Community Health and Development News

A University of Kansas researcher who developed the first screening tool for eating disorders in veterans has been awarded a four-year, $4.2 million grant by the Department of Defense to address this condition in active-duty members of the military.

KU Life Span Institute investigator Tera Fazzino’s research on “hyperpalatable” foods caught the attention of YouTuber Chris MacAskill, who on March 25 featured her on his Plant Chompers channel.

The Cofrin Logan Center's bar lab plays host to SAPEC 'Barstander' training session to help students identify warning signs of escalating behavior, build their confidence as bystanders and to allow them to fail safely at trying out different intervention strategies.

Jomella Watson-Thompson is leading one of only five federally-funded national centers of excellence on youth violence prevention with the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center-Kansas City (YVPC-KC).

The Building Healthy Eating and Self-Esteem Together for University Students, or “BEST-U,” app has been helping students at KU living with eating disorders and soon could be expanded to other universities.

A record number of attendees participated in this year’s Autism Across the Life Span conference on March 24 at the KU Edwards Campus. More than 175 registered to attend the one-day event, hosted by the KU Life Span Institute’s Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training.

The Assistive Technology for Kansans Advisory Council, learned about initiatives to increase communication and technology access across the state on March 23 during the council’s spring meeting.  

The Autism Across the Lifespan conference also will feature a panel discussion by women with autism on how this demographic has been historically overlooked within the autistic community. They will discuss neurodiversity, sexuality, relationships and community engagement.

The new podcast Black Feathers provides a platform for discussions on disability and mental health within Tribal Nations.

If losing weight was among your 2023 resolutions, findings by researchers from KU and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may provide clearer guidance about the food you put on your plate.