Grants & Contracts - College of Social Work

Edelman, L. (PI) & Andersen, T. C. (Co-I). Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement program. Utah Geriatric Education Consortium. Award number: U1QHP28741. Total funds $3,750,000. July 2019 – June 2024.

The Utah Geriatric Education Consortium (UGEC) is a Health Resources and Services Agency (HRSA) funded Geriatric Workforce Enhancement program. First funded in 2015, the UGEC aimed to enhance primary and geriatric care in 20 nursing homes in Utah through educational programs for students and nursing home providers and staff. In 2019, the UGEC applied for and received funding to expand programs across the Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) settings, with an increased emphasis on the four M’s of age-friendly health systems: mobility, medications, mentation, and what matters.

Supiano, K. (PI) & Andersen, T. C. (Co-I). Group therapy for dementia caregivers at risk for complicated grief. National Alzheimer’s Association. Award number: AARG17503706. Total funds: $149,998. January 2017 – December 2020.

The goal of this project is to adapt Complicated Grief Group Therapy (CGGT)—an efficacious intervention for complicated grief in bereaved dementia caregivers—for soon-to-be bereaved dementia caregivers at risk for complicated grief. The goal of Pre-Loss Group Therapy (PLGT) is to facilitate healthy death preparedness and eventual bereavement in advance of the death of the care recipient. First, the death preparedness of both bereaved and soon-to-be bereaved caregivers will be assessed. Second, CGGT will be adapted into PLGT, a 10-session group therapy intervention for soon-to-be bereaved dementia caregivers. Finally, PLGT will be administered and evaluated in the setting of long-term care facilities among soon-to-be bereaved family caregivers at-risk for complicated grief, and whose care recipient has a life expectancy of six months or less.

Bennett, T. R. (PI). Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA) program development, implementation, and evaluation. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH). Total Funds: $137,500. September 2018 – December 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) provides development, implementation, and evaluation support for Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness to provide peer-to-peer substance use services. Researchers are assisting USARA to create a sustainable model for providing peer recovery services statewide.

Bennett, T. R. (PI). The availability of culturally and linguistically appropriate behavioral health services in targeted areas of Utah: An LBHS community needs assessment. Latino Behavioral Health Services (LBHS). Total funds: $25,000. October 2020 – June 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) is partnering with Latino Behavioral Health Services (LBHS) to conduct a needs assessment of the presence and availability of culturally and linguistically appropriate behavioral health services in targeted communities throughout Utah. The assessment will examine the presence or absence of standards related to governance, leadership, and workforce through interviews with stakeholders in the fields of criminal justice, education, and public and private mental health substance abuse providers. The assessment will also identify the presence and availability of mental health and substance abuse services that meet standards for communication and language assistance.

Byrne, K. (PI) & Broadbent, M. (Co-I). Identifying and describing disproportionality and disparities in Utah’s Child Welfare System to inform Title IV-E prevention services. Utah Division of Child & Family Services. Total funds: $326,918. October 2020 – October 2022.

DCFS contracted with the Social Research Institute (SRI) to study racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity in Utah’s child welfare system. This is a mixed methods study.

Byrne, K. (PI) & Osteen, P. (Co-I). Systematic review of DCFS practices and programs for inclusion in the Child Welfare Practices Clearinghouse. Utah Division of Child & Family Services. Total funds: $327,869. June 2020 – June 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) completed three systematic reviews of DCFS practices and programs. Following the Child Welfare Practices Clearinghouse guidelines, the research team systematically reviewed Seeking Safety, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.

Keeshin, B. (PI) & Byrne, K. (Co-I). Pediatric integrated post-trauma services: An evidence-based care process model for pediatric traumatic stress. SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Award number: 5U79SM080000-03. Total funds: $3,000,000. September 2016 – September 2022.

The purpose of this project is to develop and disseminate clinical algorithms and tools for medical providers to detect, assess, and manage traumatic stress, facilitating timely treatment and referral and minimizing the misuse of medication. The area of trauma focus is injuries and medical problems/health care settings/integrated care. The project goals include: 1) develop an evidence-based care process model (EB-CPM) and decision support tools for pediatric traumatic stress; 2) implement and assess pediatric traumatic stress EB-CPM for frontline healthcare providers in primary care and children’s advocacy centers; and 3) provide national leadership on the use of care process models in trauma-exposed children.

Keeshin, B. (PI), Byrne, K. (Evaluator). University of Utah Psychotropic Medication Oversight. Utah Department of Health. Total funds: $1,935,230. July 2019 – June 2024.

The purpose of the Utah Psychotropic Oversight Program (UPOP) is to improve the well-being of children and adolescents in foster care receiving psychiatric treatment, by promoting safe, evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment, consistent with their mental health needs. UPOP’s mission and goal is to establish and operate a psychotropic medication oversight program by collaborating and consulting with DCFS caseworkers, Fostering Healthy Children health coordinators, community mental health professionals, and providers throughout the state.

Facelli, J. C. (PI), Gouripeddi, R. (Co-I), Wang, Y. (Co-I), Li, B. (Co-I), Davis, K. (Co-I), & Cambron, C. (Co-I). Characterizing local COVID-19 emergent phenomenon and mitigation using computational modeling. Utah 3i Initiative Emerging COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 Research. Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Award number: 3UL1TR002538-02S1. Total funds: $25,000. August 2019 – February 2021.

This project seeks to use the existing research infrastructure of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) network to develop a sustainable and harmonized research strategy that will determine the impact of the ECHO model on improving patient-level outcomes associated with opioid use disorder treatment.

Canham, S. (PI), Garcia, I. (Co-PI), Rose, J. (Co-PI), Jones, S. (Co-PI). Understanding the mobility impacts of decentralizing homeless services in Salt Lake County, Utah. National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC). Award number: 1386. Total funds: $100,206. August 2020 – August 2021.

In 2016, Salt Lake County, Utah initiated the transition of the delivery of homelessness services from a centralized homeless shelter and provider (The Road Home) to a decentralized model of shelter provision and service delivery through four Homeless Resource Centers (HRCs) that are operated by different providers (The Road Home and Volunteers of America, Utah). The HRCs were designed and built outside of the downtown core to shelter 1,000 individuals facing homelessness. The HRCs provide a range of services, some of which were entirely new within the homeless services system, including in-shelter foodservice, medical care, employment assistance, and case management. The transition to a decentralized model required careful consideration of where to locate these new HRCs—one key issue for consideration in the Salt Lake City Planning Commission's (2017) HRC Zoning Amendment was “proximity,” which considered how accessible the new locations were to public transportation and other needed services. Aligned with the NITC theme of increased access to opportunities, the following aims are proposed: 1) to understand how the decentralization of homeless services has influenced transportation demand and mobility patterns for persons experiencing homelessness; and 2) to understand how transportation and mobility changes affect access to services and supports. Using a mixed methods research design, this interdisciplinary study proposes conducting: 1) a content analysis of publicly available planning staff reports; 2) a GIS spatial and statistical analysis of proximity to opportunity and basic services for users of the four new HRCs compared to the former Road Home shelter; 3) up to 20 interviews with providers and decision makers; 4) survey of 100 clients’ travel behaviors, mobility patterns, and access to necessary services; and 5) up to 20 interviews/focus groups with individuals who stay in one of the four new HRCs. This research will provide recommendations to transportation agency staff and others about policy initiatives to effectively and equitably mitigate transportation issues when homeless services are restructured and/or decentralized.

