Browse current grant-funded research led by BUSSW faculty
Students and others interested in assisting with project research or contacting a project team may reach out to the BUSSW project investigator at the BU email found on their faculty profile page. Please direct all media or web inquiries and updates to BUSSW Marketing & Communications at ssw-marcom@bu.edu.
To view grants funded through BUSSW’s Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health, visit the Projects page at ciswh.org.
About M-C&Me: A Digital Tool to Support School Transitions for Military-Connected Students
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Renée Spencer, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Timothy Cavell, University of Arkansas
- Amy Slep, New York University
- Carla Herrera, Herrera Consulting, LLC
Sponsor:
U.S. Department of Defense
Description:
There are over 4 million military-connected students in the U.S. and the vast majority (> 90%) attend civilian schools. Military-connected students experience 6 to 9 moves during their K-12 grades, a mobility rate 3 times that of non-military children. We plan to develop and conduct an initial evaluation of a digital tool that can be used to support the school transitions of military-connected students in the elementary and middle school grades. This tool will capture information specific to the transitioning military-connected student that is conveyed to staff in the receiving school district along with key information about military family culture more generally. We will conduct a beta trial of About M-C & Me to gather feedback on whether this new digital tool is viewed by stakeholders as acceptable, non-harmful, appropriate, usable, important, and distinct from existing resources. Participants will be M-C students/parents and teachers from North Thurston Public Schools, located near Joint Base Lewis McChord.
Funding Period:
September 1, 2022 – February 28, 2025
Active-Duty Military Families and School Supports
Project Investigators:
- PI: Renée Spencer, Boston University School of Social Work
- Timothy Cavell, University of Arkansas
- Amy Slep, New York University
- Carla Herrera, Independent Researcher
Sponsor:
Institute for Educational Sciences
Description:
Not all military-connected students—those who have at least one parent/guardian on active (full-time) duty in the U.S. military—have parents who are deployed into combat, but all military students move. Whether separations and moves are due to parent deployment, permanent changes of station (PCS), or lengthy temporary duty assignments, change is constant in the lives of military-connected students. It is estimated that military students experience 6 to 9 moves during their K-12 years—a mobility rate three times that of non-military children. his multi-year research study is a response to a call from the Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education) to better understand how schools can be more responsive to the needs and experiences of highly mobile students.
Funding Period:
July 2018 – June 2023
Addressing Alcohol Health Disparities: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study of CHW delivered CAMI to Latino/a/e Alcohol and Drug users
Project Investigators:
- PI: Christina Lee, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-I: Jorge Delva, Boston University School of Social Work
- Mari-Lynn Drainoni
- Kim Mueser
- Jake Mueser
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:
September 10, 2020 – June 30, 2025
Brief Intervention by Community Health Workers for Unhealthy Drinking in Latinos
Project Investigators:
- PI: Mitch Kamo, UCLA
- Co-I: Christina Lee, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Description:
The aims of this project are to test a community health worker-delivered culturally adapted brief intervention and strengths-based case management intervention against standard care to reduce alcohol and drug use among Latino/a/es attending a community health center.
Funding Period:
August 1, 2019 – October 1, 2022
Building a Knowledge Base for the Prevention of Violence Against Young Children in South Africa
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Margaret Lombe, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: Lenette Azzi-Lessing, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
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
Building Community-Academic Partnership: Strategy for Health Equity & Material Wellbeing
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Margaret Lombe, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: M. Emilia Bianco, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Boston University Clinical Translational Science Institute
Description:
This project aims to support the development of academic-community partnership between scholars from Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) and colleagues from De Novo Center for Justice and Healing (De Novo).
Funding Period:
September 2022 – September 2023
Centre for Dignified Aging in Rwanda: Replicating CADER Training in Africa
Project Investigator:
- PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Pilot funding from Boston University School of Social Work; seeking external funding to expand.
Description:
This project is a collaboration with the Centre for Dignified Aging (CDA) in Rwanda to explore adapting CADER’s curriculum to be used throughout Rwanda. Five Rwandan professionals (a medical doctor, a professor of nursing, a professor of social work, a clergy member, and the Executive Director of CDA, who is a pastor and an MSW) took CADER’s Core Issues in Aging and Disability course online in English to consider how the course could be modified to be relevant in Rwanda today. After positive outcomes, the group is exploring funding to expand the partnership.
