Active Projects/Grants Managed in the SSW

Interprofessional Health Education and Collaborative Care: A Transformative Model for the Health Sciences

January 2015 - June 2020

The seven health science schools at the University of Mich igan have cooperated in this submission to outline a program to transform how we teach our health professions students. Currently, the >4,000 students from our schools are taught almost exclusively by faculty from their own units; very rarely do they learn alongside their peers from the other health science schools. Dental, Medical, Pharmacy, Nursing, Social Work, Kinesiology, and Public Health students learning in these educational silos are expected to work in collaborative teams after graduation to provide quality patient care. Not surprisingly, this suboptimal educational approach has been criticized by the major health organizations (World Health Organization, Institute of Medicine,Institute of Healthcare Improvement, etc.) as an ineffective model for positively influencing the “Triple Aims” of health care: improving 1) patient experience of care; 2) population health; 3) cost of health care. The accreditation bodies for our health schools have responded to these criticisms by requiring increased implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) methods as a means to improve the development of more effective collaborative care models. Implementing more IPE experiences seems to be an obvious strategy, but thus far, the barriers to coordinating IPE between seven units have limited Michigan’s IPE offerings to small pilot projects led by individual faculty champions.

Healthy Michigan Plan CMS Evaluation FY19

October 2018 - September 2019

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation has partnered with MDHHS to conduct the evaluation of Michigan's Medicaid expansion, known as the Healthy Michigan Plan (HMP). Per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, IHPI will carry out evaluation in seven domains: 1) an analysis of the impact of Medicaid expansion on uncompensated care costs borne by Michigan hospitals; 2) an analysis of the effect of HMP on the number of uninsured in Michigan; 3) the impact of HMP on increasing healthy behaviors and improving health outcomes; 4) the viewpoints of beneficiaries and providers of the impact of HMP; 5/6) the impact of HMP's contribution requirements and MI Health Accounts on beneficiary healthcare utilization; 7) the cost effectiveness of the Marketplace Option.

National Program Office for the Alliance to Advance Patient-Centered Cancer Care

February 2017 - January 2022

The University of Michigan is pleased to submit a proposal to serve as the National Program Office (NPO) for the Merck Foundation Alliance to Advance Patient-Centered Cancer Care (Alliance). Michigan is well-positioned to serve as the Alliance’s NPO due to its extraordinary depth and breadth in patient-centered cancer care delivery research, outstanding accrual into complex clinical trials, national-level expertise on health disparities, cancer symptom management, and dissemination/implementation research. Unique assets include a robust Comprehensive Cancer Center, Survey Research Institute, and Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, which serve to leverage existing resources to assure high impact of the Alliance’s grantees. Over the five-year award, we will monitor and assure that high-quality scientific research is conducted in a fiscally responsive manner. We will draw upon our local and national network to render technical assistance to grantees. We will partner with key groups at the local, regional, and national level to disseminate findings and identify opportunities to implement promising interventions. These activities coalesce with our vision to support the delivery of outstanding patient-centered cancer care in a manner that promotes optimal outcomes for all.

Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center

October 2018 - August 2019

The University of Michigan School of Public Health and its Consortium of partners request continued support of the Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center, which was established in 2015 with a mission to conduct research to produce a workforce to meet the Nation’s behavioral health needs. The Center services the workforce responsible for prevention and treatment of mental health conditions and substance use disorders. The Consortium represents a range of professions, health plans, and academic partners who work collaboratively to address the research needs of the field. The Center’s portfolio of research activities will collectively address three priority research areas: strengthening the behavioral health workforce to address the consequences and impact of substance use disorders and mental illness; addressing behavioral health shortage and maldistribution; and improving service delivery and reimbursement. Key objectives for the Center include: 1) completing eight studies per year, along with Rapid Response Requests; 2) expanding the number of Consortium members or partnerships each year; and 3) expanding reach to new audiences and stakeholders by disseminating study findings in multiple formats. Proposed Year 1 studies address a range of behavioral health workforce needs including: investigating the education requirements and telehealth restrictions that potentially inhibit delivery of medication-assisted treatment; developing a national workforce recruitment strategy for rural and frontier areas; examining service delivery in Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics; developing a new measure of workforce capacity for the opioid crisis; investigating the financing of collaborative care models to enhance workforce capacity; examining the training and care delivery of peer providers in behavioral health; assessing reimbursement inequities and their impact on service delivery; and describing the roles of primary care providers in behavioral health service delivery. The strength of the research infrastructure and partnership network established over the past three years will ensure success of this interdisciplinary Center.