Canham, S. (PI). Aging in the right place: Building capacity for promising practices that support older people experiencing homelessness in Montréal, Calgary, and Vancouver. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Total funds: $1,375,000. March 2020 - April 2025.

Through a community-based participatory research approach, researchers will evaluate promising practices across the shelter/housing continuum to determine which promote aging in the right place, the characteristics of promising practices, and the groups of older persons with experiences of homelessness (OPEH), for which the promising practices work based on intersections of risk (e.g., age, gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability, Indigenous status, and immigrant status). The overall goal is to improve the shelter/housing options to meet the unique and complex health and social needs of OPEH across Canada. To achieve this goal, the researchers’ specific objectives are to: 1) evaluate promising practices of shelter and housing for OPEH that promote aging in the right place, ultimately making recommendations for expanding a promising practice locally (scaling up) or enabling a promising practice to be adapted in other communities (scaling out); 2) train a new generation of scholars to develop advanced research skills and lines of inquiry on homelessness, housing, and aging research; and 3) facilitate knowledge mobilization around promising practices for OPEH in Canada and internationally, while increasing public awareness of OPEH and perceptions of aging in the right place through public lectures, media, interviews, publications, and photo exhibits.

Castillo, J. (PI) & Frost, C. J. (Co-I). A vision forward in substance abuse education: The training and development of advanced substance use disorder counselors within diverse communities and populations. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Award number: 5M01HP31280-04. Total funds: $1,200,000. September 2017 – August 2021.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded the University of Utah Substance Use Disorder Treatment Training Certificate (SUDTTC) Program a grant to educate and train people to work as professional substance use disorder counselors in medically underserved areas and/or with medically underserved populations in the state of Utah.

Castillo, J. (PI), Cambron, C. (Co-I), Campbell, K. (Co-I), Frost, C. J. (Co-I), Gerritsen-McKane, R. (Co-I), Gren, L. H. (Co-I). Developing family support options through training and apprenticeships for substance use disorder counselors. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Opioid-Impacted Family Support Program. Award number: T26HP39461. Total funds: $2,189,007. September 2020 – August 2024.

The purpose of this project is to educate and train students-trainees and apprentices as substance use disorder counselors, thereby increasing the quality and quantity of these professionals in the behavioral health and child welfare workforce in the state of Utah.

Terry, M. B. (Co-PI), Frost, C. J. (Co-PI), Buys, S., Colonna, S., & O’Toole, K. Breast cancer family registry cohort. National Institutes of Health. Award number: 1UM1CA16492001A1UT. Total funds: $349,886. December 2017 – November 2022.

The goal of this six-site cancer study is to maintain a cancer data repository and to conduct studies linked to personalized genomic medicine in the context of cancer research. The researchers will also recruit women and men less than age 40 to a research cohort study. Additionally, the team will collect biospecimens and mammographic information about these participants.

Rothwell, E. (PI) & Frost, C. J. (Co-I). Video informed consent information (VICI) for residual newborn specimen research. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Award number: 5R01 HD082148. Total Funds: Funds: $346,649. September 2015 – May 2020.

The investigators will conduct pilot study research to evaluate a video and app, called the "Video Informed Consent Information (VICI)" consent approach, to determine understandability of information and potential to increase interest in biobanking newborn blood specimens.

Garland, E. L. (PI). Targeting hedonic dysregulation to address chronic pain and opioid misuse in primary care. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Program. Award number: R01DA042033. Total funds: $2,828,034. September 2016 – July 2021.

Prescription opioid misuse is a public health threat that is being addressed with heightened urgency at both clinical and policy levels. Extant therapies for opioid misuse and chronic pain may have limited efficacy because they fail to directly target the maladaptive emotion-cognition interactions and hedonic dysregulation inherent in these co-occurring problems. To meet this need, the PI developed a novel behavioral intervention, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE). MORE is innovative in that it aims to modify associative learning mechanisms hijacked during the allostatic process of opioid misuse by strengthening top-down cognitive control to restructure bottom-up reward learning from valuation of drug reward to natural reward – something that no other behavioral intervention for opioid misuse has been designed to do. The goal of this study is to conduct a full-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) of MORE to reduce aberrant drug-related behaviors and chronic pain among opioid misusing patients in primary care. Participants are randomized to eight weeks of MORE or a conventional support group control administered in community primary care clinics. Patient-reported outcomes are assessed pre- to post-treatment and through a nine-month follow-up. Ultimately, this translational research proposal aims to advance evidence-based integration of behavioral health into primary care.

Garland, E. L. (PI). Heart rate variability-informed mobile health (mHealth) research to promote mindfulness skills. University of Utah Research Foundation. Total funds: $9,000. March 2020 – February 2021.

The purpose of this project is to develop and pilot test a just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) system to increase mindfulness practice engagement as a means of optimizing effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) on opioid dose reduction. The primary aim is to conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) of MORE + JITAI (MORE+) to obtain effect sizes to power a future full scale RCT.

Garland, E. L. (PI), Love, T. (Co-I), Nakamura, Y. (Co-I), Hanley, A. W. (Co-I). Neural mechanisms and predictors of treatment response in opioid misuse. University of Utah Office of the Vice President for Research 1U4U Initiative. Total Funds: $30,000. March 2020 – March 2021.

There is a significant, immediate need to develop effective treatments to adequately treat chronic pain while reducing the risk of opioid misuse and addiction. A novel behavioral intervention, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), developed by researchers within the University of Utah, was specially designed to treat the co-occurring problem of opioid misuse and chronic pain. While multiple lines of evidence indicate MORE can significantly lower opioid craving, reduce chronic pain, and prevent opioid misuse, we do not yet understand the neurobiological mechanisms that support and predict treatment success. With this project, the investigators will bring together an interdisciplinary team of researchers to examine the neural predictors of MORE treatment response. By utilizing a comprehensive neuroimaging battery to examine the structural and functional mechanisms of change associated with MORE treatment, this study will broaden understanding of the neurobiological markers that predict treatment success, help identify treatment non-responders early, and enable the researchers to refine treatment and create more effective, personalized interventions to target co-occurring chronic pain and opioid misuse. This funded proposal enables the team to pursue a brand-new area of research.

Martin-Soelch, C. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-I). Understanding and restoring dopaminergic function in fibromyalgia patients using a mindfulness-based psychological intervention: A raclopride PET-study. Swiss National Science Foundation. Award Number: 182766. Total Funds: 700,000 SFr. October 2019 – September 2023.

