New Research

Jaime Booth

Associate Professor, School of Social Work

Funding: National Institute of Health (NIH) & National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Title: Spaces and People in Neighborhoods Project (SPIN)

Youth of color disproportionately live in neighborhoods with stressors that contribute to lifelong health disparities. This study uses mobile technology to allow youth to communicate their experiences in their neighborhood in real time. The goal is to engage youth to recognize the relationship between safe and risky spaces; stress and substance abuse; to assess potential risk and to increase youth access to safe spaces. The study created the youth research advisory board (YRAB), conducted a pilot study to fine tune measures and methods, and recruited 78 youth to participate in a larger study. Study activities are situated in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood, Pennsylvania. and all participants either live in the neighborhood or attend the neighborhood school. The YRAB meets once a week to discuss all aspects of the study including: measures, branding, recruitment and retention and data analysis. In the main study that began in July 2019, youth are given a cellphone, were asked to carry them for a month and answered questions about their mood and their current location 3 times day. In addition to completing surveys during the day, study participants completed brief surveys at the end of each day reporting on their overall mood and substance use that day and completed a baseline, immediate follow up and 6 months follow up surveys. The SPIN project is currently engaging participants in the 6 month follow-up surveys, analyzing the data collected to date, preparing for a set of community forums where the data will be presented and discussed, and developing and piloting (Homewood • Youth • Power • Engaged) (HYPE) Media, a youth-led critical literacy program where youth are taught how to engage new media to rewrite neighborhood narratives for community change.

Funding Sources: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Title: Project Adhere: Assessing Psychosocial Predictors of PrEP Adherence and Persistence Among Young Black Men who have sex with Men (MSM)

Young Black MSM experience a disproportionate rate of HIV infections in United States. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a biomedical prevention intervention shown to reduce risk of HIV infection; however, studies suggest Black MSM have significantly lower levels of adherence to PrEP compared to white MSM. Preliminary evidence suggests a relationship between PrEP adherence among Black MSM and psychosocial factors.

The goal of this project is to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors (depressive symptomatology, substance use, social support, perceived HIV risk) and adherence and persistence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among young Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Over the course of the study, Dr. Whitfield and his team will observe the patterns of PrEP use and adherence, explore the effects of psychosocial factors on their adherence, and develop potential intervention targets to increase PrEP adherence. This study is a collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

Darren Whitfield

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry and Direct Practice Chair

Brianna Lombardi

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work

Funding Sources: Pitt Seed Projects; Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center (BHWRC) at the University of Michigan School of Public Health; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Research Topic or Title(s): School-based intervention to build social and cognitive resilience for youth exposed to trauma; Coalition for Opioid and Addiction Leadership (COAL); SAMHSA Practitioner Expansion Award; Use of and Workforce Financed by Psychiatric Collaborative Care Management Codes (CoCM); Social Workers Use of Tele-Behavioral Health During Covid-19

The Pitt Seed Project from the Chancellor’s Office at the University of Pittsburgh is an innovative and community engaged research project that seeks to adapt a schoolbased intervention to build social and cognitive resilience for youth exposed to trauma.

The COAL Fellowship is a $1.3 million grant funded by HRSA to train 70 social workers over the next three years to address the opioid epidemic and co-occurring disorders in Southwest PA. In addition, an interprofessional collaboration between social work and the Peru Center in the Pitt School of Pharmacy funded by SAMHSA provides social worker students with additional training on substance use disorders and interventions.

Funded by BHWRC and HRSA the examination of the use of and workforce financed by Psychiatric Collaborative Care Management (CoCM) aims to identify barriers and facilitators to behavioral health integration in traditional health settings.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the use of tele-medicine; Dr. Lombardi in collaboration with the Michigan BHWRC and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) conducted a national survey with practicing social work clinicians on their tele-behavioral health use since COVID-19 to provide care to clients.

Funding Source: National Institute on Aging (NIA) Title: Preventing Cognitive Decline and Dementia Among Older Chinese Immigrants: The Role of Activity, Engagement, Immigration Experience, and Neighborhood Environments

With a fast growth rate, the U.S. Chinese population increased from 2.9 to 4.9 million between 2000 and 2015, with 14% of them aged 65+ years. The lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s and related dementias in this population is comparable to that of non-Hispanic Whites.

This study, funded by a $2,223,556 grant from the NIA, will inform how active engagement with life, and maintenance of cognitive function, are interrelated to define and shape the aging process, which is especially important to older Chinese immigrants facing linguistic and social isolation.

The project focuses on the preventive effect of activity engagement profiles (AEP on cognitive decline and examine whether AEP mitigate immigration-related and neighborhood-related risks for dementia among community-dwelling U.S. Chinese immigrants.

The research aims to address health disparities and advance social justice through investigation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and immigration, which constitute the social contexts of inequality over the life course and have profound impacts on the well-being and engagement with life in old age.

Fengyan Tang

Professor, School of Social Work