Current Research
REBECCA CAMPBELL, Ph.D.
Developing a Violence Against Women Research Infrastructure in a Field SettingCo-Principal Investigator. Funded by National Institute of Mental Health, 2007-2012.
Collaborative partnership with a community-based, specialty care agency serving female victims of domestic violence or sexual assault to 1) advance knowledge about developing research infrastructure in community settings and establishing collaborative research partnerships; (2) identify and incorporate factors in community settings that may be associated with quality care and optimal outcomes for clients; and (3) test adapted, evidence-based interventions in a community-based agency serving victims of violence against women.
A Systems Change Analysis of SANE Programs: Identifying the Mediating Mechanisms of Criminal Justice System ImpactPrincipal Investigator. Funded by the National Institute of Justice. 2006-2007.
This project (funded by NIJ) examines the circumstances and contexts under which SANE programs increase prosecution, and seeks to identify the mediating mechanisms that explain how and why SANE programs affect case outcomes. Using a systems change theoretical perspective, this project has five objectives. First, we will compare prosecution charging rates and court outcomes for cases examined in a SANE program (intervention group) to a sample of adult sexual assault cases examined using standard hospital protocols in the same community prior to the implementation of the SANE program (comparison group). The second objective is to identify victim (e.g., race, age), case (e.g., victim-offender relationship), and forensic medical evidence (e.g., injury, DNA) characteristics that predict prosecutors' charging decisions. The third objective examines the impact that SANEs have on police as a mediating pathway to increased prosecution rates. The investigational practices for police officers who have completed a SANE criminal justice training program (intervention group) will be compared to those who have not gone through training (comparison group) to determine if there have been substantive changes in police reports since the emergence of the SANE program. The fourth objective in this project is to explore how the emotional support provided to victims/survivors by the SANE program and victim advocates increased their participation during investigation and prosecution. The final objective is to create a practitioner-oriented program evaluation toolkit that can be used by other communities to assess post-SANE systems change.
Developing the Evaluation Capacity for Rape Prevention Education Grantee Programs in the United StatesPrincipal Investigator.
Funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2006-2007.
Evaluating a National Toolkit for Sexual Assault Response Teams and the Sustainability of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs
Principal Investigator
Funded by the Evaluation Contracts from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Office
WILLIAM S. DAVIDSON II, Ph.D.
Adolescent Diversion ProjectPrincipal Investigator. Funded by Ingham County Michigan and Michigan Child Care Fund, 1976-present
Ongoing service/research project involving training undergraduate change agentw to work with youth and their families referred by the local juvenile court. 125 youth and families and students are involved per year in an 18 week long advocacy and social learning based intervention based on three decades of outcome and process research. System reform is a core ingredient of this project.
Juvenile Court System's AnalysisPrincipal Investigator. Funded by Ingham County, Michigan 2002 - present
Ongoing research project aimed at: 1) Assessing local juvenile justice system from a risk/needs/strengths perspective; 2) design of intervention alternatives based on best practice, 3) examination of relative efficacy of alternative interventions. This project involves policy and practice components as well as mutlivariate research alternatives.
Michigan Prisoner InitiativeCo-principal investigator. Funded by National Institute of Corrections and Jeht Foundation 2006-present. Multi-year research project focused on process and outcome evaluation using qualitative and quantative methodology. Project focuses on efficacy of new approach to release of inmates through a highly coordinated community response. Individual as well as systems level variables are being examined.
HIRAM E. FITZGERALD, Ph.D.
Michigan Longitudinal Study Of Life Course Risk For Alcoholism
In collaboration with Robert Zucker at the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center. Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Now in its 20th year, this study was designed to identify the factors that affect the expression of alcoholism, antisocial behavior, and other developmental psychopathology, in high risk children of alcoholics. Additional emphasis is on identification of factors that contribute to resilience among children of alcoholics.
Collaborative project with all Michigan Tribal Early Head Start/Head Start programs to enhance teaching training and child development outcomes. Funded by the Administration for Children, Youth, & Families.
Longitudinal evaluation of Early Head Start eligible infants who were randomly assigned to program and non-program early child development programs in 1996. The Grade 5 followup study is currently in progress.
Funded by the Administration for Children and Families through the American Indian/Alaskan Native Head Start Research Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences.
Building Campus to Campus Partnerships to Serve Community
Funded by Michigan State University.
