When it comes to children’s well-being, physical health may be what first comes to mind. More recently, mental health is being seen as an important indicator of their overall health and well being. In academic circles, scholars have been exploring methods and approaches to ameliorating children's mental health.
Additionally, fostering a psychologically and emotionally stable learning environment for the next generation is not only seen as a priority but an imperative. On March 19, a symposium at NYU Shanghai on “Child Health and Wellbeing: Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice” addressed that topic with speakers from a diverse range of fields, including sociology, psychology, global public health, medicine, and humanities.
NYU Shanghai, NYU Silver School of Social Work, and Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine collaborated to organize the symposium. Approximately 200 people attended the symposium at the New Bund campus and online, including students, researchers, and practitioners from clinics, hospitals, schools, and social service fields across China.
NYU Shanghai Professor Qingwen Xu, who coordinates the NYU Shanghai-NYU Silver MSW Program at Shanghai and New York, says the symposium’s focus on the intersection of children’s health and mental health has never been more crucial. “It's time to talk about the children,” she said. “In China, there is a great amount of attention particularly, in recent years, on the mental health of children. We're in the process of constructing and promoting the social workers’ role in children’s life, as social workers can be quite useful and meaningful in settings like schools and hospitals.”
In her opening speech at the symposium, Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen highlighted the universal importance of public health and child welfare.
“There are certain things that we all have in common wherever we live, whoever we are, whatever we believe in,” she said. “And for each and every one of us, the most precious resource that we have is the next generation. It is vitally important to take care of their wellbeing in every possible way.”
The conference featured leading researchers and scholars from around the world who shared trends and future developments in the arena of children’s health and wellbeing. In a session on Child Health and Environment, moderated by Ji Qingying of the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, NYU Silver School of Social Work Dean and American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare President Michael A. Lindsey discussed suicide behavior trends among U.S. adolescents and provided an analysis of ethnocultural differences in risks and protections. Jiang Fan, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, spoke about the focus shift from child survival to child development in China and practice implications for medicine, education and social services. Wan Guowei, a professor at East China Normal University, shed light upon the prevalence of child abuse, PTSD, and risk factors for gender-based child protection policies in China. NYU Silver School of Social Work Professor Ramesh Raghavan illustrated his new conceptualization and indicators of child well-being and findings on investing in child well-being.
Scholars also presented research on physical and mental health and intervention services, which was moderated by NYU Shanghai Clinical Associate Professor Jin Minchao. Wang Guohai shared findings from the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center on the connection of sleep and adolescent mental health. Song Xitong from the Shanghai United Foundation presented their program One Egg, demonstrating the pathways of public welfare programs supporting the nutritional needs of rural preschool children. NYU Shanghai Associate Professor of Psychology Cui Lixian shared findings on the psychosocial adaptation of Chinese children and adolescents and presented the way of translating basic research into emotion-related education and other practices.
NYU Shanghai Assistant Professor of Global Public Health Han Jin discussed the use of digital technology to promote mental health, intervene, and empower adolescents. The Rici Foundation’s Zhen Zhang introduced the process of using research findings to address mental health needs among rural children in China and explored mental health education programs in primary and secondary schools through a preventive lens. Chen Jingzhi with the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center described the practice of medical social workers intervene to prevent adolescents from self-harm.
The symposium showcased the importance of fusing translating research into practice and emphasized the value of collaboration across multidisciplinary studies in forming solutions geared toward improving the emotional and physical well-being of the next generation to come.
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About the Master of Social Work Program (MSW)
NYU Shanghai - NYU Silver’s Joint MSW at Shanghai and New York Program is the only MSW program of an American university in China. The program provides the opportunity to experience an innovative global MSW education. Extended immersion in Shanghai and New York allows students to critically reflect on cultural, social, and economic similarities and differences between these two environments, and it enhances their learning about and capacity for culturally appropriate practice.