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Strategies for Professionals Working with Families During Pregnancy

2010 Course Schedule (pdf file)

Prenatal Developmental Interventions (new)

Winter/Spring 2010 session:
March 8 to May 10, 2010

Deadline to register: March 3

Instructor:
Joann O'Leary, Ph.D., MPH, MS

Earn 24 Clock Hours (CEU credit)

Course Description
Instructor
Comments from Participants
Cost and Credit
Required materials

Additional Information
How to Register
Contact if Questions
Related Resources

Unfamiliar with distance learning and online instruction?

Course Description

This on-line course is grounded in the belief that pregnancy, regardless of the outcome, begins the parent-infant relationship. It is designed for family educators, social workers, health care providers, and others working with families during childbearing to facilitate positive parent-baby interactions beginning in the prenatal period.

The ways in which children develop and interact with their parents and environment is unique for each child. Seldom do people consider that many of children’s behaviors originate in the prenatal period. What happens during pregnancy, birth, and early postpartum not only sets the stage for parents but can influence the way children develop and interact with their environment throughout life. 

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to: 

• Identify and explore cultural values about pregnancy, the unborn child, and the father’s role
• Examine prenatal attachment from the historical perspective to the current understanding of the unborn baby’s prenatal life
• Identify a relationship-based model of prenatal education and specific interventions to support parents’ awareness of the emotional needs of their unborn baby from pregnancy into the first three months of life
• Recognize and support the role of fathers during pregnancy
• Explore professional boundaries around differences between support, therapeutic education, and therapy
• Describe ways that guided imagery, art, and journaling can be used to support parents’ awareness of the unborn child
• Identify issues during pregnancy and birth that may cause trauma for the parents and/or baby and how this can alter postpartum adjustment
• Explore using prenatal attachment model with different cultures, adolescents, adoption, preterm birth, and infant loss

Instructor

Joann O'Leary, Ph.D., MPH, MS. Dr. O'Leary has a Ph.D. in Work, Community and Family Education and a Masters in Maternal-Child Health from the University of Minnesota. She also has a Masters in Psychology through research from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dr. O'Leary's research was initially funded by the Bush Foundation. She is a certified Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale examiner and does research and writing on pregnancy and parenting after the loss of a baby, including its impact on siblings.

Comments from Participants

This material has been presented nationally and internationally. Here are some excerpts from evaluations:

This course has been interesting, enlightening, and a wonderful step in taking us deeper into understanding the intrinsic nature of prenatal development and the value of quality care, physically, emotionally, spiritually. It offers a holistic approach to prenatal care.

I have come to have a fuller understanding of prenatal development and the relationship between the parents and their unborn baby. 

The articles support the evidence of the inner connectedness of mother, father and baby, giving a broader perspective to consider in working with the parenting tasks of the family during and after pregnancy.

Cost and Credit

Registration fee: $225

(Group rates are also available.)

This course is offered for 24 Clock Hours of continuing education credit. The certificate is approved and issued by the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.

There are no prerequisites needed to register for this course.

Courses are geared toward the upper classperson (senior) graduate level.

Note: If you are from a state other than MN, you may want to check with your state's licensing board to verify that the same measurement standard will be applied in your state for this credit.

Note: Minimum number of students required to hold the session is 5. If enrollment is lower than 5, you have the option of receiving a refund or deferring participation until the next session.

Required Materials

Please purchase these required materials on your own:

You can order all of the required materials from A Place To Remember publisher.

Print the order form (pricing information included).

1. Bonding with Your Baby Before Birth, book by Maria Carella, M.Ed., LPC.
2. How Can I Help?, by Martha Wegner Hay.
3. Audio CD: Parenting Your Baby Before Birth, by J.M. O'Leary and L. Parker.
4. Manual: Parenting Your Baby Before Birth, by J.M. O'Leary and L. Parker.
5. What is Written on the Heart: Primal Issues in Adoption, by Marcy Axness.

Optional purchases, optional reading:

Note: This video is optional because it might be difficult to locate a copy but it is highly recommended if you can obtain a copy:

Rent or purchase video: The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003)(directed by Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa). Available at Amazon Books (approx. $15 retail.)

Teenagers and Their Babies: A Perinatal Home Visitor's Guide, by Ida Cardone, Linda Gilkerson, and Nick Wechsler. Available at Zero to Three website, $29.95.

Additional Information

Download a course informational flyer (pdf file)

Please feel free to post or distribute this flyer at your organization to those who may be interested in this course.

2009 Online Course Schedule (pdf file)

Sample syllabus available upon request
(request from Karen Anderson at 612-625-6617 or ander352@umn.edu)

How To Register

Questions?

If you have any questions on registering for this course, please contact Karen Anderson, tech and support for these courses, at 612-625-6617 or ander352@umn.edu.

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