Enriching ECHO (Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes) cohorts with High-risk Pregnancies and Children with Disabilities

The goal of the ECHO Program is to understand the effects of a broad range of early environmental influences on child health and development. ECHO aims to enhance the health of children and adolescents through research to inform health care practices, programs, and policies. By exploring five broad areas of health (pre and perinatal, respiratory, obesity, neurodevelopmental, and positive health) ECHO research can comprehensively assess factors affecting child health and how to enhance outcomes. ECHO aims to enhance the health of children and adolescents through research that may help inform healthcare practices, programs, and policies and create a culture that helps teams of child health researchers work together to achieve the best results. The Enriching ECHO with Disabilities cohort aims to advance disability inclusivity in ECHO research and leverage existing data from ECHO participants with disabilities.

The scientific premise of Enriching ECHO is that psychosocial environmental exposures (social determinants of health, stress, discrimination, etc.) and modifiable personal factors (parenting style, social supports, mental health) impact the physical and emotional health of children with disabilities resulting in definable outcomes of function, well-being, and participation in community and family life. The hypothesis is that it is possible to identify environmental factors associated with better-than-expected positive health outcomes along the continuum of disability to typical development. NICHQ is contracted to support the efforts of Enriching ECHO by administering the remote (electronic) surveys, providing project management support, tracking progress toward key cohort metrics, and developing appropriate measurement strategies to assess overall cohort progress.