The UW Population Health Initiative has awarded eight, $25,000 Tier 1 pilot grants to interdisciplinary teams of UW researchers. These teams collectively represent 10 UW schools and colleges plus several community-based partners.

“We look forward to seeing what these teams achieve as they move forward promising ideas in areas such as child health, mental health, and the engagement of nature,” said Ali Mokdad, the UW’s chief strategy officer for population health.

The goal of the Initiative’s Tier 1 granting is to support researchers in laying an interdisciplinary foundation for a future project to generate proof-of-concept. Our department is involved with three projects funded during this cycle:

• Developing a Parent-Focused Intervention to Promote Toothbrushing
  Lupita Santillan, PhD is among six investigators who will partner with a rural community organization serving young children with developmental delays, who are at an elevated risk for poor oral health. Families experiencing toothbrushing refusal will be enrolled, and parents will co-design a brief, scalable behavioral intervention tailored to their needs.
   
• Designing Psydkick, an EBPI Implementation Tool, to Deliver Problem Solving Therapy to Depressed and/or Anxious Rural-dwelling Adults
  Sam Bernecker, PhD and Patrick Raue, PhD are among three investigators who are developing Psydkick, a tool that provides real-time guidance in peer coaching from a digital app for rural-dwelling adults with mild-to-moderate depression and/or anxiety symptoms. They will conduct essential discovery work and develop relationships with community partners to co-designing implementation strategies.
   
• Community-Engaged Approach to Identifying Gaps and Creating Solutions in Care Coordination for Autistic Youth with Co-occurring Mental Health Needs
  Gabi Sepulveda, PhD is among five investigators aiming to address the critical knowledge gaps and delivery of effective care coordination for autistic youth with mental health needs, and to develop a community-informed Care Coordination Training Curriculum for serving this population and their families.

See UW Population Health for more details about these projects and the five other awardees.