This article provides a brief overview of family-based treatment for intergenerational diseases. There is no organized protocol within current treatment approaches to address intergenerational diseases within a family. The optimal approach depends on the trajectory of the disease. For problems or diseases that may be present in both parent and offspring during childhood (e.g., obesity and substance use), treatment should target both generations simultaneously. When a disease emerges more slowly and is present only in the parent, as may occur with cancer, the optimal approach may combine treating the parent with prevention in the child. For diseases that develop in later adulthood, such as cognitive impairment, the goal may be to prevent or delay disease in both the parent and child by addressing modifiable health behaviors and risks. The type of treatment may vary by disease, but lifestyle and behavior change are central to preventing or treating many chronic intergenerational diseases. If the problem is due to unhealthy behavior, or the disease can be prevented by changing behavior, treatment should focus on education and behavior change. It is important to recognize that although education is an important first step for health behavior change, education is not always sufficient to improve health and evidence-based behavioral interventions may be needed to modify behavior and improve health. Although lifestyle should be considered as a first step to prevent many chronic diseases, some intergenerational diseases may require pharmacological or surgical interventions. Extensive research on family-based treatment for intergenerational obesity has shown both short- and long-term treatment effects for children and their parents, as well as spillover effects to untreated siblings. Given the rising prevalence of intergenerational chronic disease in the United States, care must shift from an individual-level model of care to coordinated family-based treatment for intergenerational disease within families. Psychologists can help lead this shift through their expertise in behavior change, family systems, intervention development, implementation, and policy. Without this change, the long-term impact on intergenerational disease will remain limited. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Firearm injuries are a critical threat to public health with negative psychosocial impacts that ripple out from survivors and their loved ones to communities and societies. Firearm injuries are often understood in individualistic terms, however, focusing on individual-level risk factors and approaches to mitigating consequences among individual survivors. In this commentary, we propose a reframing of firearm injuries and their prevention as a population-level health challenge. We argue that firearm injuries occur within a social, economic, and political landscape that contributes inequity in risk and postinjury outcomes across communities. We then demonstrate how a public health approach can be used to classify prevention approaches based on their timing, from preinjury to long-term postinjury, and targeted socioecological level, from individuals to societies. We conclude with recommendations to advance the field, including interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration, rigorous research to fill key gaps, and sustained efforts to build trust with affected communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: This study examined whether an augmented physician communication style combining positively framed side effect information with high warmth and competence improves expectations and vaccination intentions in adults with an indication for herpes zoster vaccination. Method: In a preregistered randomized experiment (DRKS00034883), 174 participants from indicated risk groups were recruited from outpatient clinics at a university hospital (September 2024-July 2025). Participants were randomly assigned to view either a standard communication video or an augmented communication video that included supportive, warm, and expectation-enhancing elements. After viewing their assigned video, participants reported expected side effect intensity, expected coping with side effects, vaccination intention, and perceived physician warmth. Results: The augmented communication group did not differ from the standard communication group in expected intensity of side effects. However, participants in the augmented group reported better coping expectations and higher intentions to receive the herpes zoster vaccine. An exploratory mediation analysis was consistent with perceived physician warmth as one pathway: Augmented communication increased warmth perceptions, which predicted higher vaccination intention. Conclusions: A brief, video-based augmented communication can improve coping-related expectations and strengthen self-reported vaccination intention in adults eligible for herpes zoster vaccination, recruited from outpatient clinics. Because no vaccine was administered, these findings speak to expectations and intentions rather than to actual uptake or experienced side effects. Broader generalizability is limited by the anonymous single-site data collection. The results nonetheless suggest that scalable communication strategies are a promising avenue for supporting vaccination readiness, a possibility that warrants testing in real vaccination settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Emerging scholarship has identified posttraumatic distress as a critical health disparity affecting recently immigrated Latinx youth and families. Indeed, trauma exposure is highly prevalent in families and children that flee violence and seek asylum in the United States and relates to a number of physical and mental health conditions. An interpersonal lens is useful for conceptualizing risk and resilience in this group, wherein interpersonal traumas, like family separation, appear critically associated with health disruption, and interpersonal sources of belonging, such as attachment, peer networks, and cultural values, explain variance in resilience and positive health outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).