Youth Civil Rights as Pathways to Higher Education

The purpose of project is to prepare a new generation of civil rights leaders in ways that provide pathways into higher education for everyone, with special emphasis on first generation, low income, and students of color.

Preventing HIV/STI in Urban Adolescents via an mHealth Primary Care Intervention

February 2017 - January 2020

HIV/STI remain significant public health concerns in the United States and adolescents are disproportionately affected. Adolescents engage in HIV/STI risk behaviors, including drug use and condomless sex, which increases risk for HIV/STI infection. At-risk adolescents, many of whom are racial minorities, experience HIV/STI disparities. Despite the facts that: (a) At-risk adolescents are disproportionately affected by HIV/STI risk behaviors, and infections, and (b) while CDC recommends routine HIV/STI testing in adolescents, relatively few adolescents report having ever been tested for HIV/STI. With expected increases in health clinic visits as a result of the Affordable Care Act, combined with technological advances, health clinics and mobile-health (mHealth), including apps, provide innovative contexts and tools to engage at-risk adolescents in HIV/STI prevention programs. Yet, a dearth of efficacious mHealth interventions delivered in health clinics to prevent/reduce both condomless sex and drug use and increase HIV/STI testing in at-risk adolescents exists. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed a theory-driven, culturally congruent mHealth intervention (hereon referred to as S4E) that has demonstrated feasibility and acceptability in a clinic setting. A next important step is to examine the preliminary efficacy of S4E on adolescent HIV/STI testing and risk behaviors. This goal will be accomplished by two aims: AIM 1 is to develop a cross-platform and universal version of S4E. The cross-platform and universal version of S4E will be compatible with both IOS and Android operating systems, and multiple mobile devices, aimed at providing adolescents with ongoing access to the intervention once they leave the clinic, and AIM 2 is to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of S4E, relative to Usual Care control condition, in preventing/reducing drug use and condomless sex, and increasing HIV/STI testing in a clinic sample of at-risk adolescents aged 14 – 21 living in Southeast Michigan. One-hundred adolescents recruited from a youth-centered community health clinic will be randomized via a blocked randomization with random sequence of block sizes to one of two conditions: S4E mHealth intervention or Usual Care. Theory-driven and culturally-congruent, S4E is a mHealth adaptation of the face-to-face Storytelling for Empowerment, which is registered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices.

A Community-University Approach to Preventing HIV

March 2018 - March 2019

HIV remains a significant public health concern in the US, and African American youth residing in Flint, Michigan, are disproportionately affected. Few HIV prevention programs have been developed and tested with this vulnerable population. To address these HIV prevention concerns, we collaborated with community-based organizations via NIDA funding to develop and pilot test, Storytelling 4 Empowerment (S4E), a theory-driven, mobile-health (mHealth) HIV prevention program that delivers targeted and tailored prevention messaging to youth. Our pilot study demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of S4E in a clinic setting with at-risk youth. The overarching goal of the proposed community-university research is to advance scientific knowledge of technology-based, HIV prevention, and improve public health by establishing the feasibility and acceptability of an innovative mHealth prevention program for at-risk African American youth. We will accomplish these goals with two specific aims. Employing the principles of CBPR, we will establish and mobilize a community steering committee to inform all aspects of the research process. We will test the feasibility and acceptability of S4E by: a) enrolling at-risk African American youth (N = 20) at water distribution sites in Flint, Michigan; b) delivering the S4E intervention by peer health educators (N=2); and c) measuring uptake of HIV testing. The primary outcome will be feasibility and acceptability of S4E (e.g., enrollment rates). The secondary outcome will be uptake of HIV testing immediately post-intervention. Our S4E approach is innovative in linking at-risk youth at water distribution sites to an mHealth intervention to improve HIV testing.

