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The present study describes the efforts of a home visiting (HV) continuous quality improvement learning collaborative aimed at increasing father engagement in HV and parenting. Local implementing agencies (n   = 11) delivering 3 evidence-based HV models participated in the collaborative. Each agency developed and implemented 3 rapid-cycle Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) projects to increase father engagement. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound (SMART) aims were used to guide development of change strategies and meaningful measurement goals. HV providers collected data from enrolled families (n   = 714) about fathers' level of parenting and HV involvement. Mean father engagement scores increased 39% from the first to the second assessment and over 60% of the PDSAs met or exceeded their SMART aim goal. Data suggest that fathers are open to participating in HV and are responsive to parenting guidance. In the current paper, we share engagement strategies and lessons learned during the collaborative., Competing Interests: The authors declare no known conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated the associations between maternal depression when infants were 3 to 11 months old (M = 6 months), and positive parenting behaviors when children were between 12 and 22 months (M = 17 months) and the home language environment assessed when children were 18 to 28 months old (M = 23.5 months) in a sample of 29 low-income mother-child dyads. After controlling for maternal education, only teaching behaviors remained a moderate and significant predictor of adult word counts. Observed teaching behaviors significantly predicted conversational turns and marginally predicted child vocalizations; effects sizes were small. Encouraging behaviors were a small and significant predictor of conversational turns and a marginally significant predictor of adult word counts. Maternal depression was a moderate and significant predictor of children's vocal productivity scores and a small, marginal predictor of conversational turns. These findings have important implications for parenting and children's language outcomes.

In this article, the authors posit that programs promoting nurturing parent-child relationships influence outcomes of parents and young children living in poverty through two primary mechanisms: (a) strengthening parents' social support and (b) increasing positive parent-child interactions. The authors discuss evidence for these mechanisms as catalysts for change and provide examples from selected parenting programs that support the influence of nurturing relationships on child and parenting outcomes. The article focuses on prevention programs targeted at children and families living in poverty and closes with a discussion of the potential for widespread implementation and scalability for public health impact., (© 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

Moths of the genus Celerio, hovering and feeding from blossoms, have been observed to react vigorously to high-pitched sounds. The acoustic receptor appears to involve the labial palps. Its characteristics have been determined from responses made, when the moth is exposed to artificial sound pulses, by an interneuron originating in its head. These responses have been found only in 4 out of 19 sphingid species tested.

Evidence is presented for a novel mechanism mediating the auditory sense in the Choerocampinae (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Vibrations in the scale-free medial wall of the enlarged labial palp segment are transmitted by contact to the distal lobe of the pilifer, a derivative of the labrum, and are there transduced into afferent impulses in the labral nerve.