Research Briefs

by Wanda Jackson Smith, Grants Specialist and Orion Mowbray, Director of Research

Lydia Aletraris and Orion Mowbray received funding by the University of Georgia Office of the Vice President for Research for the Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program. The funding will facilitate the formation of interdisciplinary faculty teams and collaboration on research to inform effective and sustainable prevention and treatment programs for opioid use disorder.

Kristina Jaskyte Bahr received a $5,000 award related to the Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research PreSeed Program from UGA OVPR. The team, titled “UGA Innovation, Creativity, and Design Thinking Research Community” will facilitate the formation of a research community focused on making innovation a standard in research and developing community solutions and leveraging this “Research Community” to identify and publish multiple research proposals developed for federal, foundation, and state funding. This team also includes social work faculty Adrienne Baldwin-White, Jenay Beer and multiple other faculty across campus. Harold Briggs was awarded a grant from the William T Grant Foundation. This award will explore disproportionate outcomes involving youth of color within the child welfare system.

Rachel Fusco was awarded a subcontract through a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Expansion of Practitioner Education grant to assess the integration of substance use disorder content into the MSW curriculum.

June Gary Hopps was awarded funding from NASW to document and video record initiatives in the domain of Civil Rights and Human Rights where students have been directly engaged.

Anthony Mallon is a Co-PI on a project sponsored by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services titled, “Increasing ACE Protective Factors through Expanded Utilization of the EITC among Minority Households.” This research investigates and gathers data to identify ways poverty is associated with increased stress, hopelessness, and housing instability among children in the greater Athens area.

Rebecca Matthew is a Co-PI on a contract with the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Chronic Disease Prevention Section. This project involves the development of a standardized, core training manual for community health workers (CHWs) in Georgia (English and Spanish).

Jane McPherson is a Module Director for the US Department of State-funded project titled, “Virtual Civic Engagement to Strengthen Democracy in Africa - African Civic Engagement Academy (ACEA)”. This project offers free online civic engagement and leadership training to selected mid-career NGO and public sector managers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Orion Mowbray was recently awarded a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the Athens Clarke County Police Department, to implement a data dashboard for Clarke Ccounty that provides realtime information to police officers concerning calls that involve persons with known mental health problems.

David Okech and Lydia Aletraris were awarded a grant by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking at the US Department of State to implement innovative methods in prevalence estimation of human trafficking in Brazil, Costa Rica, Morocco, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Tunisia. The funding also allows them to do implementation research in sex trafficking in Senegal and child trafficking in Sierra Leone.

Michael Robinson was recently awarded a 5-year grant in partnership with Advantage Behavioral Health Services from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) titled “Evaluation of Homeless Services for Substance Using Clients.” This award will evaluate rapid rehousing services delivered to homeless individuals in the Athens area with substance use related problems.

Anna Scheyett received a grant sponsored by American Farm Bureau Federation titled “Farmers' Mental Health Resources”. This research extends initiatives to provide resources dealing with farmer stress and mental health.

Tiffany Washington received an award from the Alzheimer’s Disease Association Inc. titled “A Student-Delivered In-Home Respite Program to Support Family Caregivers.” This award will examine The Houseguest program, which provides family caregivers with virtual respite visits.