RESEARCH STUDIES
COLLEGE MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH STUDY
Click on the above picture to see our poster and figure out more about our research plan!
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Us young adults at the Transitions RTC have been given the opportunity to do a research study of our choice! We chose to study the experiences of young adults with mental health conditions in college. Our questions are the following:
So far, we've done this by looking at data from a study that Mark Salzer did about college students with mental health conditions receiving accommodations. Soon, we plan to write a report on the interesting findings we've been seeing and then, we'll do a study using focus groups and internet surveys! If you want to see more about our findings so far, click here for a PowerPoint presentation! |
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1. Adapting Evidence-Based Supported Employment for Transition Age Youth
The goal of this study is to specify and standardize modifications to Individual Placement Support (IPS) services to target the needs of young adults with mental health conditions. Consistent with the version of IPS that was developed for mostly young adults experiencing their first episode of psychosis (IPS-FEP), direct service staff provide support for consumers who are interested in either educational activities, employment, or both. This IPS-FEP model is augmented by use of Peer Mentors. Brief Summary See the research brief on this study here: 
3. Appealing Features of Vocational Supports for Latino and non-Latino TAYYA Consumers The goal is to provide information that will form a better foundation for the next version of culturally informed employment programs for transition age youth and young adults (TAYYA) with serious mental health conditions (SMHC) with a particular focus on Latinos.This qualitative study will investigate consumer perspectives concerning what programmatic, cultural, developmental and contextual factors encourage participation in three prominent adult employment support models (Clubhouses, IPS programs, or vocational rehabilitation delivered through state agencies of VR) among Latino and Non-Latino TAYYA with SMHC. In many cases, the qualitative interviews will be conducted by trained TAYYA consumers working as Project Associates on the RTC. More 
5. Making a Difference in High School This study seeks to identify high school interventions and family and individual factors that are associated with a higher likelihood of high school completion, preparation for employment through post-secondary education and/or training, and post-secondary employment in students with emotional disturbance. The study analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Study-2 (NLTS-2). The NLTS-2 followed, for seven years, a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students receiving special education in all disability categories, including emotional disturbance, at ages 13-16. It captured key characteristics of the students, their families, their school programs, their experiences, and their secondary and post-secondary school and work outcomes. 
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2. Support of Schooling and Early Employment in Justice-System Involved Emerging Adults The goal of this study is to complete the early steps of the scientific process of establishing a vocational support model for transition age youth and young adults (TAYYA) with juvenile or criminal justice system histories. This study will conduct the feasibility work for developing a “Life Coaches” vocational support component to address the vocational needs of TAYYA with serious mental health conditions and a recent arrest or release from incarceration. Consumer input on how to modify the already existing “Life Coach” adaptation of Multisystemic Therapy (MST; Henggeler, 1996) will guide this research. The study will specify the adaptations in a manual, develop a fidelity measure, examine the ability of the intervention to recruit and retain clients, and conduct a pilot randomized control trial. 
4. Program Factors that Enhance or Deter Innovative Approaches to Improve Child and Adult Mental Health Services Coordination The goal of the study is to provide information that will enhance future innovative efforts to improve child-adult mental health systems coordination. This study examines mental health (MH) programs to identify program-based risk markers for poor child-adult MH program coordination and malleable factors in programs that do and do not have good child-adult coordination. The study uses social network analysis, an innovative services research method, to measure child-adult MH service coordination. We will assess risk markers and malleable factors from the perspective of key stakeholders within child and adult MH providers. The study will be conducted in one of the states that receives a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Healthy Transitions grant to improve services for transition age youth through improved service provision and infrastructure change. 
6. Age-Associated Need, Services, and Outcomes of Participants Enrolled in Supported Education The goal of this study is to find ways to modify a current supported education program for adults that would result in greater success with transition age youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions. By adding transition age youth and young adults to an already existing randomized clinical trial of a supported education program for adults with serious mental illness, the study will seek to determine how younger adults differ from each other and the older adults (>30) in their needs, use of different intervention components, intervention participation (e.g. duration of intervention), and outcomes. |
7. Job Seeking Experiences and Employers’ Perceptions of TAYYA with Serious Mental Health Conditions
The goal of this study is to provide information that interventions can use to enhance the likelihood of successful, affirming job-seeking experiences among transition age youth and young adults (TAYYA) with serious mental health conditions (SMHC). This innovative qualitative study will explore the interaction between employers and job-seeking TAYYA with SMHC with and without justice system records. Researchers will interview TAYYA to elicit their experiences and outcomes from job-seeking experiences. Based on these findings they will interview employers that are representative of the kinds of jobs for which TAYYA apply to elicit their experiences with hiring TAYYA with SMHC, and processes used to screen job applicants regarding criminal history and other factors.
