Faculty Profiles
Ruth Paris
Assistant Professor
Clinical Practice
Director, Family Therapy
Certificate Program
Phone: 617-353-3752
rparis@bu.edu
Education
B.A. (psychology and sociology) Clark University
M.S.W. Smith College
Ph.D. (social welfare) University of California, Berkeley
Postdoctoral Fellow (School of Public Health) University of California, Berkeley
Courses Taught
CP759 Introduction to Clinical Social Work Practice
CP781 Clinical Social Work Assessment and Intervention
CP785 Family Therapy
SR 904 Quantitative Clinical Research Methods
Scholarly Practice Interests
Therapeutic interventions for parents and young children; cross-cultural parenting; care giving over the life course; mixed methods research; family therapy practice and research
Selected Publications
Paris, R., Spielman, E., & Bolton, R. (in press). Mother-infant psychotherapy: Examining the therapeutic process of change. Infant Mental Health Journal.
Paris, R., & DeVoe, E.R. (2008). Human needs: Family. In T. Mizrahi & L. Davis (Eds), Encyclopedia of Social Work (20th edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
Paris, R. (2008). "For the dream of being here, one sacrifices...": Voices of immigrant mothers in a home visiting program. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(2), 141-151.
Paris, R. Spielman, E., & Bolton, R. (under review). A multi-modal program for treating depressed new mothers and their infants: Examining the process of what we do and how we know. Infant Mental Health Journal.
Gonyea, J., Paris, R., & Zerden, L. (2008). Adult daughters and aging mothers: The role of guilt in the experience of caregiver burden. Aging and Mental Health, 12(5), 559-567.
Collins, M.E., Paris, R., & Ward, R.(2008). The permanence of family ties: Implications for youth transitioning from foster care. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(1), 54-62.
Paris, R., Gemborys, M., Kaufman, P., Whitehill, D. (2007). Reaching isolated new mothers: Insights from a home-visiting program using paraprofessionals. Families in Society.
Paris, R. & Bronson, M. (2006). A home-based intervention for immigrant and refugee trauma survivors: Paraprofessionals working with high-risk mothers and infants. Zero to Three, 27(2).
Paris, R. & Dubus, N. (2005). Staying connected while nurturing an infant: A challenge of new motherhood. Family Relations, 54(1) 72-83.
Paris, R. & Helson, R. (2002). Early mothering experience and personality change. Journal of Family Psychology, 16(2) 172-185.
Selected Presentations
Bolton, R. & Paris, R. (2008, October). Symptom reduction among women enrolled in a dyadic home-based therapeutic intervention for postpartum depression. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, San Diego, CA.
Paris, R., Weinberg, M.K. & Bolton, R. (2008, January). Postpartum depression and mother-infant interactions: Findings from a study of a home-based therapeutic intervention. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, D.C.
Paris, R., Bolton, R., & Lee, J. (2008, January). Understanding how a home-based therapeutic intervention helps women with postpartum depression and their infants. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, D.C.
Paris, R. (2008, October). Dislocation and trauma: Lessons learned from immigrant mothers in a home visiting program. Presentations at the Boston University School of Social Work and School of Education Institute on Immigrants and Refugees, Boston, MA.
Paris, R., Kaufman, P., & Spielman, E. (2008, June). Clinicians and researchers in collaboration: Studying the process of an intervention for women with postpartum depression and their infants. Keynote presentation at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Advanced Summer Institute, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA.
Paris, R. (2008, April). ’For the dream of being here one sacrifices…:’ Voices of immigrant mothers in a home visiting program. Presentation at the symposium, Home Visiting Initiatives Across Cultures and Continents, Greater Boston Jewish Family and Children’s Service, Waltham, MA.
Paris, R., Weinberg, K., & Bolton, R. (2007, December). Mood disorders and mother-infant interactions: Early findings from a study of a home-based therapy. Presentation at the National Training Institute of Zero to Three, Orlando, FL.
Gonyea, J., Paris, R., & Zerden, L. (2007, November). Adult daughters and aging mothers: The experience of guilt and caregiver burden. Presentation at Gerontological Society of America Annual Research Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Devoe, E.R., Miranda, C., & Paris, R. (July, 2007). Parenting processes, violence exposure and metal health in urban children. Poster presented at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH.
Paris, R. (2007), March). Immigrant/refugee mothers in a home-visiting program: Stories of loss, isolation and adaptation. Poster presented at the Society for Research of Child Development, Boston, MA.
Paris, R. (2006, December). Voices of immigrant mothers: Experiences of Latina participants in a home-visiting program. Presentation at the National Training Institute of Zero to Three, Albuquerque, NM.
Paris, R., Alvarado, B., Bronson, M., Oo, S., Marable, D., Miller, E., (2006, November). Experiences of Latina mothers in a home-visiting program: Stories of trauma and resilience. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Boston, MA.
Spielman, E., Kaufman, P., Paris, R. (2006, July). A multi-modal program for treating depressed new mothers, their babies and partners: What is it we do and how do we know? Workshop presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Paris, France.
Miller, E., Decker, M., Reed, E., Hathaway, J., Raj, A., Paris, R., Silverman, J.(2005, December). Condom nonuse in the context of partner violence: Voices of adolescent girls. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, PA
Paris, R., Bronson, M., Hirsi, F. & Ramao, R.(2005, November). A home-based intervention for immigrant trauma survivors: Mothers and infants at risk of attachment difficulties. Presentation at the National Training Institute of Zero to Three, Washington, D.C.
Selected Grant Activity
Co-Investigator. (2008-2012). Family-Based Intervention With Traumatized Service Members and Their Young Children. Grant from the Department of Defense (PT074928), $1,583,844. The primary goal of this research project is to develop and test the effect of a family-based intervention designed to mitigate the adverse impact of PTSD in soldiers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on the soldier parent-child relationship. (PI: Ellen DeVoe, MSW, Ph.D.)
Principal Investigator. (2005-2008): Primary Prevention for Very Young Children: Studying the Intervention Methods of a Home-Based Parent-Infant Treatment. Two year grant from the Centers for Women at Wellesley College to evaluate a home-based treatment for women with postpartum mood disorders and their infants.
Principal Investigator. (2005-2007): Evaluation of a Home-Based Clinical Intervention for Women with Postpartum Mood Disorders and their Infants, Two year grant from The Silberman Fund, New York Community Trust to evaluate the effectiveness of a therapeutic program for women with postpartum mood disorders and their infants by using a multi-method assessment of the mother’s functioning, infant behavior, and mother-infant interactions before and after the intervention.
Principal Investigator. (2002-2005): Evaluation of Visiting Moms at MGH Chelsea.
Three year grant funded by the Jesse du Pont Family Foundation to evaluate the efficacy of psycho-social interventions with at-risk immigrant and refugee mothers of infants at a Harvard affiliated health center.
Consulting and Professional Activities
Qualitative Research Consultant, Harvard School of Public Health, Impact of Domestic Violence on Cancer Treatment, Jeanne Hathaway, M.D., M.P.H., Principal Investigator 2005-2007
Research consultant, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, Center for Early Relationship Support, Waltham, MA, 2002-present
Co-Convenor. Jean Baker Miller Training Institute Research Network. 2000-present
Consulting Editor, Families in Society, 2003-present
Awards and Honors
Newhouse Fellowship, 1991
The Henry A. Murray Dissertation Award, Radcliffe College, June 1995
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare, 1997
Licensing and Certification
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, State of California
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, State of Massachusetts
Download Recent Presentations
SRCD || April 4, 2009 || "Early Connections" Intervention for Depressed Mothers & Infants
