Ghaffar Ali Hurtado Choque

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Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, School of Public Health, Family Science

SPH | Room 1142BB

Dr. Hurtado Choque is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and an Extension Specialist at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, focusing on family and community health. Mr. Hurtado focuses his research, scholarship, and outreach on developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion interventions at the family and community levels.

Before joining UMD, Ali Hurtado was a research associate at the University of Minnesota Extension and the Medical School Program in Health Disparities Research. He is actively engaged in health disparities research and outreach.

Department Information

Department of Family Science
School of Public Health

Dr. Hurtado is leading a research project titled "Addressing Youth Mental Health of Latinx Families by Strengthening Family-Skills and Engaging in Sports" (Familias Activas for short). The overarching goal of this project is to improve youth's mental health of Latinx families by strengthening healthy parenting practices, fostering positive youth development, and engaging youth in organized sports (soccer).

Dr. Hurtado is an investigator for the Grand Challenges: Promoting Youth Mental Wellbeing in Rural Honduras by Engaging Teachers as Catalysts, a UMD initiative to address global challenges. This project aims to foster youth mental well-being by strengthening the capacity and providing technical support to public school teachers through multi-prong intervention.

Dr. Hurtado is the co-investigator for a community-based participatory research Latinx parent education program called Padres Preparados, Jóvenes Saludables (Prepared Parents, Healthy Youth). The goals of this program are to 1) increase the frequency of fathers' positive parenting practices regarding healthy eating and physical activity and 2) improve the eating and physical activity behaviors among youth (10-14 year-olds).

In addition, he is a co-investigator for the Maryland Rural Opioid Technical Assistance (ROTA). MarylandROTA (Rural Opioid Technical Assistance) is part of an initiative by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and was established by the University of Maryland (UMD) in partnership with local and state organizations.

Dr. Hurtado is an Extension Specialist at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on family and community health.

Strengthening family skills to promote positive youth development.

Extension specialist.

Community-based Participatory Action Research

Active Research

UMD Grand Challenges, PI, "Promoting Youth Mental Wellbeing in Rural Honduras by Engaging Teachers as Catalysts"

USDA NIFA CYFAR, PI, "Addressing Youth Mental Health of Latinx Families by Strengthening Family-Skills and Engaging in Sports" 2021 - 2026

USDA NIFA AFRI, co-PI "Reinforcing Overdose Prevention through Training and Advocacy", 2023-2025

eXtension - CDC, co-PI "MD UME: Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy by Strengthening Cultural Competency and Patient-Centered Communication Skills", 2023-2025

Awards

UMD Provost's Do Good Innovator Award (2024) School of Public Health.

UMD School of Public Health (2022), Community Engagement Partnership and Research and Development.

Epsilon Sigma Phi (2022), Extension Distinguished Team to Smart Choice/Smart Use Health Insurance, Northeast Region Recipient.

FMSC383 Health and Human Services Delivery and Evaluation

Ph.D. Work, Community, and Family Education - University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

M.Ed. Human Resource Development - University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

B.A. Management - Universidad Nur - Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Hurtado Choque, G. A., Kim, H., Epstein, N. B., Garcia‐Huidobro, D., Svetaz, M. V., & Allen, M. L. (2024). Different perceptual worlds: Parent and youth perspectives on parenting outcome trajectories from a Latino family‐based program. Family Process.

Hurtado Choque, G. A., Rodriguez, M. R., Soltani, D., Baltaci, A., Nagao-Sato, S., Alvarez de Davila, S., ... & Reicks, M. (2023). Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Father Participation in an Adolescent Obesity Prevention Program with Multiple Delivery Methods. Health Promotion Practice, 0(0), 15248399231177300.

Reyes Peralta A, Hurtado Choque G., A., Reicks M, Alvarez de Davila S, Soltani D. (2023). Lessons learned engaging Latino families in community-based programs. Journal of Extension.

Yoo, J. H., Chan, A. E., Hutter-Thomas, S., Lukulay, M., Kim, A., Lucero, A. K., Hurtado Choque, G., & Kim, J. (2023). Mental Health First Aid Training in Rural Maryland during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Program Implementation through Virtual Delivery. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 11(2), 13.

