Jennifer Harrison Elder
Jennifer Harrison Elder is a prominent professor at the University of Florida with over twenty years of experience in the field of childhood psychiatric and mental health nursing. Born in 1954 in Atlanta, Georgia, she earned a BSN from the Medical College of Georgia and later obtained a master's degree and a PhD from the University of Florida. Elder's early career involved intensive work with mentally ill elderly patients and a focus on mentoring honors students. Her research has significantly advanced the understanding of autism spectrum disorders, particularly the impact of neuropsychiatric disabilities on children and their families.
One of her notable studies investigated the effects of a gluten-free diet on children with autism, which sparked ongoing debate within the scientific community. Additionally, Elder has highlighted the disparities in early autism diagnosis linked to socioeconomic status, particularly among rural families. Beyond her academic contributions, she has worked with vulnerable populations, including homeless pregnant women and low-income families, and developed an assessment model for parents to gauge potential autistic symptoms in their children. Her advocacy and research have played a crucial role in increasing awareness and funding for autism-related issues. Elder resides in Micanopy, Florida, with her husband, Steve Elder, and their three children.
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Jennifer Harrison Elder
Nursing theorist
- Born: 1954
- Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia
- Education: Medical College of Georgia; University of Florida
- Significance: A professor with more than twenty years of experience at the University of Florida, Jennifer Harrison Elder is one of the leading academic authorities on childhood psychiatric and mental health nursing.
Background
Jennifer Harrison Elder was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1954. She received a BSN in nursing from the Medical College of Georgia in 1976. For a short time, she worked as an intensive care nurse. After considering her options, she enrolled in the University of Florida, where she graduated with a master’s degree in nursing science. Her specialty there was adult mental health nursing. Then, after briefly working with mentally ill elderly patients, she again enrolled at the University of Florida, where she earned her PhD in nursing. Elder’s doctoral dissertation was called "The Effects of In-Home Communication Intervention for Families of Multiple Handicapped Children," which was a precursor of the work that she would be doing later in her career.
Immediately after graduating, Elder accepted a professorship with the same university, and in her early career she focused mainly on mentoring University of Florida honors students and coordinating doctoral dissertation committees. Before she branched out into more publicly oriented work, Elder received numerous awards for her teaching, including the Howard Hughes Mentoring Institute Distinguished Mentor Award. She became associate dean for research in 2010.
Life’s Work
Elder’s work outside the university sphere mainly focused on children with neuropsychiatric disabilities such as autism and how these conditions affected their families. One of her landmark works was her investigation of whether the strategy of administering a gluten-free diet to a child with autism was meritorious. In 2008, Elder and her colleagues conducted a twelve-week, double-blind trial where one group was given a gluten-free diet and the other maintained their regular diet. Elder found that parents of some of the gluten-free children noticed significant changes in their child’s behavior; however, according to standard measurements of autism symptoms, these results were inconclusive, and the debate about whether a gluten-free diet actually affects autism symptoms has lingered on.
In one particular article for the journal Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Elder discovered a link between socioeconomic status and the possibility of early diagnosis for autism spectrum disorders. She and her colleagues found that, in particular, families in rural areas suffered the most in terms of potentially detecting early symptoms of autism, and that in some cases, harmful forms of treatment were used instead of medication and psychotherapy.
Elder has branched out to other areas of socially conscious work that are not necessarily similar to nursing. Since the mid-1980s, Elder has worked as the director at Arbor House, a Gainesville, Florida, homeless shelter for pregnant women. The shelter doubles as a research site, and Elder and her team use it to evaluate the best ways to take care of homeless women. Elder is also the founder of the Family Training Research Project, which has established proven methods to help groups such as low-income families, single-parent families, and families who have children with mental health problems or developmental disabilities. She is also a certified autism diagnostic interviewer.
Perhaps Elder’s most influential work is an assessment model that parents who suspect their child might have autism can use to gauge autistic symptoms. This model is used when parents and children are playing together. The first process, called "following the child’s lead," involves engaging with the child in a playing activity that the child is already performing. For example, if a child is playing with a toy car, then the parent should sit next to them and imitate the child’s playing. The second process, "imitation with animation," involves exaggerated movements performed by the parents that are designed to elicit a child’s response. The third process, "commenting on the child," means that a parent should comment on some aspect of the play. Finally, the fourth process, "expectant waiting," means waiting for a response from the child. According to Elder, if the four processes are repeated and the end result is no response from the child, then the possibility of some kind of autism spectrum disorder is apparent.
Impact
Elder’s work on children with autism and the effect the disorder has on American families has had a profound impact on popular awareness of autism spectrum disorders; the greater awareness of the issue to which she has contributed has led to more funding and better rates of diagnosis.
Personal Life
Jennifer Harrison Elder and her husband, Steve Elder, a local politician, settled in the Florida town of Micanopy in 1982. The couple has three children: Josh (born 1980), Tim (born 1983), and Barbara (born 1986).
Bibliography
Dulcan, Mina K. Dulcan’s Textbook of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Arlington: Amer. Psychiatric Assn., 2015. Print.
Elbe, Dean, et al. Clinical Handbook of Psychotropic Drugs for Children and Adolescents. Ontario: Hogrefe, 2014. Print.
"Jennifer Harrison Elder, Ph.D., R.N." University of Florida Research Foundation Professors, 2015, ufrfprofessors.research.ufl.edu/elder-jennifer-harrison/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.
Preston, John D. Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychopharmacology Made Simple. Oakland: New Harbinger, 2015. Print.
Thapar, Anita, et al. Rutter’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Hoboken: Wiley, 2015. Print.
Wilmshurt, Linda A. Child and Adolescent Psychopathology: A Casebook. New York: Sage, 2014. Print.