Funding Period:
2019–2022
Character First: Harnessing the Power of Love in Promoting Character Development in YouthBuild Programs
Project Investigators:
- PI: Antoinette Basualdo-Delmonico (PhD’13), YouthBuild USA
- Co-PI: Renée Spencer, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
The Templeton Foundation
Description:
This project will identify the tactics effective leaders use to promote the program culture in the YouthBuild USA “Mental Toughness” orientation (MTO). YouthBuild (YB) programs annually partner with over 13,000 opportunity youth (those between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor employed) worldwide to build character strengths (e.g., responsibility, persistence) that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership. A “Mental Toughness” orientation (MTO) serves as the entrée into YB and young people are introduced to the YB program culture with its emphasis on love, respect, belonging, and high expectations. This project will explore two main questions: (1) What specific attitudes, behaviors, and practices of adult leaders contribute to an environment that promotes love, respect, belonging and high expectations?; and (2) How can a community of practice (CoP) composed of program leaders of youth-serving programs from diverse contexts build a shared understanding of culturally- and contextually-appropriate ways to create a culture of love, respect, belonging, and high expectations that promotes the character development of opportunity youth? The findings will inform the development of a training curriculum designed to promote these competencies, which will be trialed through an implementation and evaluation process
Funding Period:
September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2025
Discrimination and racial socialization on Asian American parent and youth mental Health
Project Investigators:
- Co-I: Hyeouk Chris Hahm, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Cindy Liu, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- PI: Tiffany Yip, Fordham University
Sponsor:
National Institutes of Health (NIH), R01
Description:
This project capitalizes on a longitudinal and mixed-methods design to examine how exposure to racial discrimination predicts Chinese American adolescents’ mental health symptoms and biological measures of chronic stress. The project seeks to determine how parent and adolescent characteristics such as internalization of the model minority myth, ethnic identity, and racial socialization processes moderate the said association in Chinese American adolescents. The researchers also propose to explore the racial socialization processes within peer contexts and in social media.
Early Connections/Conexiones Tempranas II
Project Investigator:
- PI: Ruth Paris, Boston University School of Social Work
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.
Engage, Educate, & Empower for Equity: E4, The Rush Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health Disparities in Aging
Project Investigators:
- BU PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Erin Emery-Tiburcio, Rush University Medical Center
- PI: Robyn Golden, Rush University Medical Center
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
Enhancing Workforce Development Nationally: Leveraging Alumni as Partners in Expanding Lifelong Learning Opportunities
Project Investigator:
- PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Digital Learning & Innovation, Boston University
Description:
The goal of this project is to create a lifelong learning database portal that will serve as a “one-stop resource” for training and workforce development efforts offered through BUSSW alumni and faculty; and to develop a “Trainer’s Hub,” listing subject matter experts on a variety of topics—all of whom are alumni and faculty members at BUSSW interested in developing content and providing training across the country.
Funding Period:
2020–2022
Evaluation of Family Support and Leadership Programs: Massachusetts Department of Public Health Office Of Family Initiatives
Project Investigator:
- PI: Astraea Augsberger, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Description:
Augsberger will collaborate with the Mass. Department of Public Health, Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition (BFHN), to examine family engagement in their Office of Family Support Initiatives. The BFHN provides statewide programs and services to MA residents to ensure the health of all children and families in the Commonwealth, including children and youth with special needs. Filling a current gap, Augsberger will develop outcome measures to identify multi-level impacts of family engagement in the BFHN programs. The evaluation will then implement the measures, analyze program effectiveness, and disseminate the measures to other states.
Evaluation of the Relationship between Massachusetts’ Child Care Subsidy Payment Rate Policies and Access to Care
Project Investigators:
- PI: Yoonsook Ha, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
- Co-PI: Kate Giapponi Schneider, Brandeis University
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:
- Contract PI: Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Pablo Buitron de la Vega, Boston Medical Center (BMC)
- Dawn Belkin Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
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.
Geriatric Academic Career Award: Enhancing Behavioral Health Competencies through Interprofessional Training
Project Investigator:
- PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Description:
As one of two inaugural social work awardees among twenty-six recipients nationwide, this award is to support the career development of junior faculty members providing interprofessional clinical training in aging.
