Salem Professor in Global Practice
Research Program on Children and Adversity
Boston College School of Social Work
Theresa S. Betancourt, ScD, MA, is the inaugural Salem Professor in Global Practice at the Boston College School of Social Work and Director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA). She is Principal Investigator of an intergenerational, longitudinal study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone (LSWAY). Dr. Betancourt has also developed and evaluated the impact of a Family Strengthening Intervention for HIV-affected children and families and is leading the investigation of a home-visiting early childhood development (ECD) intervention to promote enriched parent-child relationships and prevent violence that can be integrated within poverty reduction/social protection initiatives in Rwanda. In the US, she is engaged in community-based participatory research on family-based prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in refugee children and adolescents resettled in the U.S. through the collaborative development and evaluation of parenting programs led by refugees for refugees that can be linked to prevention services involving refugee community health workers.
Email: theresa.betancourt@bc.edu