Understanding and Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences

Course Description

Summary

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur when individuals are under 18 years old that undermine children’s sense of safety, stability, and bonding with other people (for example, child abuse, food insecurity, witnessing intimate partner violence, caregiver incarceration). In this course we will define ACEs, ACE scores, and trauma, and discuss the impact of ACEs on individuals, families, and communities. We will seek to understand the scope of ACEs in the United States and how ACEs both are caused by and sustain racial, gender, and economic inequality. Despite the negative impact of ACEs, research shows that ACEs are preventable. We will discuss individual (for example, empowerment programs), family-based (for example, parenting skills programs) and community (for example, efforts to reduce child poverty) strategies to prevent ACEs.