Funding Period:
2019–2023
HAFTRAP-Home Air Filtration for Traffic-Related Air Pollution
Project Investigators:
- Contract PI: Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Doug Brugge, UConn Health
Sponsor:
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) via UConn
Description:
The overall goal of this research is to examine the effect of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration for near-highway homes that lack mechanical air-handling systems, in a blinded randomized crossover efficacy trial. Brugge is principal investigator of the parent grant ($2,533,237). Sprague Martinez is exploring the acceptability of in-home air filtration among participants.
HRI Social Determinants of Health Evaluation
Project Investigator:
- Contract PI: Jordana Muroff, Boston University School of Social Work
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.
Improving Care and Treatment Coordination: Focusing on Black Women with HIV – Evaluation and Technical Assistance Provider
Project Investigators:
- Contract PI: Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Serena Rajabuin, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Judith C. Scott, Boston University School of Social Work
- Howard Cabral, Boston University School of Pubic Health (BUSPH)
- Clara Chen, BUSPH Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center (BEDAC)
Sponsor:
U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration via University of Massachusetts Lowell
Description:
The aim of this project – the Black Women First ETAP – is to support and guide 12 demonstration sites across the country that are implementing bundled interventions to improve the engagement and retention of diverse Black women in care. More specifically, the Black Women First ETAP is developing, evaluating, and disseminating interventions that engage and retain diverse Black women with HIV in care and treatment.
Improving Healthcare Services for Gay and Bisexual Latino and Black Male Sexual Assault Survivors in Boston
Project Investigator:
- PI: Daniel Jacobson López, Boston University School of Social Work
- CI: Steven Meanley, University of Pennsylvania
Sponsor:
BU Center for Innovation in Social Sciences
Description:
This pilot project focuses on identifying gaps and improving healthcare services for Latino and Black gay and bisexual male survivors in Boston.
Funding Period:
January 1, 2023 – January 1, 2024
Innovation in Anti-racism to Address the Overdose Crisis: CASA-CHESS 2020 Implementation Grant
Project Investigators:
- BU PI: Jordana Muroff, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Diliana De Jesus, Casa Esperanza
Sponsor:
RIZE Foundation
Description:
This project aims to facilitate a more systematic, community-based participatory approach to address racial inequities that contribute to substance use disorders and limit access to treatment among Latinx Spanish-speakers by: centering clients’ voices, enhancing the CASA-CHESS smartphone recovery app (e.g., creating a new cross-platform version, integrating an anti-racism framework), expanding fotovoz (visual ethnography) with stakeholders, augmenting assessment tools (e.g., discrimination stress), strengthening recovery networks, reducing isolation, raising awareness of racial equity and patient rights, promoting COVID vaccine equity, reducing the impacts of stigma, and elevating client voices to effectively impact advocacy efforts on a broader scale.
Funding Period:
June 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023
Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Certificate Using an Alumni Mentoring Approach
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: Karen Jacobs, Boston University Sargent College
- Co-PI: Craig Slater, Boston University Sargent College
Sponsor:
Digital Learning & Innovation, Boston University
Description:
This project is a collaboration between the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College (Sargent College) and the School of Social Work (SSW) to create a non-credit online certificate in Interprofessional Leadership in Health Care using an alumni mentoring approach. This certificate highlights the vast experiences of Boston University alumni by engaging them as e-mentors in five one-month online courses.
Funding Period:
2020–2022
MassCPR Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Health Equity Core
Project Investigators:
- School PI: Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
- Tracy Battaglia, Boston University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center (BMC)
- Ingrid Bassett, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
- Cheryl Clark, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Linda Hudson, Tufts University
- Janice John, Cambridge Health Alliance
Sponsor:
Harvard Medical School
Description:
One-year award ($215,000) to identify the impact of Long COVID on minoritized communities in Massachusetts and barriers to Long COVID treatment, increase awareness of and access to Long COVID treatment, and to influence relevant policies at the organizational, municipal, state and national levels. Archipelago Strategies Group (ASG) is the researchers’ marketing partner.