Chronic pain, defined as a pain lasting for more than six months, is regarded as a major health problem in western European countries. Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is one of the most prevalent chronic pain conditions, with a widely unknown etiology, and is difficult to treat. A better understanding of FMS and the development of new treatment strategies for this disease are therefore very relevant issues in healthcare. The current guidelines for the treatment of fibromyalgia consider psychological interventions, in particular cognitive-behavioral methods, a treatment of choice. Mindfulness is regarded as an interesting approach for FMS, however without conclusive empirical evidence so far. A recent promising intervention, the Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), which was originally developed to treat substance dependence, has shown beneficial effects in chronic pain patients with opioid abuse. The MORE intervention is a cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based group training of eight weeks. Interestingly, preliminary results indicate that this intervention is able to restore the neurophysiological and behavioral responses to reward. This project is a continuation of a previous SNF-funded project of the PI on FMS that evidenced impaired dopamine (DA) function and altered DA response to reward in FMS in comparison to age and gender matched healthy participants. This innovative new project aims to build on these previous findings and to generate additional important clinical and scientific knowledge by investigating the ability of MORE to restore the DA function in FMS patients, in particular with regard to the DA responses to reward, and to reduce pain and mood symptoms in FMS.

Finan, P. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-I). Separate and combined effects of mindfulness meditation and savoring on pain-related corticostriatal function. National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health. Award number: R61AT010134. Total Funds: $1,005,568. July 2019 – June 2021.

The main goal of this project is to test the separate and combined effects of mindfulness and savoring techniques on corticostriatal function in chronic pain patients.

Froeliger, B. (MPI), Saladin, M. (MPI), & Garland, E. L. (PI). Neural mechanisms mediating appetitive regulation and smoking in nicotine addiction. National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Award number: R01DA048094. Total Funds: $2,277,413. June 2019 – March 2024.

The main goal of this project is to test the effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement on nicotine addiction pathophysiology.

Goldstein, R. Z. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-I). Neuroimaging response inhibition and salience attribution changes during mindfulness-based treatment of human heroin addiction. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Award number: R01AT010627. Total Funds: $3,775,359. April 2019 – March 2024.

The goal of this project is to use neuroimaging of reward processing, drug cue reactivity, and inhibitory control before and immediately after eight weeks of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement as compared to standard of care in opioid addiction. Clinical outcomes will be assessed immediately and three months after treatment.

Bryan, C. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-PI). Brief cognitive behavioral therapy replication trial. Department of Defense. Award number: W81XWH1820022. Total funds: $4,900,000. July 2018 – June 2023.

The overall goal for this project is to test the effectiveness of brief cognitive behavioral therapy (BCBT) for the prevention of suicide attempts in a sample of treatment-seeking Marines. The standard null hypothesis involves tests conducted comparing improvement following BCBT (treatment duration of 12 weeks) to Person-Centered Therapy (PCT). The primary outcome comparisons will include direct markers of suicidality (i.e. suicide, suicide attempts). Secondary outcomes will be suicide ideation and indicators of psychiatric distress (e.g., depression, hopelessness). The researchers also aim to assess several hypothesized psychological and neurocognitive mediators of treatment effects (e.g., wish to live, attentional bias, emotion regulation). Participants will be followed for two years post-treatment by independent evaluators blind to treatment condition.

Fritz, J. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-PI). SMART stepped care management for low back pain in military health system. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and Department of Defense. Award number: UG3AT009763. Total funds: $6,438,846. September 2017 – August 2023.

Chronic pain is a ubiquitous problem and growing concern for the Military Health System (MHS). Low back pain (LBP) is the most common condition that leads to chronic pain. Numerous recommendations have been made to improve care for LBP and chronic pain in the MHS, including implementation of a stepped care approach. Stepped care is a treatment process that begins with broadly accessible, less intensive interventions that can benefit many patients. Those who do not respond to initial treatments are stepped up to more intensive treatment. While stepped care is advocated for pain management, and has been beneficial for improving care in other chronic conditions, many questions remain about which treatments to use within each step, and the importance of sequences of care decisions. The SMART Stepped Care Management Project supports an innovative sequential multiple randomization trial specifically designed to address these key questions. Patients in the MHS with chronic LBP are randomly assigned to either receive physical therapy or the holistic move to health intervention. After six weeks, patients’ responsiveness to their first treatment step is determined. Non-responders are re-randomized to receive either Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) or treatment from an Integrative Pain Medicine Center. This SMART trial compares the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of step one and step two treatments in a stepped care approach for patients with LBP in the MHS with patient-centered and healthcare cost outcomes, with an emphasis on studying the sequencing effects of different treatment combinations.

Zgierska, A. (Overall PI) & Garland, E. L. (PI, Utah Site). A comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation versus cognitive behavioral therapy for opioid-treated chronic low back pain. Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Award number: OPD-1601-33860. Total funds: $8,430,230. January 2017 – December 2022.

One in four U.S. adults have chronic low back pain, which is defined as any type of pain in the low back or radiating down to the legs (sciatica) that lasts for three or more months. Doctors often cannot cure chronic low back pain, but they may prescribe an opioid medicine to help patients manage their pain. These medicines can have serious side effects, such as addiction to the medicine, depression, or even death from accidental overdose. This study compares two ways non-opioid treatments help patients reduce chronic low back pain and improve their quality of life: mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Mindfulness meditation helps people train their minds to focus attention in a certain way to cope with and reduce negative reactions to pain. CBT, a type of psychological therapy, helps people learn how to change their thoughts and feelings about pain and develop new ways to think and act when they are in pain. The aim of this comparative effectiveness trial is to assess if mindfulness-based intervention is more effective than standard-of-care CBT for improving pain and function.

Zubieta, J.K. (MPI) & Garland, E. L. (PI). Effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Intervention on endogenous opioid mechanisms of hedonic regulation in chronic pain. NIH-National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R61/R33). Award number: R61AT009296. Total funds: $830,946. September 2016 – September 2021.

Chronic pain is typically managed with extended use of opioid analgesics, despite an absence of data on their long-term efficacy and clear evidence of significant health risks. Chronic pain patients receiving extended opioid therapy suffer from impaired regulation of aversive (e.g., pain) and appetitive experience (e.g., pleasure), dual processes subserved by opioid-mediated, hedonic regulatory mechanisms. Extant therapies may have limited efficacy because they fail to directly target the neural circuits of hedonic regulation. The overarching aim of this study is to determine the capacity of a novel meditation intervention, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), to restore endogenous opioid system function as measured with PET and a selective μ-opioid radiotracer. This multi-PI proposal unites expertise in meditation-based interventions with expertise in neurogenetics and the use of PET and fMRI to probe the neurobiological mechanisms of pain and affective experience, and builds upon a program of prior research, which provided preliminary efficacy data on the MORE intervention and standardized its delivery via manualization of the treatment and development of fidelity measures. By elucidating a key mechanism of this meditation-based intervention, this translational research study will enable rapid optimization of MORE for stage III clinical trial implementation and dissemination.

Bryan, C. (PI) & Garland, E. L. (Co-I). Targeting chronic pain and co-occurring disorders in the community with Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement. Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Award number: W81XWH-15-PRMRP-CTA. Total funds: $3,434,996. August 2016 – August 2021.

