Yukiko Washio

Yukiko Washio is a senior research psychologist in the Substance use, Gender, and Applied Research Program at RTI. Her training is in biobehavioral science, and her work is national and international, focusing on pregnant and postpartum populations. Dr. Washio has dedicated her time to developing and testing behavioral interventions to address maternal substance and alcohol use while addressing maternal health behavior such as breastfeeding. She is also interested in combining different approaches and examining intervention effects on multilevel outcomes, including behavioral, clinical, and microbiological outcomes.

Dr. Washio leads the BOOST protocol with her colleagues at Temple University and Christiana Care to develop and test the effect of health incentives to increase breastfeeding in low-income populations in the USA, particularly racial/ethnic minority groups of women in under-resourced settings. The BOOST protocol has developed from an understanding of contingency behavior change on breastfeeding among low-income women and sensitivity to the women’s culture.