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Washington State University

Louise Parker

Louise Parker

Professor, Extension Family Development Seattle, WA 305 NE Troy Mall

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Louise Parker is a Human Development faculty member with a full-time Extension appointment. In her Extension role, she seeks to connect the research interests of department colleagues and other interdisciplinary prevention researchers with extension faculty and programs based in communities across the state. Dr. Parker has been  a Co-Investigator on three federally funded prevention projects that are focused on family interventions to childhood obesity, and on a CAHNRS funded project to develop and evaluate a parent education program focused on improving the capacity of Latina mothers in helping their children cope with stress. Dr. Parker co-directs the IMPACT Research Lab with Drs. Cooper and Hill.

Education/Training

  • Ph.D. Human Development and Family Studies, Oregon State University, 1992
  • M.S. Family Resource Management, Oregon State University, 1979
  • B.A. Home Economics, Western Washington University, 1975
    Knowledge Translation Professional Certificate, The Hospital for Sick Children and Continuing Professional Development, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Toronto, June 2018.

Professional Experience

Dr. Parker has worked for Extension in county, state and administrative roles for over thirty years. She has substantial experience with multi-state, agency and interdisciplinary collaborations. Her most recent work focuses on bridging the research and outreach missions of the institution by facilitating projects in which researchers and extension practitioners partner to improve the quality of community-based prevention programs for youth and families. Louise is also active in promoting Extension’s commitment to diversity, and she is a co-developer and trainer for Navigating Difference, a nationally recognized cultural competency skills development program.

Current Research

The current focus of Dr. Parker’s research is the development, testing and dissemination of family interventions that address a number of risk factors. She has worked with three interdisciplinary teams that designed and conducted trials on curricula that targeted the prevention of childhood obesity. The first was a program for Latino mothers of preschool children that focused on parental feeding styles (SEEDs:  Strategies for Effective Eating Development). A second project (FoodMania) targeted parents and their school-aged children to provide media literacy education that influenced the impact of food advertising on child nutrition and healthy development, and the third explored the efficacy of embedding the SEEDs videos in a nutrition education curriculum for low income families in face to face and online delivery versions. Dr. Parker has also worked with a team of faculty researchers and graduate students to develop and evaluate a program for Latina mothers that increased their ability to support their children’s coping in stressful situations. She has an ongoing interest in the cultural adaptation of evidence based interventions for diverse families.

Grants

  • 2015-2020 Use of Engaging Online Videos in Conjunction with New Feeding Content to Enhance a Current EFNEP Program in the Prevention of Childhood Obestiy. USDA NIFA ($2,139,105). Co-Investigator
  • 2015-2017 Helping Children Cope with Stress: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Parent-Education Program for Low-Income Latina Mothers. CAHNRS Research Initiatve for Human Sciences ($45,000). Co-Investigator
  • 2012-2017 A Family-Based Media Literacy Approach to Improving Youth and Family Nutrition. USDA NIFA ($2,482,697). Co-Investigator
  • 2011-2016 Promoting the Self-Regulation of Energy Intake in African American and Latino Preschoolers: A Family-Focused Obesity Prevention Program. USDA NIFA ($4,194,603 multi-state with $1,686,433 for WSU subcontract). Co-Investigator
  • 2003-2008 Cultivating Community Strengths Together: $682,000 from CSREES/USDA. Co-Principal Investigator
  • 1997-2002 Partners in Promoting Strengths: $801,000 from CSREES/USDA. Co-Principal Investigator

Selected Publications

Austin E.W., Austin B., Kaiser C.K., Edwards Z., Parker L., Power T.G. (2020). A Media Literacy-Based Nutrition Program Fosters Parent-Child Food Marketing Discussions, Improves Home Food Environment, and Youth Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables. Child Obes. 2020; doi:10.1089/chi.2019.0240

Hill, L. G., Cooper, B. R., & Parker, L. A. (2019). Qualitative Comparative Analysis: A mixed-method tool for complex implementation questions. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 40(1), 69-87. (2, 5, 6)

Hughes, S., Power, T., Beck, A., Betz, D., Calodich, S., Goodell, S., Hill, L.G, Hill, R., Jaramillo Duran, A., Johnson, S., Lanigan, J.D., Lawrence, A.C., Martinez, A., Nesbitt, M., Overath, R., Parker, L., Ullrich-French, S. (2016). Strategies for effective eating development – SEEDS: Design of an obesity prevention program to promote healthy food preferences and eating self-regulation in low-income children. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48(6): 405-418.e.1.

Deen, M., Parker, L.A., Hill, L.G., Huskey, M., & Whitehall, A.P. (2014). Navigating difference: Development and implementation of a successful cultural competency training for extension and outreach professionals. Journal of Extension, 52(1).

Hill, L.G., Parker, L.A., McGuire, J.K., & Sage, R.A. (2009). Institutionalising science-based practices in children’s services. Journal of Children’s Services, 3(4), 32-45.

Hill, L.G. & Parker, L.A. (2005). Extension as a delivery system for prevention programming: Capacity, barriers, and opportunities. Journal of Extension 43(1).

Parker, L. (2004). Creating a culture of family support (pp. 25-30 and 99-101), in Achieving Family Friendly Schools: A Family Support Guidebook for School Leaders. Washington Alliance for Better Schools: Bothell, WA.

Parker, L. (1994). The role of workplace support in facilitating self-sufficiency among single mothers on welfare. Family Relations, 43(2), 168-173.

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