The co-occurrence of chronic pain, psychological distress, and misuse of prescription opioids undermines the mission of the U.S. Military and inflicts suffering upon veterans and their families. Unfortunately, there are no evidence-based treatments that simultaneously address pain, opioid misuse, and psychological distress. To fill this gap, this study is a trial of a novel integrative medicine approach combining Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) with conventional opioid pain management for service members and veterans. The study utilizes lab-based assessments and mobile technology to understand how MORE works to create therapeutic change, and to predict whether and when service members and veterans are at risk for relapsing back to opioid misuse. To accomplish this objective, lab-based assessments evaluate physiological reactivity to cues associated with past episodes of pain and opioid use, and a smartphone-based assessment evaluates opioid craving, pain, and negative mood in “the real world.” Because changes in heart rate and other physiological factors may indicate the extent to which a person’s brain has been triggered by opioid craving, this application of mind-body assessments to predict opioid misuse risk and treatment outcomes could facilitate early risk detection and penetrate denial.

Cooperman, N. (PI), Garland, E. L. (Co-I), & Hanley, A. W. (Co-I). Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement as an adjunct to methadone treatment for opioid use and chronic pain management. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21/R33). Award numbers: R21AT010109 and 4R33AT010109. Total funds: $1,819,967 (for R21 and R33 phases combined). September 2019 – September 2021.

This project will study the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) as an adjunct to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain.

Fritz, J. (PI), Garland, E. L. (Co-PI), & Hanley, A. W. (Co-I). Optimizing treatment sequencing for patients with chronic, nonspecific low back pain. Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Optimized Multidisciplinary Treatment Programs for Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain. Award number: OTS-LBP-2017C1-6486. Total funds: $9,689,014. September 2018 – March 2025.

This study will use a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) design to determine the optimal treatment sequencing of physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness-based therapy for chronic pain.

Hanley, A. W. (PI). Optimizing psychosocial pain management: Examining treatment moderators, intervention utilization, and postoperative outcomes. University of Utah Research Foundation. Total funds: $25,209. April 2019 – March 2021.

This project’s primary aim is to identify which surgical patients respond best to one of three preoperative psychosocial interventions, so as to more skillfully personalize pain management strategies.

Hopkins, R. (PI). Medicaid 1115 waiver evaluation. Utah Department of Health. Award number: 182700856. Total funds: $962,560. March 2018 – February 2023.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will conduct an evaluation of Utah’s Medicaid waiver demonstration that will examine the effects of policy changes and expanded health care coverage to underserved populations. Specific services to be included in the study include substance use disorder treatment.

Hopkins, R. (PI). H.B. 177 trauma-informed justice provisions training needs assessment. Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Governor’s Office. Award number: 201549. Total funds: $34,325. October 2019 – June 2020.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) conducted a needs assessment and provided technical assistance as part of the trauma-informed agency self-assessments process agreed to by the specific agencies listed in H.B. 177 and endorsed by the Multi-Disciplinary Trauma-Informed Committee. These agencies include: 1) the Board of Pardons and Parole, 2) the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 3) the Department of Corrections, 4) the Department of Public Safety, 5) the Office for Victims of Crime, and 6) Juvenile Justice Services.

Hoy-Ellis, C. P. (PI). Social neuroscience of depression: Developmental stage & sexual and gender minority (SGM) identities. University of Utah Research Foundation. Total Funds: $34,541. June 2019 – August 2021.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognize sexual and gender minorities (SGM) as a health disparate population for the purposes of research. The National Survey of Midlife Development data found stark contrasts in the past-year prevalence of major depression among 18 to 74-year-old Americans. Evidence suggests that internalized SGM identity stigma and identity concealment are significantly associated with depression among SGM people; yet our understanding of how these underlying pathways of risk contribute to disparately high rates of depression among SGM remains extremely limited. This pilot study aims to compare heterosexuals and SGM to examine potential mechanisms through which the social nervous system mediates and/or moderates sexual/gender identity stigma and identity concealment and social threat to increase risk for depression among SGM. In the first step, the researchers will record and analyze specific patterns of autonomic reactivity to visual stimuli via psychophysiological indices of heart rate variability, skin conductance response, and respiration that capture cortical-subcortical cognitive and affective physiological processing of SGM social threat and affirmation. Second, experimentally-induced suppression as a cognitive/affective coping mechanism, potentially influencing physiological arousal response patterns in identity stigma and identity concealment, will be tested. This will be done with the objective of comparing effects of brief suppression of SGM identity to a no suppression control condition on psychophysiological reactions to SGM-related negative, neutral, and positive stimuli.

Hoy-Ellis, C. P. (PI), Frost, C. J. (Co-I), Gren, L.H. (Co-I). Violence against sexual and gender minority women: A mixed methods consideration of one college campus context. University of Utah Office of the Vice President for Research 1U4U Initiative. Total Funds: $50,000. March 2020 – February 2021.

Violence against women, recently described as gender-based violence (GBV), is a national phenomenon resulting in negative mental, physical, and social health outcomes. GBV disproportionally impacts women on college campuses; Division I colleges report significantly higher rates of GBV compared to Division II and III schools. About 20% of college women experience GBV; roughly 11% experience rape. Those age 18-24 have a 300% greater risk of GBV compared to women in the general population. Evidence suggests that sexual and gender minority (SGM) women (e.g., lesbian, bisexual, transgender) are at significantly greater risk for GBV than their heterosexual counterparts, with one study reporting bisexual women are 2.6 times more likely to experience GBV. Despite increased rates of GBV, there is a gap in knowledge looking at whether students identifying as SGMs experience higher risk for GBV. This study will elucidate information about knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and risk factors to effectively address GBV on college campuses. A unique interdisciplinary approach representing five disciplines with collaborations among the College of Social Work, School of Medicine, and community partnership with the Utah Pride Center will be utilized in this study. A comparative analysis of PAC-12 university resources and policies addressing GBV will be conducted alongside an analysis of campus and community SGM women’s experiences gathered through anonymous questionnaire, focus groups, townhall meetings, and secondary analysis of BRFSS data.

Jaggers, J. W. (PI) & Osteen, P. J. (Co-I). Evaluation of organizational characteristics and public defender social worker representation on child welfare outcomes for low-income families represented by public defenders. Utah Indigent Defense Commission, Utah Governor’s Office. Award number: 201561. Total funds: $23,177. January 2020 – April 2020.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) conducted an outcome evaluation and organizational assessment of the Social Work Support Public Defender programs in Utah County and Salt Lake County, Utah.

Keyes, T. S. (PI). Examining culturally relevant restorative practices for improving school-based relationships. University Research Committee Faculty Scholarly Grant Program. Total funds: $9,576. March 2019 – September 2022.

