Sarah M. Hutchison

• PhD
• Sunny Hill Child Development and Rehabilitation Research Manager at University of British Columbia

Background Individuals diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have a heterogeneous range of neurodevelopmental impairments with lifelong impacts on functioning. In Canada, a FASD diagnosis is made through a multidisciplinary team assessment, using the 2015 Canadian FASD Diagnostic Guidelines. Studies show that early diagnosis and int...

Background: Little is known about how parents combine multiple physical activity (PA) parenting practices (PAPP) and their relationship with their child's activity level. This study examined patterns of PAPP and their associations with sociodemographic characteristics and children's PA. Methods: Parents of 5- to 12-year-olds (n = 618) completed the...

Background: Oxytocin is a neuropeptide hormone that plays a key role in social behaviour, stress regulation, and mental health. Synthetic oxytocin administration is a common obstetrical practice, and importantly, previous research has suggested that intrapartum exposure may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum...

Objective To determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among school workers within the Greater Vancouver area, British Columbia, Canada, after the first Omicron wave. Design Cross-sectional study by online questionnaire, with blood serology testing. Setting Three main school districts (Vancouver, Richmond and Delta) in the Vancouver metropolitan ar...

Background: Prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant exposure is associated with increased internalising and anxious behaviours in young children; whether this continues into early adolescence is unknown. Also, it is not well established whether it is the in utero exposure to SSRIs or the underlying maternal mood that...

Objective To determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among school workers in the setting of full in-person schooling and the highly transmissible Omicron variants of concern. Design Cross-sectional study among school staff, comparing to period-, age-, sex- and postal code-weighted data from Canadian blood donors from the same community. Setting T...

Background The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine intentions among school staff as high vaccine uptake is essential to ensure schools return to normal activities. Methods Staff (e.g., teachers, administrators, student support workers) from three urban school districts in the Greater Vancouver Area of Brit...

Objectives Few studies reported COVID-19 cases in schools during the 2020/21 academic year in a setting of uninterrupted in-person schooling. The main objective was to determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among school staff in Vancouver public schools. Design Cumulative incident COVID-19 cases among all students and school staff based on public...

Background The aim of this study was to: 1) assess mental health symptoms in Canadian school staff during the second year of the pandemic (Spring 2021) and compare these same outcomes to national representative samples, and 2: examine whether the number of hours of direct contact with students was a significant predictor of anxiety symptoms. Metho...

Background: Facilitating communication between adolescents and HCP outside of appointments may enhance patient experience and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether SMS enhances the healthcare experience, QoL, and medication adherence in adolescent SOT patients. Methods: This was a prospective observational study of an SMS...

Background: Up to 20% of mothers experience antenatal depression and approximately 30% of these women are treated with serotonergic psychotropic pharmacological therapy during pregnancy. Serotonergic antidepressants readily cross the placenta and the fetal blood-brain barrier, altering central synaptic serotonin signaling and potentially altering...

BACKGROUND Up to 20% of mothers experience antenatal depression and approximately 30% of these women are treated with serotonergic psychotropic pharmacological therapy during pregnancy. Serotonergic antidepressants readily cross the placenta and the fetal blood-brain barrier, altering central synaptic serotonin signaling and potentially altering se...

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the public health measures to combat it, have strained the finances of many families. While parents transitioned to working from home, children transitioned to learning virtually, limiting their organized social and physical activities. Families also reduced the frequency and size of gatherings, impacting psychological we...

Children with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) experience a range of adverse outcomes that impact multiple domains of functioning, including cognitive, physical, mental health, behavioral, social-emotional, communication, and learning. To inform tailored clinical intervention, the current study examined the relation between caregiver-reported cognit...

Importance: Contact-tracing studies suggest minimal secondary transmission in schools. However, there are limited school data accounting for asymptomatic cases, particularly late in the 2020/21 school year, and in the context of uninterrupted in-person schooling and widespread community transmission. Objectives: To determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprev...

Self-report measures offer a unique source of information in the assessment and intervention of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, it is not known if children with autism spectrum disorder can answer self-report questionnaires accurately and consistently. As a step to address this issue, we examined validity indexes of the Behavior...

The developmental impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and other antidepressant treatments during gestation and postpartum on anxiety and depression behaviors in offspring is unclear. This review focuses on how perinatal exposure to SSRI and other antidepressant may have long term consequences for these affective behaviors during...

Our aim was to examine the role of parents in the transmission of weight bias to young children. Specifically, we assessed mothers’ and fathers’ weight bias and beliefs about the controllability of weight, and fear of fat in relation to their children’s weight bias. Eighty-three mothers, 57 fathers, and their children (4- to 7-year-olds) participat...

Agreement between parent and adolescent ratings of executive function (EF) is not known in adolescents with solid organ transplant (SOT), even though pressing concerns about EF deficits are being raised in this population. The current study investigated EF in adolescents with SOT using parent and self report. Twenty-five adolescents (M¼15.51 years)...

Despite average or above cognitive and verbal abilities, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties in functional and social communication. Executive functioning (EF) may be the cognitive and regulatory mechanism that underlies these difficulties. Parents rated 92 children with ASD as demonstrating significantly more...

Purpose Pediatric heart transplant (PHTx) patients require life-long medication and follow up. Adolescents are a vulnerable population with multifactorial reasons for non-adherence to their medical needs. Adherence may depend on the cognitive skills required to plan and to self-regulate, referred to as executive function (EF). Deficits in EF are as...

Objective: This study assessed associations between maternal depressive symptoms, prenatal maternal antidepressant treatment, maternal estimates of child physical activity (PA), dietary total intake, and markers of adiposity. Methods: Mothers and their children (N = 116) were part of a longitudinal cohort study examining the effects of prenatal...

Background Building on research reports that early and chronic exposure to maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) adversely affects children's developing executive function (EF), this longitudinal study examined whether exposure to MDS and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant treatment during pregnancy predicted individual diff...

Weight-related attitudes refer to negative attitudes toward individuals because they are overweight or obese. These attitudes are widespread among children and adults and have been proven to be recalcitrant to intervention. To develop more effective interventions, it is necessary to understand the origin and development of explicit and implicit wei...

The long-term impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant treatment during pregnancy and postpartum on offspring outcomes is still not clear. Specifically, perinatal SSRI exposure may have long-term consequences for body weight and related health outcomes in the newborn period and beyond. This review focuses on the impact...

Parents and professionals are concerned that second language exposure may delay communication in children with ASD. In this study 174 youth (6–16 years) with and without ASD, exposed to a second language, were compared on executive function (EF) and functional communication (FC) with their peers without exposure. There were no significant differenc...

Objective: The current study investigated executive function (EF) in young children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using multiple methods of assessment. Method: Young children (M = 63.2 months) with and without ASD, matched on age, IQ, and maternal education, were assessed on computerized measures of working memory, inhibition,...

The concept of distancing or polarization plays a central role in Werner and Kaplan's account of symbol formation. It refers to the process of progressive differentiation and hierarchic integration of the four components constitutive of symbolic activity: addressor, addressee, symbolic vehicle and referent. Specifically, Werner and Kaplan suggest t...