Robin Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Email Address: mill1493@msu.edu
Research Interest:
My program of research aims to understand the role of prevention and evaluation science in community-based practice. I seek to understand the science-practice gap within the context of the prevention of HIV infection among men who have sex with other men and the community-based and grassroots initiatives that are at the center of AIDS prevention work on behalf of these men. My research approach was formed during my tenure at the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the oldest AIDS organization in the United States, where I spent nearly 8 years of my career developing the agency's capacity to conduct sound program evaluations and use the results of these studies to inform program decisions. As GMHC's principal intermediary between the worlds of science and practice, it was readily apparent that the knowledge bases developed by scientists and practitioners were seldom tightly coupled or mutually informative. Since leaving GMHC for an academic career, my scholarship has focused on understanding how programs are implemented in community settings and what organizational contingencies govern the application of scientific evidence-based programs to community-based service provision. To that end, I have evaluated indigenous prevention programs and those that are imported to such settings from universities. I have also conducted research to understand the organizational issues affecting use of social science knowledge as it is embodied in the form of best HIV prevention practices.
Scientists seeking to disseminate HIV prevention programs to communities often lack adequate information about why their programs may or may not be of interest, why providers offer the prevention programs that they do, and how setting-level factors affect the process of translating and sustaining programs in new settings. My research indicates a mismatch between what scientists design and what a majority of organizations have the capacity to implement (Miller, 2001, 2003). My work has also highlighted contextual factors, such as how sets of organizations manage their image in an environment of limited resources, may prompt organizations to reject using programs that they perceive reduce their ability to be seen as unique, original, and financially competitive (Barton-Villagrana, Bedney, & Miller, 2002). My program of research highlights the value of attending to the adaptability and philosophical fit of programs and to the dynamic context in which organizations are embedded when designing prevention programs and planning to move them into the day-to-day life of an organization.
I also conduct research to evaluate how proven HIV prevention strategies fare when implemented in community settings. Among my most recent projects was a 7-year multi-site study to examine the process and outcomes of four evidence-based interventions for young men who have sex with other men. As part of this effort, my colleagues and I articulated a framework for identifying and assessing organizational capacity to conduct HIV prevention programs (Miller, Bedney, & Guenther-Grey & The Community Intervention Trials for Youth Study Team, 2003). From this study, my research colleagues and I have added rich information to a very small literature on late adolescent and young adult men who have sex with men on a variety of issues affecting prevention-related behaviors among this population and on conducting HIV prevention research with this group (Mashburn, Peterson, Bakeman, Miller, Clark, & The Community Intervention Trials for Youth Study Team, 2004; Miller, Forte, Wilson, Greene, forthcoming; Steuve, O'Donnell, Duran, San Doval, Geier, & The Community Intervention Trials for Youth Study Team, 2002; Peterson, Bakeman, Stokes, and The Community Intervention Trials for Youth Study Team, 2001; Wilson, & Miller, 2002).
Building on my recent work on AIDS organizations and dissemination of evidence-based programs, in collaboration with Drs. Ralph Levine and David Lounsbury, I am developing a project to model how AIDS-related community-based organizations change in response to their attempts to institutionalize HIV prevention evidence-based programs. I have also begun the process of collaborating with Detroit-area agencies that serve young Black men who have sex with men. Roughly 61% of AIDS cases in Michigan are among men who have sex with men; the vast majority of these cases occur among Black men and youth. Few documented program models exist that are tailored to these men's lives. Better understanding of effective programs to promote the long-term health and well being of Black men who have sex with men is essential to improve prevention science and practice and to lower the incidence of HIV.
Teaching Interest: Among my principal goals as a teacher is to train talented young scholars to conduct cutting-edge prevention and applied research. I strive to teach students the art and science of designing rigorous mixed-method studies so that they may conduct innovative research in community settings. To that end, I am interested in teaching courses on quasi-experimental and qualitative research methods, program evaluation theory and practice, and on intervention theory and design.
GRANT AWARDS
9/98-8/03 Miller, R. L. (Principal Investigator). Prevention of HIV Infection in Youth at Risk: Developing Community-level Strategies that Work. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. $5,251,873.