Ageless Acts

July 2017 - December 2018

By providing an exciting, creative outlet, older adults will be encouraged through Ageless Acts to bring their unique talents and life experiences to not only the theater troupe but the community, including senior apartment buildings, schools, nonprofit organizations and other community groups looking for excellence in art and intergenerational learning opportunities. Through this unique project, theater will be used to transform how older adults understand their own aging experience. According to Anne Basting, a professor of theater at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, theater is an ever expansive process where individuals grow as they take on new roles. In her research, once older adults realized that they could share their experiences and wisdom through storytelling they were better able to understand the value they still possessed. For Basting, older adults who participate in creative aging programming can see benefits on three important levels: the way they engage in everyday relationships; the way they can transform how mundane activities are carried out; and the way they think about aging in their own lives and in the context of their families.

Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) - KL2 Award

June 2017 - February 2022

The University of Michigan (U-M) and the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) are strongly dedicated to the education of a competent clinical and translational research workforce. To this end, MICHR’s educational programs cater to members of the clinical and translational research workforce within four broad roles: 1) pre-doctoral students, 2) post-doctoral fellows, 3) faculty, and 4) staff. The “crown jewel” of our educational offerings is the KL2 program, which has attracted and developed exceptional scholars. Collectively, over the last 10 years, the MICHR KL2 Scholars have published more than 1000 peer-reviewed publications and received over $155,385,534 in grant support as principal investigators (more than $4 million per scholar). Importantly, 100% of the KL2 Scholars have remained in clinical and translational research and 68% have been successfully promoted since program completion. One of our main priorities going forward is to expand the program, use creative methods to increase the number of KL2-like trainees that we influence, and create pathways of access to our KL2 offerings for the many other categorical K-12 scholars at U-M. Additionally, we aim to focus on mentor training for both the mentee and the mentor, using the curriculum developed by the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). Creation of the MICHR Career Development Academy will provide education on critical skills for professional development that are often not taught. Through purposeful integration of our KL2 Scholars, along with our TL1 students, other MICHR Scholars, and community partners, we will provide the opportunity for our KL2 Scholars to gain “hands on” experience in mentoring and patient engaged research. Through development of an individualized learning plan, each Scholar will work with their mentoring team to successfully complete their research project and training plan. Monitoring of KL2 Scholar progress will take place through instruction and creation of eportfolios which will allow mentors ready access to each scholar’s work and formative reflective thoughts. Lastly, creation of a greater network or supportive research community surrounding our KL2 Scholars will be accomplished though purposeful integration with a diverse group of clinical and translational scientists as well as other Scholars within institutional training programs.

Support to Develop a Research Design to Test Combining Reward Card Programs with Children’s Savings Account Programs

January 2018 - April 2019

At any given point in 2015, there were approximately 428,000 children in foster care in the United States. Almost 22,000 young people aged out of foster care in that year, without being reunited with a parent or placed with a family member or other guardian. While these are not the only children who will face steep odds in their effort to attain postsecondary education and transition successfully to adulthood, evidence suggests that they will face unique and daunting odds, realities that warrant additional, targeted intervention. While many Children’s Savings Account (CSAs) programs have developed ways to encourage children to save from the limited funds they control, few have developed good approaches for meeting the unique needs of children in cases like foster care or parental incarceration. This research project looks to identify new approaches to helping foster children to better benefit from CSA programs while working toward the creation of a national CSA policy.

General Support of AEDI

September 2018 - August 2019

The Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion (AEDI), is wholly focused on harnessing the power of assets to create meaningful, equitable opportunities for economic mobility for all American children. AEDI’s mission is to create and study innovations related to assets and economic well-being, with a focus on the relationship between children’s savings and the educational outcomes of low-income and minority children as a way to achieve the American Dream. We bring our analytical expertise, theoretical foundation, collaborative relationships, and strategic insights to this formidable challenge. A core focus for AEDI is advancing Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) as critical interventions with considerable potential to realize this vision of broadly-shared prosperity.

Removing Barriers to Recovery: Community Partnering for Innovative Solutions to the Opioid Crisis

November 2018 - December 2020

No abstract found

Kickstart to Career Newaygo County

Kickstart to Career is designed as a 10-year cohort program scheduled to enroll students through 2027. The program will conclude upon the graduation of the last cohort, class of 2041. The 2018-2019 initial cohort includes kindergarteners from eight schools (approximately 700 students). Approximately 7,000 students will receive accounts and financial literacy lessons within that timeframe.