Explore the compelling research projects led by BUSSW faculty and funded by major grants
Addressing Alcohol Health Disparities: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study of CHW delivered CAMI to Latino/a/e Alcohol and Drug users
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Description:
Using a Type 1 Hybrid randomized Effectiveness–Implementation design, Latino primary care patients will receive either a culturally adapted motivational interview (CAMI) from community health workers or standard care. The study’s public health impact is to minimize HD related to alcohol use among Latino/a/e primary care patients by: 1) providing a culturally tailored preventative SUD intervention with promising preliminary data in a primary care setting, thus minimizing stigma related to seeking care; 2) by examining how such interventions can be delivered in a real lift setting with high quality, and 3) understanding and disrupting the association between structural and individual stigma and substance use.
Funding Period:
2020-2026
Friends-Based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault Risk
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Funding Period:
2025-2030
Community-Centered Modeling of Housing Related Health Disparities
Project Investigators:
- PI: Darien Williams, BUSSW
Sponsor:
U. of Florida: NSF
Funding Period:
2025-2028
Building a Knowledge Base for the Prevention of Violence Against Young Children in South Africa
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
BU Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being
Description:
Objective is to build a knowledge base that will:
1. Provide the foundation for the development of an innovative, evidence-based, and community-informed pilot project to prevent violence against young children in a marginalized community in South Africa.
2. Further inform the violence-prevention efforts of policy makers, practitioners, and other researchers in South Africa and other Low-and-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
Funding Period:
July 2022 – Present
Strengthening the infrastructure and impact of the diversitydatakids.org research project to increase wellbeing and equity for children
Project Investigators:
- Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Funding Period:
2025-2027
Evaluation of the Impact of Massachusetts’ Child Care Subsidy Payment Policies on Family and Provider Participation
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
HHS/Administration for Children and Families
Funding Period:
2023-2026
Embedding Quality Improvement in Child Care Contracts to Improve Access to High-Quality Care
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
HHS/Administration for Children and Families
Funding Period:
2024-2026
HEAL Study: Suicidal Thoughts, Behaviors, and Quality of Life among Suicide Bereaved Asian Americans
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Funding Period:
2025-2027
Center for Interdisciplinary Research
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
Yale University; NIMH
Funding Period:
2024-2026
Effectiveness of Paid Family and Medical Leave Policies and Policy Components on Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention, Positive Childhood Experiences Promotion and Health Equity
Project Investigators:
- Pamela Joshi, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
Tufts Medical Center; HHS/Center for Disease Control (CDC)
Funding Period:
2025-2026
Early Connections/Conexiones Tempranas II
Project Investigator:
Sponsor:
SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative
Description:
The research team at BUSSW, led by Ruth Paris, PhD, will evaluate all aspects of Early Connections/Conexiones Tempranas II (EC/CT II). One of the sites of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, EC/CT II plans to foster resilience and ameliorate the symptoms and consequences of trauma among marginalized children aged 0–5 in Waltham, Mass., and surrounding communities. While serving a diverse population, EC/CT II will specialize in reducing disparities in access, utilization, and outcomes affecting Latino immigrant families, addressing child, family, and community needs. Building on the collaboration in EC/CT I where improvements were found in parental mental health, trauma symptoms, stress, protective factors, and child social-emotional development, the research aims for EC/CT II to include a better understanding of the mechanisms of change associated with the unique interventions which include clinical work with bilingual/bicultural infant and early childhood mental health clinicians and family support partners using individual, dyadic and group modalities.
Funding Period:
2022-2026
To promote access to rigorous, equity-focused research and data to improve child well-being and increase racial and ethnic equity in opportunities for children by supporting updates and sustainability
Project Investigators:
- PI: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
W.K.Kellogg Foundation
Funding Period:
2025-2027
Designing an Evidence-to-Action Hub on Children in Immigrant Families
Project Investigators:
- PI: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
- Co-PI:Pamela Joshi,Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
Foundation for Child Development
Funding Period:
2025-2026
Immigrant Inclusion in the U.S. Tax and Transfer System: Advancing Evidence and State Policy Action
Project Investigators:
- PI: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
- Co-PI:Pamela Joshi, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
W.T Grant Foundation
Funding Period:
2025-2027
Developing the Core Data Infrastructure for a Research-to-Action Hub for Children in Immigrant Families
Project Investigators:
- PI: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
- Co-PI:Pamela Joshi, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
Foundation for Child Development
Funding Period:
2025-2027
Building the Data Infrastructure to Reimagine an Equitable System for Healthy Children and Families
Project Investigators:
- PI: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
- Co-PI: Pamela Joshi, Institute for Equity in Childhood Opportunity & Healthy Development at BUSSW
Sponsor:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Funding Period:
2025-2026
Peer Mentors Supporting Retention to Care and Sustained Viral Suppression
Project Investigators:
- PI: Luis Alvarez-Hernandez, BUSSW
Sponsor:
Valley AIDS Council
Funding Period:
2025-2026
Training for Scientists Conducting Research to Reduce HIV/AIDS Health Disparities
Project Investigators:
- PI: Luis Alvarez-Hernandez, BUSSW
Sponsor:
The Regents of the University of California; NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Funding Period:
2025-2026
CFAR Initial AIDS Research Project:Building New England Collaborations for HIV Community-Engaged Implementation Science Research
Project Investigators:
- PI: Luis Alvarez-Hernandez, BUSSW
Sponsor:
The Miriam Hospital; NIH/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases
Funding Period:
2025-2026
Youth Centered Social Capital Research Cohort
Project Investigators:
- PI: Astraea Augsberger, BUSSW
Sponsor:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Funding Period:
2023-2026
Patient Advisory Panel
Project Investigators:
- PI: Deborah Chassler BUSSW
Sponsor:
Funding Period:
2024-2026
A BRIGHT Approach to Early Childhood Trauma, Parenting and Substance Use: Process and Outcome Evaluation
Project Investigator:
- PI: Ruth Paris, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative
Description:
Dr. Ruth Paris and her research team are partnering with the Institute for Health and Recovery and Boston Medical Center to conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of Project BRIGHT (Building Resilience through Intervention: Growing Healthier Together). BRIGHT is an attachment-based parenting intervention designed to meet the needs of caregivers with a substance use disorder (SUD) and their young children (birth to age six). Utilizing dyadic techniques, BRIGHT focuses on (1) strengthening parent-child relationships and parenting capacities, (2) mitigating child traumatic stress and improving developmental outcomes, and (3) supporting parental mental health and recovery.