The educational outcomes for American Indian students, when compared to other racial groups, are among the lowest. One approach for addressing the educational disparities is to improve school discipline practices by embracing culturally relevant restorative justice (RJ) practices. Often the success of RJ practices use outcome measures such as attendance, grades, suspension, and expulsion. However, missing from these outcomes are whether positive school-based relationships improve and if a sense of trust and belonging impact student engagement. Interviews will be conducted with five high school students from three high schools within San Juan School District. Students will be recruited to participate in the study if they have been involved with culturally relevant RJ practices within the last three years. This study will use phenomenological analysis to examine how culturally relevant Native restorative justice practices, implemented in the San Juan School District (SJSD), influence school-based relationships. Also missing from the literature is if and how the current trauma-informed literature aligns with restorative justice practices. This study will compare the qualitative themes (created during the analysis) to assess whether the RJ practices align with current trauma-informed practices. The findings will be a starting point to advance our understanding about how culturally relevant RJ practices improve educational outcomes for American Indian students. Subsequent studies will follow to create school-based interventions that improve school culture and climate and to develop culturally relevant RJ curriculum for public schools.

Loomis, A. (PI). Pathways between trauma-informed teacher training and indicators of child and teacher well-being in a Utah and national sample. University of Utah Research Foundation. Total funds: $15,000. March 2020 – February 2021.

Nationally, about half of preschool-aged children—almost 4 million children—attend preschool each year, many of whom will have already experienced some type of trauma or childhood adversity, such as maltreatment or witnessing domestic violence. Trauma disproportionately impacts young children and has a demonstrated negative influence on early socioemotional development, academics, and long-term health. Trauma-informed (TI) school-based interventions, which often include training for teachers, are increasingly being explored as a way to promote the well-being of children who have experienced trauma. However, because of the paucity of research examining whether and how specific components of TI school-based models uniquely contribute to child and teacher well-being, it is difficult to identify the most critical components of TI interventions. Further, few of these interventions have been developed and evaluated specifically for preschool-aged children. The overall goal of this study is to identify the relationship between TI teacher training and child/teacher outcomes. In particular, this study will examine TI attitudes as a mechanism through which TI training influences child expulsion risk and teacher stress. The study will explore these relationships in two samples of preschool teachers, a Utah sample (N=400) and a nationally recruited sample (N=500), in order to determine the feasibility of conducting future pilot intervention research with Utah preschool teachers that can be generalized for national samples. Once the mechanisms are known through which TI training influences outcomes, interventions can be developed that specifically target these mechanisms. This study will help lay the foundation for future research geared toward developing effective TI preschool interventions that improve outcomes for trauma exposed young children as well as teachers.

McDonald, C. (PI). Title IV-E training. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A02433. Total funds: $13,500,000. July 2017 – June 2022.

This Social Research Institute (SRI) project involves research and education components that include participants from the BSW Program, the MSW Program, and new and existing child welfare workers in the agency. The goal of the project is to assess whether a comprehensive, evidence-based training package can impact outcomes in daily practice. A child welfare worker's first child abuse or neglect case is often an overwhelming experience. The process of engaging, gathering information, and making a decision requires a complex skill set, which is difficult to perform under the best circumstances. When the situation is highly emotional, competent performance is even harder to achieve. To better equip child welfare workers with the skills they will need for their first case, the University of Utah, in partnership with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, has developed a simulation experience of a worker’s first case. The training of child welfare workers, like many other types of social work, is acquired mainly through on-the-job experience. This type of training leads to wide ranges in competency and outcomes. This is the first cradle-to-grave training program in the nation and will incorporate cutting-edge evidence-based training modalities including virtual-reality and simulation.

Min, M. O. (PI). Gender and developmental trajectories to adolescent substance use and sexual risk behavior. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Award number: NIDA R01 DA042747. Total funds: $842,460. September 2019 – July 2021.

This is a secondary data analysis grant to examine gender differences in behavioral trajectories leading to substance use and sexual risk behaviors in adolescents with and without prenatal cocaine/polydrug exposure, capitalizing on the combined datasets from two longitudinal birth cohorts.

Mueller, D. (PI) & Sarver, C. (Co-I). Non-judicial adjustment (NJA) Study. Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Governor’s Office. Award number: 201395. Total funds: $85,000. December 2019 – November 2021.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) is conducting a systematic review of diversion programs and an internal evaluation of current non-judicial adjustment (NJA) policies and practices in the state of Utah.

O'Connor, A. B. (PI). Developing data-driven evidence-informed feedback mechanisms for autonomous anti-trafficking task forces. U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime and Bureau of Justice Assistance. Award number: 2018-VT-BX-K085. Total funds: $51,000. October 2018 - September 2021.

The Utah State Attorney General's Office and the Refugee and Immigrant Center – Asian Association of Utah co-run a non-affiliated (non-funded) task force to respond to the issue of human trafficking. In order to best support the task force in evidence-informed development, evaluators from the Social Research Institute (SRI) gather data about task-force related activities to identify strengths and gaps in four main areas identified in research literature to best support the goal of ending human trafficking: prevention, prosecution, protection, and partnership.

Osteen, P. J. (PI). Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH) kids program evaluation. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A02543. Total funds: $462,200. May 2018 – September 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will provide evaluation and consultation on the quality and effectiveness of adolescent and transitional-aged youth (TAY) substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. SRI will develop tools to measure treatment quality and develop a continuous quality improvement system, which will provide ongoing feedback to treatment providers along with technical assistance to implement agency improvements through the Utah Quality Youth Treatment Project.

Osteen, P. J. (PI). Independent systematic reviews project. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A03017. Total funds: $327,869. January 2020 – September 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will conduct independent systematic reviews of programs and services intended to prevent foster care placements through enhanced support to children and families. Specific programs and services will be identified by the Department of Human Services (DHS) and reviews will be conducted according to Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse Handbook of Standards and Procedures.

Osteen, P. J. (PI). COVID-19 emergency response for suicide prevention. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: 1 H79 FG000490-01. Total funds: $46,775. December 2020 – November 2021.

The purpose of this contract is for the contractor to carry out COVID-19 emergency response suicide prevention (ERSP) grant evaluation and reporting activities, including development of data collection strategies, implementation of data collection with grant partners, analysis of data, and summarization of data required for grant reporting.

Osteen, P. J. (PI) & Broadbent, M. (Co-I). Evaluation of Grandfamilies program. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A02742. Total funds: $172,538. November 2018 – February 2021.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will assist the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) in meeting the requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) by evaluating the degree to which the Grandfamilies program can qualify as an evidence-based kinship navigator program.

Osteen, P. J. (PI) & Broadbent, M. (Co-I). Evidence-based practice (EBP) evaluation project. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A03056. Total funds: $1,387,290. December 2019 – December 2024.

In accordance with requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act, the Children’s Bureau, within the Federal Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, requires evaluation of all programs and services included in a state’s five-year Title IV-E Prevention Program Plan, if the program or service does not have a well-supported rating by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. The Social Research Institute (SRI) will develop evaluation plans based on review and assessment, and will conduct evaluations for programs and services included in the State of Utah IV-E Prevention Program Plan.

Osteen, P. J. (Co-PI) & Hopkins, R. (Co-PI). Evaluation of Utah national suicide grant strategy. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Award number: A02541. Total funds: $136,250. April 2018 – September 2020.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) conducted this evaluation of Utah’s implementation of the National Strategy to Prevent Suicide, including process and outcome data collection and analysis of state-level implementation and mini-grant activities.

