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Sandra J. Weiss, PhD, DNSc, RN, FAAN
Robert C. and Delphine Wentland Eschbach Endowed Chair
in Mental Health Nursing
Professor, Dept. of Community Health Systems
2 Koret Way, #N-511P
San Francisco, CA 94143-0608
Telephone: (415) 476-3105 Fax: (415) 476-6042
Email: sandra.weiss@nursing.ucsf.edu
My research and clinical focus is on child and family mental health, with an emphasis on infancy and early childhood. My research goals are 1) the identification of factors that impede versus support the psychological development of high risk infants and children, and 2) the testing of psychotherapeutic interventions that can improve their mental health outcomes.
The major high risk groups with whom I work include children who are born preterm or low birth weight, who are drug exposed in utero, who have experienced traumatic stress, or who have parents challenged by mental illness, substance abuse or domestic violence.
My current research projects involve studies of stress reactivity and somatosensory regulation among preterm infants, fetal drug exposure, and child maltreatment. We are examining the effects of these factors on neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes as well as how parental characteristics and approaches to care may interact with the child's biological and psychological makeup to influence outcomes.
My theoretical bent is psychobiological, integrating developmental neuroscience, psychodynamics and cognitive-behavioral approaches. My research employs psychological assessment, videotape analysis, cognitive testing and biological measures. I have developed computer based coding systems for microanalysis of videotaped data of infant stress responses and of tactile interaction between parents and children.
My teaching is in the field of mental health and psychiatry. My courses include "Theories of Mental Illness", "Psychotherapeutic Interventions with Children," "Advanced Child Developmental Science," "Advanced Quantitative Research Methods", and "Research Methods for Studying Psychological Factors".
In addition, I lecture on topics such as diagnosis and treatment of infant and child mental illness, developmental neuroscience, child-parent psychotherapy, somatosensory vulnerability and sensory regulation in high-risk infants, the neurobiology of traumatic stress, research design, measurement theory, and methods of data analysis.
B.S., Nursing (Psychology Minor), University of San Francisco
M.S., Child and Family Psychiatric Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
D.N.Sc, Child and Family Psychiatric Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
Ph.D., Biological and Developmental Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
Search PubMed for publications by this author.
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Weiss, S., Wilson, P., Hertenstein, M. & Campos, R. (2000). The tactile context of a mother's care-giving: Implications for attachment of low birth weight infants. Infant Behavior and Development. 23: 91-111.
Weiss, S., Wilson, P., St. Jonn-Seed, M. & Paul, S. ( 2001). Early tactile experience of low birth weight children: Links to later mental health and social adaptation. Infant and Child Development. 10: 93-115
Weiss, S. & Puntillo, K. (2001). Predictors of cardiac patients' psycho-physiologic responses to care-giving. International Journal of Nursing Practice. 7(3): 177-187.
Weiss, S. & Chen, J. ( 2002). Factors influencing maternal mental health and family functioning during the low birth weight infant's first year of life. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 17(2): 114-125.
Weiss, S. & St. Jonn-Seed, M. (2002). Precursors of mental health problems for low birth weight children: The salience of family environment during the first year of life. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. 33 (1): 3-27.
St. Jonn-Seed, M. & Weiss, S. (2002). Maternal expressed emotion as a predictor of emotional and behavioral problems in low birth weight children. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 23: 649-672.
Weiss, S. (2003). Children: A vulnerable population. In & C. Kneisl, H.S. Wilson, and E. Trigoboff (Eds.) Contemporary Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. (pp. 589-614). Prentice-Hall: New Jersey.
Weiss, S. & Goebel, P. (2003). Parents' touch of their preterm infants and its relationship to their state of mind regarding touch. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. 17 (3): 185-202.
Lewis, K. & Weiss, S. (2003). Psychometric testing of a neurobehavioral risk assessment for prenatal drug exposure. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 18 (6): 371-378
Weiss, S., Wilson, P. & Morrison, D. (2004). Maternal tactile stimulation and the neurodevelopment of low birth weight infants. Infancy , 5 (1) : 85-101.
Weiss, S., St. Jonn-Seed, M, & Wilson, P. (2004). The temperament of preterm, low birth weight infants and its potential biological substrates. Research in Nursing & Health, 27: 392-402.
Weiss, S. (2005). Haptic perception and the psychosocial functioning of premature, low birth weight children. Infant Behavior and Development, 28 (3): 329-359.
Yamazaki, A., Lee, K., Kennedy, H. & Weiss, S. (2005). Sleep-wake cycles, social rhythms and sleeping arrangements during Japanese childbearing family transition. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, 34: 342-348.
St. Jonn-Seed, M. & Weiss, S. (2005). Maternal state of mind and expressed emotion: Impact of mothers' mental health status, stress and family satisfaction. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses' Association, 11(3): 135-143.
Lee, S., Lee, K., Rankin, S., Alkon, A. & Weiss, S. (2005). Acculturation and stress in Chinese-American parents of infants cared for in the ICU. Advances in Neonatal Care, 5(6): 315-328.
Weiss, S. & Wilson, P. (2006). Origins of tactile vulnerability in high risk infants. Advances in Neonatal Care, 6(1), 25-36.
Weiss, S. (In press). Child Psychiatry. In & C. Kneisl, & E. Trigoboff (Eds.) Contemporary Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. Prentice-Hall: New Jersey.
Lee, S., Lee, K., Rankin, S., Weiss, S. & Alkon, A. (In press). Sleep disturbance, fatigue and stress among Chinese-American parents with ICU hospitalized infants. Issues in Mental health Nursing.
Weiss, S., St.Jonn-Seed, M. & Harris-Muchell, C. (In press). he contribution of fetal drug exposure to temperament: Potential teratogenic effects on neuropsychiatric risk. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Weiss, S. (In press). Neurobiological alterations associated with traumatic stress: Implications for symptomatology and treatment. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care.
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