Mechanisms of Behavior Change in a Culturally Adapted Motivational Interview
Project Investigators:
- PI: Christina Lee, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-I: Suzanne Colby
- Co-I: Kristina Jackson
Sponsor:
NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Description:
The aims of this project are to identify active ingredients and treatment mechanisms in a culturally adapted behavioral intervention to reduce alcohol and drug use.
Funding Period:
March 1, 2019 – February 28, 2023
Mental Health Training Prevention Program for Councils on Aging
Project Investigator:
- PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts/Department of Public Health
Near Highway Pollution: From Research to Action
Project Investigators:
- Contract PI: Linda Sprague Martinez, Boston University School of Social Work
- PI: Doug Brugge, UConn Health
Sponsor:
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) via UConn
Description:
The goal of this community-based participatory research study is to develop protective responses to locally ultrafine particles at the community level. Brugge is the Principal Investigator of the parent grant ($2,210,192). Sprague Martinez is examining how communities organize to advance public health action.
Planning for an Evaluation of the Relationship between Massachusetts' Child Care Subsidy Payment Rate and Family Co-Payment Policies and Access to Care
Project Investigators:
- PI: Yoonsook Ha, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-I: Kate Giapponi, Brandeis University
Sponsor:
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Description:
Project goals are 1) to develop an evidence-based approach to inform the state’s planned changes to subsidy co-payment and reimbursement policies and 2) to design an evaluation study of the effectiveness of the policy changes for families and providers.
Funding Period:
September 2021 – March 2023
Prevention and Identification of Behavioral Health Issues in Older Adults: Skill Development Among Clergy Members
Project Investigator:
- PI: Bronwyn Keefe, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
Massachusetts Department of Public Health Suicide Prevention Program
Description:
The goals of this project are:
- To create and provide training to faith-based leaders in the area of behavioral health in aging
- To facilitate partnerships between faith communities, social service organizations, and aging service providers in order to expand the reach and improve the quality of services for older adults
Funding Period:
2014–2024
Quality of Subsidized Child Care Providers and Children’s Care Stability: Implications for Early Educational Outcomes
Project Investigators:
- PI: Yoonsook Ha, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-I: Pam Joshi, Brandeis University
Sponsor:
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Description:
Project aims: 1) to examine the impact of licensing regulation changes under the 2014 Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) on the availability and quality of subsidized and non-subsidized care providers in MA; 2) to collect primary data on multiple dimensions of quality for subsidized child care providers and understand the relationship between quality of care and stability in subsidized care arrangement; and 3) to conduct a pilot study by linking child care provider quality and children’s stability in subsidized care to their early educational outcomes. I am responsible for the overall project management, research design of the study, leading the data analysis and dissemination of the study results.
Funding Period:
September 2019 – September 2023
Supporting Asian Parents and Children Talking about Race and Racism (ACTRR): A pilot ethnic racial socialization intervention study for Chinese and Vietnamese Families
Project Investigators:
- Judith C. Scott, Boston University School of Social Work
- Catherine Vuky, South Cove Community Health Center & William James College
- Yoyo Yau, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
Sponsor:
Boston University Initiative on Cities
Description:
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans have experienced a significant increase in racism across the U.S., including in Boston. They may experience racism directly and/or are indirectly affected by highly publicized anti-Asian incidents across the U.S. Direct and indirect exposure to racism may increase the risk of mental health issues among Asian individuals including children. Prior research indicates that Asian elementary aged children may experience racism in schools and in public spaces in the Greater Boston area, but similar research is limited. Also, there is even less information on how anti-Asian racism, especially the recent increase, is affecting the mental health of elementary aged Asian children.
Parental engagement in ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), which are the ways in which families transmit information to children about race, ethnicity, cultural heritage, and group social status, may protect young children against negative racism-related mental health effects. With this recent increase in racism, Asian parents are seeking guidance on how to discuss racism with their children. Some may hesitate to talk to their elementary aged children about racism because of the children’s age or they are uncomfortable discussing racism. ERS guidance and support for Asian families is difficult to find because research on Asian families’ ERS engagement in the face of racism is very limited. Furthermore, existing research rarely considers ethnic variation in racist experiences and ERS engagement among Asian families with elementary school aged children.