Osteen, P. J. (PI), Wilke, D. (Co-I), Frey, J. J. (Co-I). The mediating role of flexible workplace policies on employees' health and wellbeing. Wellcome Trust. Total funds: $51,750. July 2020 – October 2020.

Flexible work policies have been established as a means of helping employees achieve a more sustainable work/home balance. However, these types of arrangements have not been explored as to how they may interact with the workplace environment itself and the relationship between job-induced stress and mental health. Workplace stress has been strongly linked to the quality of supervision practices, and thus this research proposes to examine how flexible work policies may mediate the negative impact of poor supervision on mental health, specifically anxiety and depression. The relationship between supervision practices and employee mental health has received some attention in the organizational and management literature, particularly in terms of job satisfaction, burnout, and retention. Similarly, flexible work policies have also been linked to job satisfaction, burnout, and retention. However, the interplay of these two forces has not been explored. It is theorized that access to and use of flexible work arrangements will buffer employees’ depression and anxiety related to the quality of supervision they receive.

Osteen, P. J. (PI) & Sarver, C. M. (Co-PI). Division of Juvenile Justice Services program evaluation and improvement project. Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services (DJJS). Award number: A02619. Total funds: $422,460. July 2018 – June 2023.

Through this contract, the Social Research Institute (SRI) will assist the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services (DJJS) with efforts to demonstrate the effectiveness of services and measure the impact of quality improvement initiatives.

Osteen, P. J. (PI), Broadbent, M. (Co-I), & West, K. (Co-I). An evaluation of the Families First Utah Youth Village program. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Award number: A02742. Total funds: $42,148. November 2018 – December 2020.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will conduct an evaluation of the Families First Utah Youth Village (UYV) program to assist the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) in meeting the requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). The goal of this project is to evaluate the degree to which Families First UYV can qualify as an evidence-based program in accordance with the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse Criteria.

Prince, K. C. (PI). A randomized controlled trial of the Salt Lake County criminal justice Pay for Success (PFS) Program: Recovery, Engagement, Assessment, Career Development, and Housing (REACH). Private investment banks and philanthropic organizations. Award number: 0000001404. Total funds: $725,000. January 2017 – December 2023.

Pay for Success (PFS) is an innovative approach that leverages taxpayer risk by funding social service programs with private capital and ties payment for services to demonstrated outcomes through rigorous evaluation. Salt Lake County has partnered with the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC), First Step House (FSH), Sorenson Impact Center, and a variety of community stakeholders to develop a PFS project to address high recidivism rates among offender populations. The Recovery, Engagement, Assessment, Career Development, and Housing (REACH) program was designed by FSH to serve high-risk, high-need adult male probationers with moderate to severe substance abuse disorders. Specific program components include: evidence-based interventions specifically designed to address criminogenic factors that are tied to recidivism; substance use disorder treatment; employment support through job placement, education, and training; support and case management to meet individual needs through benefits enrollment, health resources, and community engagement; and housing support. UCJC was selected as the independent evaluator on this $6.3 million, six-year project, and is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study to examine the program’s success improving criminal justice and employment outcomes.

Prince, K. C. (PI). Formal and informal influences on desistance in parolees. University of Utah Research Foundation. Total funds: $13,500. March 2020 – February 2021.

The aims of this study are threefold: 1) to address gaps in the literature with respect to the relationship between formal criminal justice interventions and informal influences, the subjective identity of persons exiting prison, and recidivism; 2) to identify differences in the pathways to recidivism for males and females exiting prison; and 3) to gather preliminary data to support a proposal to the National Institute of Justice for the solicitation Research into Desistance from Crime.

Prince, K. C. (PI) & Mueller, D. (Co-I). Evaluation of the 24/7 sobriety pilot program. Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS). Total funds: $93,000. July 2018 – September 2021.

Beginning July 1, 2018, repeat DUI offenders in certain Weber County courts may be enrolled in a new program that will allow them to maintain their driving privileges but require them to abstain from alcohol and drugs for a full year. The new 24/7 Sobriety Program, which is being piloted by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, aims to reduce repeat DUI recidivism. Despite some evidence that suggests the program may be effective, methodological limitations of past studies make it difficult to determine whether the 24/7 program is actually more effective than current practices. As such, DPS has contracted with the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) to provide consultation and a three-year evaluation of the 24/7 sobriety pilot program.

Prince, K. C. (PI) & Mueller, D. (Co-I). Second Chance Act (SCA) project: Phase I. Utah Department of Corrections. Award number: 203561. Total funds: $120,000. April 2020 – September 2021.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) will conduct an evaluation of the effects of Second Chance Act initiatives among a cohort of inmates in Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) facilities who are being released to the community. The Second Chance Act is designed to improve risk and needs assessment fidelity and development of case action plans, increase the frequency of reassessments, and ultimately, lead to reductions in state-wide recidivism outcomes.

Prince, K. C. (PI) & Sarver, C. M. (Co-I). A randomized controlled trial of the Salt Lake County homelessness Pay for Success (PFS) Program: Housing Not Jails (HNJ). Private investment banks and philanthropic organizations. Award number: 0000001404. Total funds: $611,712. January 2017 – December 2023.

Pay for Success (PFS) is an innovative approach that leverages taxpayer risk by funding social service programs with private capital and ties payment for services to demonstrated outcomes through rigorous evaluation. Salt Lake County has partnered with the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC), The Road Home (TRH), Sorenson Impact Center, and a variety of community stakeholders to develop a PFS project to address homelessness within the community. Despite spending $52 million in Salt Lake County annually on the homelessness service system, there are still large numbers of persistently homeless individuals in the County. The persistently homeless are defined as those individuals who have spent between 90 and 364 days over the previous year in emergency shelters, on the streets, or otherwise tracked as being homeless. These individuals spend long periods of time in emergency shelter and are commonly booked into jail for low-level crimes related to homelessness (e.g., public intoxication, trespassing). Analysis of this population demonstrates that the persistently homeless are at clear risk of remaining homeless without support and are a strain on public resources. Despite their poor outcomes, these individuals are highly unlikely to receive the currently available services for the homeless. To directly address this population and its unique issues, the County decided to utilize a Rapid Rehousing (RRH) approach to serve persistently homeless individuals through the Housing Not Jail (HNJ) program. The HNJ program, developed by The Road Home (TRH), is based on the framework of the Housing First (HF) model, and was designed to move persistently homeless individuals out of the emergency shelter and into a stable housing placement. HNJ augments the RRH and HF models by incorporating a number of evidence-based practices and comprehensive wraparound services, such as intensive case management, behavioral health group services, and referral to employment services. The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) was selected as the Independent Evaluator on this $5.7 million, six-year project, and is currently conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study to examine the program’s success improving housing stability, criminal justice, and behavioral health outcomes.

