Research Office News

Professor Andy Grogan-Kaylor is quoted in a feature in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health titled “The strange endurance of corporal punishment.” The article explores the fact that while corporal punishment of children is an extremely loaded issue that transcends cultures, the research is almost entirely uniform in finding that corporal punishment doesn’t work and has enduring negative effects on children. “Using spanking might buy you an hour of quiet or an hour of better behaviour,” Grogan-Kaylor said. “But over the course of the long term, it'll lead to all kinds of problems.”

Professor Luke Shaefer was quoted in a Detroit News article on how the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit can make a critical difference for families with low to moderate incomes. 

“This is an important time of year for households who are working hard to make ends meet,” said Shaefer. “Tax refunds help families pay down debt, invest in car repairs, and all the other things they need. We all benefit when families can access these resources.”

Andrea Mora, PhD student Social Work and Developmental Psychology, is one of the Grand Challenges for Social Work's inaugural cohort of fellowship awardees. In addition to supporting policy and practice proposals, the fellowships also broaden the pipeline of social workers equipped for and committed to tackling and surmounting the Grand Challenges. Mora’s research proposal is entitled: “Build Healthy Relationships to End Violence: Protective factors for exposure to community violence and neighborhood-based sexual harassment among Latino/a adolescents in the U.S. and Mexico."

Assistant Professor Anao Zhang is a principal investigator on a new project funded by a $250,000 Eugene Washington Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) grant. The Rogel Cancer Center-based research team will work to bring equity to adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer research and outcomes. Professor Brad Zebrack and PhD student Nina Jackson Levin are part of the research team.

“Despite an overall improved five-year survival rate among AYA cancer survivors over the last 20 years, these improvements have not transferred equitably to underrepresented survivors, including people who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color, as well as sexual and gender minorities,” said Zhang.

Assistant Professor Lisa Fedina, Associate Professor Shanna Kattari and Camille Quinn have been named Fellows of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). SSWR Fellows are members who have served the society’s mission with distinction — to advance, disseminate and translate research that addresses issues of social work practice and policy and promotes a diverse, equitable and just society. Designation as an SSWR Fellow is a high honor and fellows maintain their status as long as they are current members of the society.

In an op-ed in The Hill, Professor Luke Shaefer urges Congress to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit before the end of this session.  

“Providing supplemental income support to families with children … is the easiest, boldest, and most effective strategy to prevent and reduce child poverty,” writes Schaefer. “It wasn’t just families in poverty who saw these health-supporting benefits. Working class families had less trouble putting food on the table during the months of the expanded Child Tax Credit and more of a financial cushion.”

Associate Professor Jaclynn Hawkins has received a three-year Innovative Transformational Research to Reduce Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity in Diabetes grant from the American Diabetes Association for her study, “Program AACTIVE (African Americans Coming Together to Increase Vital Exercise): A Combination CBT and Physical Activity Intervention for Black Men with Type 2 Diabetes.”

Professor Matt Smith spoke with Psychiatric News about how virtual reality can support job seekers with serious mental illness. To help patients prepare for a job interview, Smith developed a virtual reality interview training program informally known as Molly (the name of the virtual hiring manager). “Interviewing with Molly is a great representation of how online job interviews are currently playing out, so it could make trainees become even more skilled and confident.”

Earlier this fall, Smith’s findings on Molly was both on the cover story of Psychiatric Services and selected as an Editor’s Choice.