Funding Period:
2023–2028
Engage, Educate, & Empower for Equity: E4, The Rush Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health Disparities in Aging
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Description:
Focal areas:
- Provide expertise in training around older adult mental health
- Program implementation and building partnerships across state and local agencies
- Provide technical assistance to community-based organizations
- Measurement of practice change based on training.
Funding Period:
2020–2025
Boston Public Health Commission Bold Project
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
Boston Public Health Commission BOLD Project
Funding Period:
2024–2026
SNAP Distribution Schedules and Student Standaridized Test Score Performance
Project Investigators:
- BU PI: Daniel Miller, BUSSW
Sponsor:
American University; Russell Sage Foundation
Funding Period:
2024–2026
Researching Effective Strategies
Project Investigators:
- BU PI: Jordana Muroff, BUSSW
Sponsor:
BMC- NIH
Funding Period:
2023–2026
PrEP and MOUD Rapid Access for Persons who Inject Drugs
Project Investigators:
- BU PI: Jordana Muroff, BUSSW
Sponsor:
BMC- NIH
Funding Period:
2023–2026
Enhancing workforce capacity to deliver impactful behavioral health supports and services for older adults with hoarding and clutter
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Description:
Boston University School of Social Work’s (BUSSW) Hoarding Research Team and Center for Aging & Disability Education & Research (CADER) are collaborating with Boston Senior Home Care (BSHC) to develop and implement capacity-wide training and programming focused on hoarding and clutter among culturally and linguistically diverse older
adults to build behavioral health supports and services to address this the urgent priority area.
The project team is delivering and evaluating a blended hoarding training to a broad group of BSHC providers working with individuals with hoarding. The blended training includes CADER’s online interactive self-paced course “Hoarding Disorder in Older Adults” and “live” practice-based training sessions delivered by Hoarding Research Team’s Dr. Muroff.
The Hoarding Research Team and BSHC are also collaborating to provide training on, and provision of, in-home coaching support.
Funding Period:
June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025
Evaluation of the Relationship between Massachusetts’ Child Care Subsidy Payment Rate Policies and Access to Care
Project Investigators:
- PI: Yoonsook Ha, BUSSW
- Co-PI: Andrew Bacher-Hicks, BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
Sponsor:
Institute for Educational Sciences
Description:
This study uses a mixed methods approach to evaluate the impact of the state payment rate increases for early care and education (ECE) providers in the supply of ECE programs that offer subsidized care for children from low-income and other disadvantaged backgrounds and their equitable access and utilization of the care. Given that it is a pressing issue to increase and sustain ECE programs and to provide affordable, equitable access to families in need, this study aims to provide much need evidence on how the state efforts to support ECE could expand families’ equitable access to and utilization of subsidized care.
This 4-year study is a collaborative project based on the strong partnership with BU Wheelock College of Education, Brandeis University, and MA Department of Early Education and Care. It has a total budget of $1.6 million.
Funding Period:
September 30, 2023 – September 29, 2027
General Preventative Medicine Maternal Health Program
Project Investigators:
Sponsor:
U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration via BMC
Description:
The aim of this training grant is to prepare highly motivated, diverse and well-qualified primary care physicians in public health and general preventive medicine with a focus on maternal health. Buitron de la Vega is principal investigator of the parent grant ($2,957,632) and Sprague Martinez leads the development of curriculum related to social determinants of health and community engagement. Belkin Martinez leads the integration of the liberation health model in residency training and medical education.
HRI Social Determinants of Health Evaluation
Project Investigator:
Sponsor:
Cambridge Neighborhood Apartment and Housing Services (CNAHS)
Description:
Muroff will collaborate with Jesse Edsell-Vetter and team at Cambridge Neighborhood Apartment and Housing Services (CNAHS) to develop survey and interview tools to evaluate the impact of building construction/renovation and programming on the health of residents. Muroff and CNAHS seek to understand the intersection of innovative building approaches, robust resident services programming, and social determinants of health outcomes for CNAHS residents.
Mental Health Training Prevention Program for Councils on Aging
Project Investigator:
Sponsor:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts/Department of Public Health
See grant-funded projects at The Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health at BUSSW on the Projects page at ciswh.org.
Students and others interested in assisting with research projects may reach out to the BUSSW project investigator at the email found on their faculty profile page.
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