Center for Global Health and Development

For the past 17 years, Dr. Dearden has provided technical assistance to not-for-profit institutions to help them evaluate and improve upon the delivery of health services. For the first 12 years of his career, Dr. Dearden worked as senior research and evaluation specialist at the Academy for Educational Development, Johns Hopkins University, Save the Children, and the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh. More recently, he spent 5 years as a faculty member at Brigham Young University. Dr. Dearden continues to consult on applied research with the Academy for Educational Development, Save the Children/US, Freedom from Hunger, USAID and the World Health Organization among others. He has worked short- and long-term on development projects in Africa (Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali), Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, India, Jordan, Moldova, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and West Bank/Gaza) and Latin America (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico and Nicaragua). Dr. Dearden's research interests include the use of epidemiology and qualitative methods, program strategies designed to improve health and well-being, maternal and neo-natal health, malaria, acute respiratory infections, malnutrition in children less than 5 years of age and adolescent health.

Read stories about Kirk Dearden:

• Peru Research Shows Link Between Paternal Absence and Malnutrition
  

Child Health

Hilari C, Condori I, Dearden KA (2009). When is deliberate killing of young children justified? indigenous interpretations of infanticide in Bolivia. Social Science and Medicine. 68,352-361.

Crookston B, Dearden KA, Chan K, Chan T, Stoker DD. (2007) Buddhist nuns on the move: an innovative approach to improve breastfeeding practices in Cambodia. Journal of Maternal and Child Nutrition. 3, 10-24.

De la Cruz N, Crookston B, Dearden KA, Gray B, Ivins N, Alder S, Davis R. 2006. Who sleeps under bednets in Ghana?: A doer/non-doer analysis of malaria prevention behaviors. Malaria Journal, 5, 61.

Marsh DR, Schroeder DG, Dearden KA, Sternin J, Sternin M. 2004. The power of Positive Deviance. British Medical Journal, 329, 1177-1179.

Dearden KA, Quan LN, Do M, Marsh DR, Schroeder DG, Pachón H, Lang TT. 2002. What influences health behavior? Learning from caregivers of young children in Vietnam. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 119-129.

Schroeder DG, Pachón H, Dearden KA, Ha TT, Lang TT, Marsh DR. 2002. An integrated child nutrition intervention improved growth of younger, more malnourished children in northern Vietnam. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 53-61.

Pachón H, Schroeder DG, Marsh DR, Dearden KA, Ha TT, Lang TT. 2002. Effect of an integrated child nutrition intervention on the complementary food intake of young children in rural north Vietnam. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 62-69.

Sripaipan T, Schroeder DG, Marsh DR, Pachón H, Dearden KA, Ha TT, Lang TT. 2002. Effect of an integrated nutrition program on child morbidity due to respiratory infection and diarrhea in northern Vietnam. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 70-77.

Dearden KA, Altaye M, de Maza I, de Oliva M, Stone-Jimenez M, Burkhalter BR, Morrow AL. 2002. Evaluation of the impact of mother-to-mother support on optimal breastfeeding: A controlled community intervention trial in peri-urban Guatemala City, Guatemala. Pan American Journal of Public Health. 12, 3, 193-201.

Adolescent Health

Dearden KA, Crookston BT, de la Cruz NG, Lindsay GB, Bowden A, Carlston L, Gardner. (2007). Teens in trouble: cigarette use and risky behaviors among private, high school students in La Paz, Bolivia. Pan American Journal of Public Health. 22(3), 160-168. 

Shaeffer Z, Dearden KA, de La Cruz NG, Crookston BT, Jensen JD, Rees C, Quigley S. (2007). Youth at risk: identifying correlates of violence in Bolivia. International Journal of Adolescent Health and Medicine. 19(4), 473-483.

Dearden KA, Hale C, Woolley T. 1995. The antecedents of teen fatherhood:  A retrospective case-control study of Great Britain. American Journal of Public Health. 85, 551-554.

Dearden KA, Hale C, Blankson M. 1994. Family structure, function, and the early transition to fatherhood. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 56, 844-852.

Dearden KA, Hale C, Alvarez J. 1992. The educational antecedents of teen fatherhood. The British Journal of Educational Psychology. 62, 139-147.

Maternal Health

Walker LO, Sterling BS, Hoke M, Dearden, KA. (2007). Positive deviance inquiry in archival datasets: a tool for health disparities research. Public Health Nursing. 24(6), 571-576. 

Warnick E, Dearden KA, Slater S, Butrón B, Lanata CF, Huffman SL. 2004. Social marketing in Bolivia improved use of multiple vitamin/mineral supplements among resource-poor women. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 36, 6, 290-297.

Dearden KA, Quan LN, Do M, Marsh DR, Pachón H, Schroeder DG, Lang TT. 2002. Work outside the home is the primary barrier to exclusive breastfeeding in rural Vietnam: insights from mothers who exclusively breastfed and worked. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 101-108.

Hendrickson JL, Dearden KA, Pachón H, An NH, Schroeder DG, Marsh DR. 2002. Exploring changes in mothers and health volunteers in the context of an integrated nutrition project. Food and Nutrition Bulletin (Supplement), 23, 4, 86-94.