This project aims to provide important information on racist experiences and ERS among Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant families with elementary school aged children. This data will be used to engage educational systems in the Boston area with the purpose of reducing racism within the institutions and informing supports for these families related to racism. This project will also pilot an ERS intervention to help Chinese and Vietnamese parents prepare their children to cope with racism, increase their children’s cultural pride, and empower their children in the face of racism. The long-term goal of the intervention is to mitigate the effects of anti-Asian racism on children. The pilot data will be used to adapt the intervention for the broader Chinese and Vietnamese communities.
Funding Period:
June 2022 – June 2023
The Big Shift: Low-income Women of Color Changing the Meanings and Practices of Labor Force Participation during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Margaret Lombe, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: M. Emilia Bianco, PhD, Boston University School of Social Work
Sponsor:
SSW Small Grants Funding
Description:
This study explores the causes and consequences of the ‘big shift’ on the labor force participation of l-w workers. We focus primarily on WoC, a group that is often marginalized and excluded from decision making structures.
Funding Period:
August 2022 – August 2023
The First Year of an Infant’s Life for Families in Recovery
Project Investigators:
- Co-PI: Ruth Paris, PhD, LICSW, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: Mei Elensary, MD, MPhil, Boston University School of Medicine
- Co-I: Eileen Costello, MD
Sponsor:
BUMC Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute and BU Initiative on Cities
Description:
Given the risks of relapse, overdose, death, family dissolution and trauma for mothers in substance use recovery, Paris, Elansary and Costello will track the experiences of a group of mothers and babies from the SOFAR clinic at Boston Medical Center during the first year after delivery using a prospective mixed methods design. The project’s goals are to identify short- and long-term risk and resiliency factors for further study and intervention development.
Funding Period:
May 2022 – May 2023
The Growing Together Study
Project Investigators:
- PI: Ruth Paris, PhD, LICSW, Boston University School of Social Work
- Co-PI: Ruth Rose-Jacobs, ScD, Boston University School of Medicine
Sponsor:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Description:
Opioid misuse during pregnancy is an alarming public health problem resulting in maternal and child health disparities. Mothers with opioid use disorders (OUDs) often struggle and can be disengaged and challenged as parents, leading to possible child maltreatment and poor long-term outcomes.
Seeking to address the needs of women with OUDs and their infants, Growing Together will conduct a two-armed pragmatic randomized controlled trial for 100 pregnant women receiving prenatal care at Boston Medical Center’s RESPECT clinic. The research team will compare the effectiveness of BRIGHT, an evidence-informed home-based parenting intervention, to STAR, composed of the standard social services received at the RESPECT clinic and psychoeducational handouts. More specifically, the study aims to assess whether BRIGHT is more effective than STAR in improving mother-child relationships, infant social-emotional development, and parenting capacities while reducing child maltreatment. BRIGHT, a parent-infant home-based intervention will be offered from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy until the infant is 6 months old.
Funding Period:
July 2018 – June 2023
Transdisciplinary Study for Resilience of Abused Children: Brain, Data Science, Technology & Social Work
Project Investigators:
- Hyeouk Chris Hahm, Boston University School of Social Work
- Kiyun Kim
- Jie ha Lee
Sponsor:
National Research Foundation of Korea
Description:
This study aims to establish a transdisciplinary integrative theory in order to understand the recovery of abused children and the parenting of the perpetrators in South Korea. Based on the theory, online and offline parenting programs for the perpetrators to recover from abused children will be developed. Below are detailed research goals and methods.
- Construction of the prospective and longitudinal brain imaging data of abused children and their parents (perpetrators)
- Examining the relationship between abused children’s brain structural/functional modification and mental health problems
- Examining the relation of perpetrators’ brain neurobiological characteristics to their mental health and parenting
- Qualitative research on the interview of the perpetrators’ parenting and identify specific parenting characteristics
- Exploring the determinants of the perpetrators’ parenting
- Data science analysis of total national data of child protection systems (n=141,764 cases) for developing a prediction model of recurrence of abuse and testing the effectiveness of intervention services of CPS
- Exploring dynamics of the brain neurobiological system, the parenting and family system, and the child protection service system to promote recovery after damage to children affected by abuse
- Developing integrative theory and online/offline parenting programs for perpetrators and evaluating the effectiveness of the program
Funding Period:
July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2025