8/99-7/05 Weissberg, R. P. & Miller, R. L. (Co-Investigator). Prevention Research Training Program In Urban Childrens' Mental Health and AIDS Prevention. National Institute of Mental Health. $1,726,620.
9/97-6/00 Miller, R. L. (Principal Investigator). Chicago HIV Prevention Evaluation Demonstration Project. AIDS Foundation of Chicago. $50,000.
Publications
Miller, R. L., & Shinn, M. (2005). Learning from communities: Overcoming difficulties in dissemination of prevention and promotion efforts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 169-183.
Hart, T., Peterson, J. L., and The Community Intervention Trial for Youth Study Team. (2004). Predictors of risky sexual behavior among young African American men who have sex with men. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 1122-1123.
The Oral History Project Study Team. (2004). The oral history of evaluation Part II: An interview with Lois-ellin Datta. American Journal of Evaluation, 25, 243-253.
Mashburn, A.J., Peterson, J.L., Bakeman, R., Miller, R. L., Clark, L.F., & The Community Intervention Trial for Youth Study Team (2004). Influences on HIV testing among young African American men who have sex with men and the moderating effect of social context. Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 45-60.
Roberts, G. & Miller, R. L. (2004). Intervening in the HIV/AIDS epidemic: The role of Black psychologists. Journal of Black Psychology, 30, 138-160.
Miller, R. L., Bedney, B. J., Guenther-Grey, C., & the Community Intervention Trial for Youth (CITY) Project Study Team (2003). Assessing organizational capacity to deliver HIV prevention services collaboratively: Tales from the field. Health Education and Behavior, 30, 583-600. (CHES continuing education credit article)
Miller, R. L. (2003). Adapting an evidence-based intervention: Tales of The Hustler Project. AIDS Education and Prevention, 15 (Suppl. 1), 127-138.
The Oral History Project Study Team. (2003). The oral history of evaluation Part I. Reflections on the chance to work with great people: An interview with William Shadish. American Journal of Evaluation, 24, 261-272.
Wandersman, A., Keener, D, Snell-Johns, J., Miller, R. L., Flaspohler, P., Dye, M. L., Mendez, J., Behrens, T., Bolsun, B., & Robinson, L. (2003). Empowerment evaluation: Principles and action. In L.A. Jason, C. B. Keys, Y. Suarez- Balcazar, R. R. Taylor, & M. I. Davis, (Eds.)Participatory community research: Theories and methods in action. (Pp. 139-156). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wilson, B. D. M. & Miller, R. L. (2003). Integrating culture into HIV prevention research: A review. AIDS Education and Prevention, 15, 184-202.
Barton-Villagrana, H., Bedney, B.J., & Miller, R. L. (2002). The function of peer relationships among HIV prevention providers. Journal of Primary Prevention, 23, 217-236.
Miller, R. L. & Kelly, J. G. (Eds.). (2002). Special issue on community-level approaches to the prevention of HIV infection. Journal of Primary Prevention, 23.
Miller, R. L. & Kelly, J. G. (2002). Community-level approaches to preventing HIV: Guest editors' introduction. Journal of Primary Prevention, 23, 153-158.
Steuve, A., O'Donnell, L., Duran, R., San Doval, A., Geier, J., and the Community Intervention Trial for Youth (CITY) Study Team. (2002). Being high and taking sexual risks: Findings from a multisite survey of urban young men who have sex with men. AIDS Education and Prevention, 14, 482-495.
Wilson, B. D. M. & Miller, R. L.(2002). Strategies for coping with sexual orientation among African American men who have sex with men. Journal of Black Psychology, 28, 371-391.
Miller, R. L. (2001). Innovation in HIV prevention: Organizational and intervention characteristics affecting program adoption. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 621-647.
Miller, R. L. (2001). Review of "Handbook of Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of HIV Prevention Programs. American Journal of Evaluation, 21, 397-397.
Muhib, F., Lin, L., Steuve, A., Miller, R. L., Ford, W., Johnson, W., Smith, P., & the Community Intervention Trial for Youth (CITY) Study Team. (2001). A venue-based method for sampling hard to reach populations. Public Health Reports, 116 (suppl. 2), 216-222.