Nagao-Sato, S., de Davila, S. A., Baltaci, A., Linares, R., Peralta Reyes, A. O., Zhang, Y., Hurtado Choque, G., & Reicks, M. (2023). Factors Associated with Fathers’ Attendance in a Latino Family Obesity Prevention Program. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 11(1), 2.

Hurtado Choque, G. A., García Cosavalente, H. P., Chan, A. E., Rodriguez, M. R., & Sumano, E. (2022). The Development and Pilot Evaluation of a Family-Based Education to Strengthen Latinx Adolescent Mental Health in the United States: The Familias Activas Experience. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), 207.

Baltaci, A., Hurtado Choque, G. A., Davey, C., Reyes Peralta, A., Alvarez de Davila, S., Zhang, Y., ... & Reicks, M. (2022). Padres Preparados, Jóvenes Saludables: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Test Effects of a Community-Based Intervention on Latino Father’s Parenting Practices. Nutrients, 14(23), 4967.

Kim, H., Epstein, N. B., Hancock, G. R., Hurtado, G. A., Svetaz, M. V., & Allen, M. (2023). Latent change modeling of Latino parent–child conflict and pathways to mental health. Journal of Marriage and Family, 85(2), 518– 538.

Rodriguez, M. R., & Hurtado Choque, G. A. (2022). Predictors associated with fathers' successful completion of the FOCUS program. Family Relations, 71(3), 1142-1158.

Munoz, J., Yoo, H. J., Chan, A., Hutter-Thomas, S., Patel, A., Mahdi, M., Hurtado Choque, G. A. & Kim, J. (2022). Feasibility study of a virtual pilot program to address the socio-emotional learning needs of rural youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal of the National Extension Association of Family Consumer Science JNEAFCS 17(1) 96-103.

Baltaci, A., Hurtado Choque, G. A., Davey, C., Reyes Peralta, A., Alvarez de Davila, S., Zhang, Y., ... & Reicks, M. (2022). Padres Preparados, Jóvenes Saludables: intervention impact of a randomized controlled trial on Latino father and adolescent energy balance-related behaviors. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1932.

Nagao-Sato, S., de Davila, S. A., Monardez Popelka, J., Burk, G., Soltani, D., Baltaci, A., ... & *Hurtado Choque, G. A. (2022). Feasibility of a remotely delivered program to prevent Latino adolescent obesity in the Midwestern USA. Health Promotion International, 37(4).

Baltaci, A., Alvarez de Davila, S., Reyes Peralta, A. O., Laska, M. N., Larson, N., Hurtado, G. A., & Reicks, M. (2021). Adolescent-reported Latino fathers’ food parenting practices and family meal frequency are associated with better adolescent dietary intake. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 8226.

Zhang, Y., Nagao-Sato, S., Baltaci, A., Hurtado Choque, G. A., & Reicks, M. (2021). Influence of paternal general parenting on Latino early adolescents' energy balance-related behaviours and interactions with behaviour-specific parenting practices. Public Health Nutrition, 24(15), 5133–5141.

Nagao-Sato, S., Druziako, S., Baltaci, A., Peralta Reyes, A. O., Zhang, Y., Hurtado Choque, G. A., & Reicks, M. (2021). Differences in reporting food insecurity and factors associated with differences among Latino fathers and mothers. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1-11.

Nagao-Sato, S., Baltaci, A., Reyes, A. O. P., Zhang, Y., Hurtado Choque, G. A., & Reicks, M. (2021). Skin carotenoid scores assessed with reflection spectroscopy are associated with self-reported fruit and vegetable intake among Latino early adolescents. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 121(8), 1507-1514. '

Zhang, Y., Baltaci, A., Overcash, F., Druziako, S., Peralta, A., Hurtado, G. A., & Reicks, M. (2020). Latino adolescent-father discrepancies in reporting activity parenting practices and associations with adolescents’ physical activity and screen time. BMC public health, 20(1), 92.

Conway, C. A., Roy, K., Hurtado Choque, G. A., & Lewin, A. (2020). Family separation and parent–child relationships among Latinx immigrant youth. Journal of Latinx Psychology.

Zhang, Y., Reyes Peralta, A., Arellano Roldan Brazys, P., Hurtado, G. A., Larson, N., & Reicks, M. (2020). Development of a Survey to Assess Latino Fathers' Parenting Practices Regarding Energy Balance-Related Behaviors of Early Adolescents. Health education & behavior: the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 47(1), 123–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119878769.