Funding Type: Federal

Project THRIVE pilot

This study involved developing and preliminarily testing a new app to prevent PTSD and alcohol misuse following recent sexual assault.

Understanding mental health problems and health risk behaviors among LGBT Veterans

LGBT Veterans have faced a long history of stigma, discrimination, and exclusionary policies that were intended to exclude them from military service. Despite recent shifts in policy and increased staff trainings, existing evidence suggests that this group is at high risk for health disparities, particularly with respect to mental health and health risk behaviors. While informative, the research to date has been limited in several respects: cross-sectional designs, collapsing LGBT subgroups, severe lack of data on some subgroups, problems with identifying a comparison group, and lack of data on risk and protective factors and care experiences. This prospective cohort study will fill these gaps, recruiting and conducting surveys online with 1,600 Veterans to identify health disparities, test a conceptual model of prospective risk and protective factors, and assess VA utilization, barriers to care, and treatment preferences. Data from this study will inform future intervention efforts to achieve health equity for LGBT Veterans.

A Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (RIISE) to address the “Last Mile” in education

Longstanding gaps between science and practice in schools have contributed to a persistent “last mile” problem in which education research consistently fails to reach the individuals for whom it was intended. Implementation research is an emerging scientific study in education of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and evidence-based programs and practices into routine services. The purpose of this three-year methods training grant is to increase the number of education scholars with expertise in conceptualizing, designing, and executing implementation research studies. We propose to establish a Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (RIISE) that will provide training and mentorship to increase human intellectual capital devoted to implementation research study design in education and build a network of implementation scientists devoted to bridging the “last mile.”

Evaluating Lifelines4Moms (ELM) Study

Perinatal depression affects 10-15% of pregnant and postpartum individuals, with detrimental impacts on both parent and infant. In response to this, our department developed a perinatal consultation line for providers, PAL for Moms, to increase access to specialty perinatal psychiatric expertise and care.  The purpose of the Evaluating Lifeline4Moms (ELM) is to assess comparative effectiveness of PAL for Moms and other perinatal psychiatry access and referral programs in addressing maternal depression.

As a community-engaged research endeavor, ELM has convened patient advocates, policy experts, and perinatal clinicians, who oversee the study as partners and advisors. Over a period of three years, the research team will characterize the components, implementation timelines, and state policy contexts of access and referral programs; evaluate the reach and implementation of these programs; and examine the comparative effects on access to and quality of mental health treatment among Medicaid-insured perinatal individuals.