Peterson, J. L., Bakeman, R., Stokes., J. P., & the Community Intervention Trial for Youth Study Team. (2001). Racial/ethnic patterns of HIV sexual risk behaviors among young men who have sex with men. Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 5, 155-162.
Solomon, E. E. & Miller, R. L. (2001). Developing collaborative relationships: The Brooklyn Women's Project. In M. Sullivan & J. G. Kelly (Eds.) Collaborative research: University and community partnerships (pp. 195-203). Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Miller, R. L. & Cassel, B. J. (2000). Ongoing evaluation in AIDS-service organizations: Building meaningful evaluation activities. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 19, 21-39.
Reprinted in: D. Salina (Ed.) (2000). HIV/AIDS prevention: Current issues in community practice. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.
PRESENTATIONS
Foster-Fishamn, P. & Miller, R. L. (2005). Creating system change: Issues in measurement and evaluation. Society for
Community Research and Action Biennial Conference, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Miller, R.L., Khamarko, K., & Beard, S. (2005). Two tales of an intervention: Sorting through contradictory evidence
from mixed method evaluations. Society for Community Research and Action Biennial Conference, Urbana-
Champaign, IL.
Miller, R. L. (2005). Invited address: Fidelity in context: How interventions, organizations, and communities affect the fidelity of HIV prevention evidence-based programming. Capacity Building for Translation of Effective HIV Prevention Interventions Conference, Storrs, Connecticut.
Miller, R. L. (2005). Panelist: The changing face of HIV/AIDS: Why we can't wait. Sponsored by Jack and Jill of America
Greater Lansing Chapter and the Michigan State University Women of Color Task Force, East Lansing, Michigan.
Miller, R. L., Wilson, B. D. M., Forte, D., & Greene, G. J. (2004). Tailoring HIV Prevention to Young Black Gay Men:
Trials and Tribulations. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Washington, DC.
Hickson, D. A., Lin, L. S., & The CITY Project Study Team. (2003). Development of a multi-level, non-linear regression
model for hierarchical, serial cross-sectional data with a dichotomous response. 131st Annual Meeting of the
American Public Health Association, San Francisco, California.
Mashburn, A., Peterson, J., Miller, R. L., & Clark, L. (2003). HIV testing among YAAMSM and the moderating effect of
setting. Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Miller, R. L. (2003). Discussant: Evaluating the 2002 American Evaluation Association conference: Reflections on
methods, findings, and lessons learned. American Evaluation Association Annual Meeting, Reno, Nevada.
Miller, R. L. (2003). What we left behind: An empowerment evaluator's report card. American Evaluation Association
Annual Meeting, Reno, Nevada.
Miller, R. L., Wilson, B. D. M., Greene, G. J., & The Community Intervention Trial for Youth (CITY) Project Team (2002). Community factors and unsafe sex: A multilevel analysis. Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
Miller, R. L. (2002). So, now that you're gone, what are they up to?: A case study in empowerment evaluation. Invited paper, Second Chicago Conference on Community Research: Participatory Methods, Chicago, Illinois.
Miller, R. L. (2002). Adapting an evidence-based intervention: The Hustler Project. Invited address to the University of California at Los Angeles Skills Building Conference on HIV Prevention Strategies for Men of Color and Their Partners, Pasadena, California.
Miller, R.L., Wilson, B.D.M., Griffith, D.M., Adames, S.B., McFadden, A., Forte, D., Greene, G., Bedney, B. (2001). HIV risk behaviors among Chicago's young African-American men who have sex with men. Poster presentation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Regional MSM HIV Prevention Conference, Chicago, IL.
Miller, R.L., Griffith, D.M., Adames, S.B., McFadden, A., Forte, D., Greene, G., Bedney, B. (2001). The CITY Project: An HIV prevention intervention for young African-American men who have sex with men. Poster presentation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Regional MSM HIV Prevention Conference, Chicago, IL.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Evaluation Association
American Psychological Association
American Public Health Association
Chicagoland Evaluation Association
Health Psychology (Division 38), American Psychological Association
Michigan Association of Evaluators
Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), American Psychological Association
Society for Public Health Education
System Dynamics Society
