduct observations using various versions of the measure as it is being developed. Anderson said students will benefit from the grant by being able to acquire good observation skills and learn more about the behavioral observation process and reliability analyses.

 

“Although the grant is small, having graduate students successfully applying for grants and receiving funding for their dissertation research reflects well on the college,” Anderson said. “PICCOLO-D is expected to have wide distribution to programs such as Head Start nationwide, similarly to the original PICCOLO measure, and thereby will enhance the reputation of the college.”

 

The results of this project will add to the considerable contributions — from basic research to practical tools such as the original PICCOLO measure, which the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services continues to make to promote high quality educational and services nationally and internationally.

 

 

Writer: Jodi Burton, 435-797-1350, jodi.burton@aggiemail.usu.edu