Prince, K. C. (PI), & Sarver, C. M. (Co-I). Employment, fatherhood, and reentry study. State of Utah, Department of Workforce Services (DWS). Award number: 18DWS0092. Total funds: $77,667. May 2018 – February 2020.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) conduct the following study on employment, fatherhood, and reentry. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to develop an understanding of the perceived barriers to obtaining meaningful employment for fathers transitioning out of incarceration through in-person interviews; and 2) to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the Invest in Dads Too pilot program for fathers reintegrating into the community. Taken together, the findings from this study have the potential to inform policymakers and service providers in order to enhance programs and services aimed at increasing employment opportunities for offenders upon reentry into the community.

Prince, K. C. (PI), & Sarver, C. M. (Co-I). Evaluation of the Utah Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Award number: A02446. Total funds: $94,334. July 2017 – September 2020.

The Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program provides highly individualized outpatient treatment to adults who have serious mental illness (SMI) or SMI and co-occurring substance use disorders, are civilly committed in the community, and have demonstrated difficulty adhering to prescribed treatment on a voluntary basis. This project is part of a four year SAMHSA grant awarded to the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH). The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) is providing consultation to DSAMH and program staff, regular reporting on participant demographics and short-term outcomes, and evaluating the impact of the program on treatment, health, housing, and criminal justice outcomes.

Salisbury, E. J. (PI). Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) training contract. South Dakota Department of Corrections. Total funds: $28,500. September 2020 – August 2021.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) will train personnel from the South Dakota Department of Corrections in the administration and scoring of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA), as well as the use of the assessment for case planning purposes.

Salisbury, E. J. (PI). Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) training contract. Los Angeles Probation Department. Total funds: $45,500. November 2020 – June 2021.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) will train personnel from the Los Angeles Probation Department in the administration and scoring of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA), as well as the use of the assessment for case planning purposes.

Sarver, C. M. (PI). Utah – Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (U-PIPBHC) program. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Award number: A02741. Total Funds: $179,010. April 2019 – December 2023.

The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH) has received funding to implement the Utah – Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (U-PIPBHC) program through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). DSAMH and provider organizations located in Box Elder, Iron, Utah, and Washington Counties will integrate primary and behavioral health care services using the Intermountain Healthcare Mental Health Integration Care Process Model and Primary Care Behavioral Health Model to address the physical and behavioral health needs of low-income, uninsured residents residing in Box Elder, Iron, Utah, and Washington Counties. The goals of this Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) project are to: 1) determine if services are provided as intended; 2) characterize the type and dosage of services received by clients; and 3) analyze change in outcomes of interest as the result of program participation.

Sarver, C. M. (PI). Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH) Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) program evaluation. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Award number: A02825. Total Funds: $328,000. April 2019 – December 2023.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) requires the Utah Department of Human Services/Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DHS/DSAMH) to create and oversee a certification process for all community-based treatment programs, both public and private, that provide services to persons who are court-mandated to behavioral health treatment. This process will ensure that treatment providers are knowledgeable and skilled with respect to the scientific research for reducing recidivism among substance using persons who have been court-mandated to treatment. The objectives of this project are to: 1) provide consultation to DSAMH staff on justice certification; 2) develop and pilot a certification tool that will be administered to provisionally certified treatment providers to determine readiness for final certification; 3) provide technical assistance to programs through the general evidence-based correctional practice (EBCP) module developed and maintained by UCJC; and 4) conduct follow-up program evaluations with Utah’s 13 Local Substance Abuse Authorities.

Sarver, C. M. (PI), & Mueller, D. (Co-I). Gender-responsive and behavior management reentry. Management & Training Corporation. Total funds: $60,000. October 2019 – June 2021.

The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) is conducting a process evaluation that characterizes the implementation of a gender-responsive and behavior management approach to re-entry in one female correctional facility in the state of Florida. Furthermore, the contract includes appropriate date and data collection measures to ensure the feasibility of an outcome evaluation at a future date.

Sarver, C. M. (PI), & Prince, K. C. (Co-I). A randomized controlled trial of the state of Utah's Pay for Success (PFS) pilot project: The ReSet program. State of Utah, Governor's Office of Management and Budget. Award number: 181917. Total funds: $140,000. October 2017 – September 2020.

In 2018, the state of Utah began piloting a criminal justice intervention targeting high-risk, high-need male parolees with co-occurring substance use disorders and mental illness. The ReSet program was developed by Odyssey House (OH) to provide integrated, comprehensive residential treatment that addresses substance use disorder, mental health, and criminogenic needs. Services are provided using a therapeutic community treatment model in a community-based residential program. Specific program components include: evidence-based interventions specifically designed to address criminogenic factors that are tied to recidivism; substance use disorder treatment; employment support through job placement, education, and training; support and case management to meet individual needs through benefits enrollment, health resources, and community engagement; and housing support. The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) was selected as the evaluator on this project and conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study to examine the program’s success improving criminal justice, employment, and behavioral health outcomes.

Sarver, C. M. (PI), & Prince, K. C. (Co-I). Evaluation of the SAMHSA FAST program. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Total funds: $300,000. September 2018 – September 2023.

This project was part of a five-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant that was awarded to The Road Home (TRH) to develop and evaluate the Family Assistance and Support Team (FAST) program. The FAST team will assist 150 homeless families with a substance use disorder or co-occurring disorder to stabilize in permanent housing with rapid re-housing (RRH) packages of financial assistance and multidisciplinary wrap-around supports, which will include: case management, behavioral health treatment for parents and children with an emphasis on access to developmentally appropriate services, and a focus on increasing mainstream benefits and employment. The FAST program incorporates rapid re-housing, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, harm reduction, and critical time intervention in a setting-flexible service delivery model. Objectives include: 1) helping families obtain and stabilize in permanent housing; 2) providing a coordinated approach to accessing mainstream benefits for all family members; 3) facilitating access to employment supports; 4) connecting children to developmentally appropriate supports; and 5) connecting all family members to behavioral health supports, as needed. The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) will serve as the evaluator on this multi-agency team, and will conduct a thorough evaluation of the program to determine the impact of the program on the following outcomes: housing placements and retention; benefits/health insurance enrollment and retention; behavioral health treatment admission and completion; employment type, length, and salary; children’s receipt of services, including type and length; and measures of parent and child well-being. During the final year of the project, UCJC will compare outcomes between FAST participants and a propensity score matched sample of homeless families who are not enrolled in the program.

Sarver, C. M. (PI), & Seawright, J. (Co-I). Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) program evaluation. Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Award number: A02825. Total Funds: $463,001. January 2019 – June 2022.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) requires the Utah Department of Human Services/Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DHS/DSAMH) to create and oversee a certification process for all community-based treatment programs, both public and private, that provide services to persons who are court-mandated to behavioral health treatment. This process will ensure that treatment providers are knowledgeable and skilled with respect to the scientific research for reducing recidivism among substance using persons who have been court-mandated to treatment. The objectives of this Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) project are to: 1) provide consultation to DSAMH staff on justice certification; 2) develop and pilot a certification tool that will be administered to provisionally certified treatment providers to determine readiness for final certification; 3) provide technical assistance to programs through the general evidence-based correctional practice (EBCP) module developed and maintained by UCJC; and 4) conduct follow-up program evaluations with Utah’s 13 Local Substance Abuse Authorities.

