Preconception interventions for DOHaD: opportunities and challenges

While the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) as a field has been built on extensive physiological and epidemiological observational studies, there is recognition that the DOHaD evidence base requires a shift to human intervention trials if it is to have any policy traction. As intervention studies become more commonplace in the field of DOHaD, it is also, essential to integrate a multidisciplinary perspective and integrate social science approaches. Indeed, DOHaD is proving to be a productive and creative ground for biosocial collaboration between scientists and social scientists (including psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists and science studies scholars), with recognition that integrating social science in interventions ensures that there is ongoing attention to assumptions embedded in frameworks; maintenance of complexity in the face of the temptation to reach for the silver bullet; a retained sensitivity to socio-political and historical context; and active brokerage of new experimental forms of engagement with the communities of actors involved. Such contributions are especially important given that DOHaD intervention studies will most frequently use complex public health interventions, where traditional methods are unable to capture the complexity of how context impacts intervention (and vice versa) and where social science frameworks may prove more useful for understanding non-linear relationships and explaining results. In this talk I will introduce the case study of the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI), to illustrate the dynamics of a biosocial approach in action and discuss the benefits of building research infrastructures in DOHaD such that diverse disciplinary perspectives are given equal standing.

Zoom link : https://epfl.zoom.us/j/66516277875