The aim of this project is to co-create a community based participatory research and community engagement curriculum with 7 HBCU institutional partners and to disseminate the training program through the HBCU Faculty Development Network based at Tougaloo College.
With Dr. Holly Brophy-Herb, Department of Family & Child Ecology. Funded by the Administration for Children and Families.
The purpose of this grant is to develop an emotional development curriculum for use in EHS programs, using a randomized design to test curricular effectiveness.
With Prof. Joel Nigg, Department of Psychology. University of Michigan Board of Regents via National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Designed to identify early indicators of neurocognitive performance that link etiologically with risk for alcoholism and co-active forms of psychopathology.
With Prof. Linda Jackson, Department of Psychology. Funded by the National Science Foundation.
Goal is to determine the impact of violent and non-violent video games on children.s psychological functioning.
ROBIN MILLER, Ph.D.
The Adolescent Trials Network (ATN)The ATN is a national, multi-center research network funded by NICHD with co-funding from the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and Mental Health, through a cooperative agreement mechanism to conduct both independent and collaborative research. Its mission encompasses the full spectrum of research needs for American youth between pre-adolescence through 24 years of age: primary prevention including HIV-1 preventive vaccine and microbicide trials when available for HIV at-risk youth in the community, and clinical management of HIV-infected youth including novel regimens, drug adherence, and risk reduction. The ATN is comprised of three leadership groups responsible for the definition and development of the research agenda, a data and operations center, and clinical sites across the United States and Puerto Rico. Among its current research efforts is Connect to Protect® (C2P), a program of the ATN through which community partners are involved in decisions related to building a research-based primary prevention infrastructure. It is research-based because the program is based on a community mobilization model with a specified outcome, measurable outputs, and testable hypotheses. C2P is establishing a broad primary prevention infrastructure to improve the health of young people and intends to offer an array of research modalities. An integral part of this prevention research will be the introduction of select evidence-based projects into the coalition prevention infrastructure developing at the C2P sites. The interventions being introduced are MPowerment and Community PROMISE, from the CDC Compendium of Effective Programs. Dr. Miller and colleagues Vincent Francisco (University of North Carolina at Greenboro) and Jonathan Ellen (John Hopkins University) are investigating how the community and organizational context at C2P cites influences their efforts at structural and individual-level change.
Service Delivery Dynamics ProjectThis project is intended to understand how the complexity of an intervention may interact with features of the service delivery environment. The project is grounded in the work of Christian Gericke and colleagues, who suggest that an intervention’s complexity reflects characteristics of the intervention itself, characteristics of the resources and collaborative efforts that are required to deliver it, and the characteristics of the population who might use it, including the level of demand for the program. With Ralph Levine, Professor Emeritus, we have developed a system dynamics model of how HIV prevention services are delivered in the community. We are conducting computer simulation experiments on improving service delivery of prevention programs.
The MPowerment EvaluationIn the winter of 2008, I began an evaluation project studying a community attempt to replicate the MPowerment Project for young Black gay and bisexual men. This effort is conducted by MPowerment Detroit. The specific focus of the evaluation is on how the model has been adapted locally and the rationale for changes to the program model.
CRIS M. SULLIVAN, Ph.D.
Developing a Violence Against Women Research Infrastructure in a Field Setting.Principal Investigator. Funded by National Institute of Mental Health, 2007-2012.
Collaborative partnership with a community-based, specialty care agency serving female victims of domestic violence or sexual assault to 1) advance knowledge about developing research infrastructure in community settings and establishing collaborative research partnerships; (2) identify and incorporate factors in community settings that may be associated with quality care and optimal outcomes for clients; and (3) test adapted, evidence-based interventions in a community-based agency serving victims of violence against women.
Grant to Combat Violent Crimes Against Women on Campuses Co-Principal Investigator. Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. 2000-2008.This grant involves enhancing advocacy efforts for those currently being served by MSU Safe Place (the domestic violence program on campus) and the Counseling Center's Sexual Assault Program. The project has also involved improving community education efforts in residence halls, for incoming students, and for classes, and complete trainings for police, judicial boards, sororities and fraternities and for the athletic department. We have also improved outreach and services for international students and their spouses by translating materials into 10 languages and providing training for translators.
Empowerment Evaluation of Domestic Violence Victim Service OrganizationsCurrently involved in a number of activities nationally and internationally to help victim service agencies evaluate their efforts in ways they find meaningful, relevant, and manageable.