Kate Guastaferro

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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

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

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

Maltreatment of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Story of Mothers with IDD – Relationships and Social Networks.

Parent-focused child sexual abuse prevention: A brief overview of curriculum development and pilot testing.

Parents as Teachers + SafeCare at Home (PATSCH): Collaboration to meet the needs of families.

Systematic braiding as an intervention strategy for families at high-risk: Results of a cluster randomized trial.

Systematic braiding of 2 evidence-based parent training programs: Qualitative results from the pilot phase

A preliminary analysis of the relationship between hazards in the home and the potential for abuse with families at-risk

A story of mothers with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Relationships and social networks

Coalition for Research on Engagement & Well-being: 3 Pilot Studies.

Maltreatment of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan

Parent-infant interaction training with a Latino mother

Practices targeting child neglect: The use of SafeCare® to enhance parenting skills to reduce neglect

The Evaluation of Parents as Teachers (PAT) + SafeCare to Improve Outcomes for High-Risk Families.

Training mothers recoving from substance abuse to identify and treat their children's illnesses

Using a technological augmentation to enhance parent-infant interactions with parents at risk

An exploratory study of grandparents raising grandchildren and the criminal justice system: A research note

Collaborative Home Visiting: Working Together to Create a Braided Curriculum.

Use of mobile phones to help prevent child maltreatment

A qualitative discussion of technology enhanced service delivery: Parent and provider considerations.

Braiding two evidenced-based models: Parents as Teachers and SafeCare®

Evidence-Based Programs and Child Maltreatment: How can we get the “most juice for the squeeze”?

Improving family functioning of adult drug court clients.

Improving outcomes for adult drug court clients and their children.

Meeting the needs of families at high-risk for child maltreatment: The braiding of two evidence-based curricula.

Meeting the Needs of High Risk Families: A systematic approach to braiding of two evidence-based parenting programs to best meet the needs of high-risk parents and highlight interim results of a current randomized controlled trial.