Theresa Barhold received the 2019 BCOTB fellowship which has been established for 2nd year master's students in the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Program at the University of South Florida. The fellowship, offered through BCOTB in Tampa, provides a two-semester stipend for a student who is able to work 20 hours per week at BCOTB as their practicum placement, and then willing to work at BCOTB after graduating from USF. Theresa's research is focused on a behavioral strategy known as chaining that is used to teach children with autism complex behaviors by breaking them down into smaller sequential steps.

Doctoral student Chris Marier was recently awarded ACJS International Section - Outstanding Graduate Student Paper for his research paper entitled Minority Threat and Incarceration Rates: A Cross-national Study.

Recipient: Rose Iovannone
Department: Child & Family Studies
Proposal Title: Pilot evaluation of the prevent-teach-reinforce model for transition aged youth (PTR-TAY)
Amount: $20,000

Recipient: Joan Reid & Bryanna Fox
Department: Criminology
Proposal Title: Profiles of child sex traffickers: A forensic behavior analysis
Amount: $19,761

Recipient: Gizam Hueluer
Department: Aging Studies
Proposal Title: Technology use in the daily lives of older adults and its associations with cognition and well-being
Amount: $19,666

Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, MSW, will present "Improving Mouth Care in Nursing Homes: Pilot Testing to Pragmatic Trials" on Friday, January 31, 2020 at 10:30am in the USF College of Public Health Auditorium, CPH 1023B. Dr. Zimmerman is a Kenan Flagler Bingham Distinguished Professor and Director of Aging Research at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Co-Director of UNC's Interdisciplinary Center for Aging Research; Co-Director of the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-Term Care at UNC's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief, JAMDA. Dr. Zimmerman's research has focused on social gerontology, evaluation of practice, psychosocial aspects of health, dementia, hip fractures, and improving care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Her work in the field of residential long-term care for older adults has been highly influential for policy and practice. Dr. Zimmerman has received close to 20 million dollars in federal grant funding (NIA, NINR, NIMH, AHRQ) over the past 25 years as PI on topics related to quality of care in residential care and nursing homes, with a particular focus on persons with dementia.

M. Scott Young (MHLP)
2019-2020 Evaluation of Meridian Behavioral Healthcare's Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program
Sponsor: Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc./U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
10/01/2019 - 09/30/2020
Amount: $25,000

Meridian's SSVF program seeks to provide supportive services to very low income Veteran families who: (1) Are residing in permanent housing and at risk of becoming homeless; (2) are homeless and scheduled to become residents of permanent housing within a specified time period; or (3) after exiting permanent housing within a specified time period, are seeking other housing that is responsive to such very low-income Veteran family's needs and preferences. SSVF prioritizes the delivery of rapid re-housing services to homeless Veteran households. USF received a contract from Meridian in which Dr. Scott Young will serve as the Evaluator of Meridian's SSVF program. The evaluation will involve making phone calls with consumers of SSVF services to determine if they were in permanent housing situations six months following their exit from the program.

Marilyn Stern (CFS)
NOURISH-T+: A Randomized Control Trial Targeting Parents in Promoting Healthy Eating and Exercise Behaviors in Pediatric Cancer Survivors with Overweight/Obesity
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
12/1/2019-11/30/2024
Amount: $2,579,629

Approximately 40-50% of off-treatment pediatric cancer survivors (PCS) are overweight or obese; thereby increasing their risk for negative long-term physical health complications. Using our successful pilot trial testing the preliminary feasibility and efficacy of NOURISH-for Healthy Transitions (NOURISH-T, 5R21CA167259) as a base, we address obesity in PCS by targeting parents as agents for change in modeling healthy eating and physical activity behaviors to promote positive PCS health behavior change and long-term healthy weight. This multi-site application addresses the public health epidemic of obesity by conducting a randomized control trial to test the efficacy of our intervention, NOURISH-T+, across a diverse sample of PCS and their parents at four pediatric oncology clinics, with the goal of establishing a framework for future translation and dissemination of NOURISH-T+.

1. Gum, A. M., Green, O., Schonfeld, L., Conner, K., Rigg, K. K., Wagoner, F., ... Parkinson, K. (2019). Longitudinal Analysis of Mortality for Older Adults Receiving or Waiting for Aging Network Services. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16232

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