Kate Guastaferro

Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Co-Director of the Center for the Advancement and Dissemination of Intervention Optimization

Director of the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Program

Professional overview

Kate Guastaferro, PhD is an intervention scientist by training, her work is devoted to the development, optimization, implementation and evaluation of effective, efficient, affordable and scalable interventions with high public health impact. She is an expert in the multiphase optimization (MOST) strategy and her expertise is in parent-focused, multicomponent behavioral interventions to prevent child maltreatment. Dr. Guastaferro co-led a statewide trial focused on the coordinated implementation of three evidence-base child sexual abuse prevention programs; included in this trial was the parent-focused child sexual abuse program that she developed, piloted and evaluated. Her current work is focused on the integration of intervention optimization into the prevention of child maltreatment.

Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Guastaferro was an assistant research professor in human development and family studies at the Pennsylvania State University, and an affiliate of its Prevention Research Center and Child Maltreatment Solutions Network. In 2020, she was awarded the Victoria S. Levin Award for Early Career Success in Young Children’s Mental Health Research from the Society for Research in Child Development. She has been published in Child Maltreatment, Translational Behavioral Medicine, and the American Journal of Public Health.

Dr. Guastaferro received her PhD and MPH from Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, and her BA in anthropology from Boston University. She also completed a year of postdoctoral training at the Pennsylvania State University.

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, Prevention and Methodology Training Program (T32 DA017629), The Pennsylvania State University

PhD Public Health, Georgia State University

MPH Health Promotion, Georgia State University

BA Anthropology, Boston University

Honors and awards

Victoria S. Levin Award, Society for Research on Child Development (2020)

NIH Loan Repayment Program Award: Toward the Optimization of Behavioral Interventions to Prevent Child Maltreatment (201820192020)

Public Health Achievement Award, Georgia State University (2016)

Scarlet Key Honor Society, Boston University (2008)

Publications

Publications

Examining the development and optimization trial findings of itMatters: An online STI preventive intervention for college students. 

Introduction to the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) for building more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable behavioral and biobehavioral interventions.

Is sexual abuse a unique predictor of sexual risk behaviors, pregnancy, and motherhood in adolescence?

ItMatters: An empirical and iterative optimization of an online STI preventive intervention.

Modification to a systematically braided parent-support curriculum: Results from a feasibility pilot

Optimization Trials for Digital Interventions

Parent-focused Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Results from an Acceptability & Feasibility Pilot.

Smart Parents – Safe and Healthy Kids. 

The effect of substantiated and unsubstantiated investigations of child maltreatment and subsequent adolescent health

The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative: A Comprehensive Sexual Abuse Prevention Strategy.

A guide to programs for parenting children with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, or developmental disabilities: Evidence-based guidance for professionals

A parent education program designed to enhance the developmental growth of infants at-risk for autism

Braiding two evidence-based programs for families at-risk: Results of a cluster randomized trial

Innovative Methods in Home Visiting: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy. 

Linking patterns of substance use with sexual risk-taking among female adolescents with and without histories of maltreatment

Linking patterns of substance use with sexual risk-taking among female adolescents with and without histories of maltreatment.

Optimization of an online STI preventive intervention targeting college students.

Using MOST to develop an optimized online STI preventive intervention aimed at college students: Description of conceptual model and iterative approach to optimization

Drug courts: A secondary prevention model

Engaging adult drug court clients in leisure activities to promote recovery and pro-social interactions. 

Examining patterns of child maltreatment history and adulthood mental health and substance use outcomes.

Getting the most juice for the squeeze: Where SafeCare® and other evidence-based programs need to evolve to better protect children

Implementing a braided home-based parent support curriculum: Lessons learned

Innovations in parent-training interventions for parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Innovative Methods: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST).