Current Research

Technology-Enhanced Delivery of Treatment for Early Conduct Problems
Low-income youth are overrepresented in the statistics on early onset oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD); however, low-income parents are least likely to engage in or be retained in the evidence-based behavioral parent training programs, which have proven to disrupt the escalation of ODD and CD behaviors.  Consistent with Program Announcement (PAR-06-248), “From Intervention Development to Services: Exploratory Research Grants,” this R34 project aims to develop and pilot-test use of Smartphone technology to enhance the engagement and retention of low-income parents of children (3 to 8 y.o.) with ODD and early CD behaviors in one evidence-based parent training program, Helping the Noncompliant Child (HNC; McMahon & Forehand, 2003).  The Smartphone-enhanced HNC treatment program will be developed, then pilot-tested in a pilot controlled trial in order to examine feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and consumer satisfaction, as well as trends in engagement and retention of parents and changes in parent and child behavior.   Given that the early onset of ODD and CD behavior is the single most important predictor of delinquency, substance abuse, and violence for boys and girls in adolescence, the development of novel approaches to engage and retain low-income parents in evidence-based parent training programs is of critical public health importance.  The following specific aims will be addressed in this R34:

Specific Aim 1. To design and develop a prototype for the Smartphone technology from prior research on HNC and other parenting programs. 

Specific Aim 2. To revise and finalize the Smartphone-Enhanced HNC technology prototype with regard to structure, design, and format utilizing feedback from two consumer groups: a representative sample of parents of children with ODD and early CD behaviors and the therapists who serve them.

Specific Aim 3. To conduct a pilot controlled trial to evaluate the following: feasibility and acceptability of the Smartphone-Enhanced HNC Program with families of youth with ODD and early CD behaviors; and trends in key primary outcomes (i.e., parental engagement, retention, and behavior; child behavior; cost-effectiveness) that will be the focus of a future randomized control trial. 

This project is funded by National Institute of Mental Health (R34MH829567-01A2; PI: Jones, DJ)

Trajectories of HIV/AIDS Risk Behaviors Among Maltreated Youth
Adolescent exposure to violence, either as a witness or victim, is increasingly common and associated with a wide range of negative outcomes for youth, including increased likelihood of engaging in HIV/AIDS risk behaviors.  The public health importance of research to date on violence exposure and HIV/AIDS risk behaviors should not be minimized; however, several methodological limitations of this research significantly limit the policy implications of this work for HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.  Utilizing advances in quantitative methods, in combination with the methodological rigor of the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), a set of collaborating child abuse and neglect projects following 1,354 children in 5 locations across the United States, this project has the following three aims:   

Specific Aim 1:To examine the trajectories of sexual abuse, family violence, and community violence among youth in LONGSCAN, the link between trajectories of youth violence exposure and HIV/AIDS risk behaviors, and contextual moderators of these behaviors. 

Specific Aim 2: To use findings from the LONGSCAN analyses and family and practitioner feedback to guide the development of a family-based HIV/AIDS prevention program for youth with violence exposure histories, which will be pilot-tested for feasibility and acceptability. 

Specific Aim 3:  The current study findings, as well as associated prevention manual, will serve as the pilot data for a subsequent R01 in which the PI will propose to conduct a randomized control trial of the HIV/AIDS prevention manual for youth identified as high-risk for HIV/AIDS based on their histories of violence exposure. 

Mentors for this K01 project are Des Runyan, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (child maltreatment), Seth Kalichman, Ph.D., University of Connecticut (HIV/AIDS), and Daniel Nagin, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University (quantitative methodology).

This project is funded by Mentored Public Health Research Scientist Development Award (K01 PS000795-01).

Completed Projects

African American Families and Children Together (AAFACT)
The majority (56%) of African American youth in the U.S. are currently being raised in single mother homes.  Although African American youth from single mother homes have been identified as at-risk for a range of adjustment difficulties, many of these youth do quite well.  Accordingly, a better understanding of the risk and protective factors associated with the psychosocial adjustment of African American youth is critical to the development and implementation of successful prevention and intervention programs. AAFACT is an ongoing longitudinal study designed to examine the role of risk and protective factors in the health and well-being of African American youth from single mother homes. African American single mother-headed families (n = 195) with an 11 to 16-year-old youth were recruited from counties across central North Carolina. Recruitment was conducted through community agencies (e.g., health departments, YMCAs, churches), public events (e.g., health fairs), local advertisements (e.g., informational emails, bus displays, brochures), and word-of-mouth (e.g., participants telling other families).  At each of the two assessments, mothers, adolescents, and a coparent (e.g., biological father, grandmother) completed questionnaires assessing information across individual, familial, peer, and neighborhood. 

In addition, a subsample of youth completed an implicit measure of vulnerability for HIV/AIDS risk behavior, which we pilot-tested in collaboration with Dr. Keith Payne. 

Funding for the project came from several sources including the Ethnicity Culture and Health Outcomes (ECHO), the University Research Council, and the Center for AIDS Research CFAR; #9P30 AI050410