Creed, T. A. (PI), Atkins, D. C. (PI), Narayanan, S. (PI), Tanana, M. J. (Co-I). Technology-supported training and quality assurance for psychosocial interventions. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Award number: R56MH118550. Total funds: $831,604. February 2019 – January 2021.

This NIMH grant is to explore the feasibility of automating the scoring of the cognitive therapy rating scale (CTRS), a common cognitive behavioral tool (CBT) fidelity tool, using machine learning algorithms.

Tanana, M. J. (PI). Child fatality. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Award number: A02742. Total Funds: $23,994. November 2018 – March 2020.

With this grant, researchers completed a systematic review of child fatality cases in the state of Utah.

Tanana, M. J. (PI). Technology-supported, measurement-based supervision for motivational interviewing. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Award number: R44DA046243. Total funds: $1,126,534. July 2018 – December 2020.

Most evidence-based treatments for substance abuse are in-person psychotherapy and counseling interventions, such as motivational interviewing. There are currently no methods for evaluating the quality of such counseling interventions in the real world to support training, supervision, and quality assurance. Building on an existing prototype, the researchers enhanced and evaluated a cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant clinical support software tool that uses automated speech recognition and machine learning in a community-based opioid replacement clinic.

Srikumar, V. (PI) & Tanana, M. J. (Co-PI). Technology facilitated training for mental health counseling. National Science Foundation. Award number: 1822877. Total funds: $749,781. August 2018 – July 2020.

In this project, the researchers developed and evaluated technological tools that facilitate new models for training tomorrow’s mental health workforce. The team created and studied a novel text-based platform with the pedagogical goal of training mental health counselors. Within this platform, they will explore two broad research questions, studying the pedagogical impact of: 1) natural language processing-driven helpers that provide feedback in real time; and 2) crowd-sourced counseling using individuals with minimal training. To this end, the researchers designed and trained several statistical models that operate within the proposed text-based platform to interact with novice therapists. They evaluated the efficacy of the two kinds of feedback (automatic and crowd-based) in terms of how well they could train different kinds of trainees (lay support providers in online forums, novice therapists in training) compared to models where the learner practices on their own and/or without specific feedback.

Atkins, D. (PI), Narayanan, S. (PI), Tanana, M. J. (Co-I). Implementation of technology-based evaluation of motivational interviewing. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Award number: R01AA018673. Total funds: $3,043,806. September 2016 – August 2021.

Performance-based feedback is an effective method for training and supervising counseling approaches for alcohol-related problems. However, current feedback methods rely on human evaluation of recorded counseling sessions and are not feasible in the real-world, due to time and cost. This study will implement a clinical support software tool that uses speech signal processing and computational models—instead of human judgment—to evaluate motivational interviewing for alcohol and substance use problems.

Tanana, M. J. (PI) & Broadbent, M. (Co-I). Title IV-E Research. Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Utah Department of Human Services. Total funds: $1,472,704. April 2013 – March 2022.

Through this project, the Social Research Institute (SRI) will provide research support to the State of Utah’s child welfare system. Researchers will engage in quantitative analyses of system databases to help understand the causes and influences over the child welfare system.

Tecle, A. S. (PI), Hunter, R. (Co-PI). Global Social Work Learning Communities. Katherine A. Kendal Institute (KAKI), Council on Social Work Education. Total funds: $8,000. August 2018 – August 2021.

Due to geographic, cultural, and socio economic divides, North American students are often not sufficiently exposed to a global context. Through both face-to-face and online social work education and practice, students will be qualified to capture the nuances and realities of such global conditions that require communication and information across regions and continents. The Global Social Work Learning Communities program is a curriculum project and an innovative teaching method, designed to prepare North American students and students living in refugee camps and displaced communities for global citizenship and international social work practice.

Vogel-Ferguson, M. B. (PI). Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) project. Utah Department of Workforce Services. Award number: 20DWS0144. Total funds: $989,414. January 2020 – December 2022.

The Social Research Institute (SRI) will conduct research and evaluation to provide data regarding the impact of various Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) programs on outcomes for needy families accessing the programs, as the Department strives to adhere to the four cornerstone principles of operational excellence, exceptional customer service, employee success, and community connection. Programs to be evaluated promote self-sufficiency, healthy relationships, enhanced education, and trauma-informed parenting.

Vogel-Ferguson, M. B. (PI). Center for trauma-informed Utah and ACEs prevention support project. Utah Department of Health. Award number: 212700442. Total funds: $111,000. September 2020 – August 2025.

The purpose of this Social Research Institute (SRI) project is to guide stakeholders through the process of establishing a steering committee, necessary subcommittees, and conducting supportive activities to develop a proposal for a center for trauma-informed Utah. The center will serve as a resource for the state of Utah to work toward becoming a trauma-informed, resilience-building, ACEs-preventing state. An additional purpose is to provide support and technical assistance, as requested, to the Utah Department of Health to integrate trauma-informed policies and practices into department structure and programs.

Kafadar, K. (PI), Yaffe, J. (Co-PI), Garrett, B. (Co-I), & Dodson, C. (Co-I). Understanding and improving effectiveness of eyewitness identification procedures. Arnold Ventures (FKA Laura and John Arnold Foundation). Award number: GF13635.153569. Total funds: $1,369.931. Utah share: $296,802. December 2016 – February 2021.

Eyewitnesses provide important information to police in criminal cases. However, eyewitnesses can be mistaken, resulting in erroneous convictions and failure to identify real perpetrators. Scientific evidence about the causes of eyewitness misidentification is characterized by gaps, incomplete synthesis, and insufficiently sophisticated analytic techniques to examine interactions between variables. This team’s interdisciplinary research stretches across three universities and four disciplines: law at Duke University, statistics and cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia, and social work at the University of Utah. Together, the researchers are mapping and evaluating existing research in eyewitness identification, conducting new research on eyewitness memory and jury decision-making, and conducting cutting-edge statistical analyses. They work with an advisory board of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and police professionals to ensure that the research remains relevant.

Other Funded Projects

Wheatley, M. & Castillo, J. Utah State Legislature. (2018). University of Utah recovery-ready community (Recover at the U). 2018 General session: General Fund, Education Fund, and Select Other Services. Higher Education. Funding Amount: $100,000 (annually, ongoing).

In 2018, working closely with Representative Mark Wheatley and personnel with Community Solutions Consulting, undergraduate and graduate students affiliated with Recover at the U (student organization) were able to testify in front of the Utah State Legislature (i.e., Higher Education Appropriations Committee), informing them of challenges and problems associated with alcohol and drug issues on college campuses nationwide (including the University of Utah) and strategies to combat these issues. Established in 2015, Recover at the U is a student-led, peer-recovery group intended to provide assistance and support to students who are in recovery and/or managing their sobriety. In previous years, Recover at the U has hosted/conducted numerous psycho-social education support groups, community outreach and awareness workshops, and sober social events. With the ongoing funds received from the Utah State Legislature, Recover at the U has secured both a physical space and a full-time staff member, which will help the program to expand its services and further assist and support the population.