UConn School of Social Work announces the continuation of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC)–UConn Research Partnership, through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in the amount of $1.366 million through June 30, 2024. This MOA is funded through a combination of both state and federal sources.

The OEC-UConn Research Partnership was established in 2018 as a multidisciplinary team of researchers, data analysts, social workers, and program management specialists who conduct rigorous assessments of federal and state-funded early childhood initiatives — as well as research projects related to child development, child services policies, and the early education system. Together, these projects advance OEC's vision of “all Connecticut children are healthy, learning and thriving,” by providing actionable insights for Connecticut programs, policies, and practices to better serve children and families from birth to age five.

The OEC-UConn Research Partnership Team includes SSW Assistant Research Professor Dr. Kathryn Parr and Carrie Gould-Kabler as Co-PI’s; Dr. Samantha Lawrence, Research Lead; Juliany Polar, Research Manager, and Bonnya Mukherjee and Harini Buch, Research Assistants.

Read more about OEC.

Associate Professor Nate Okpych led one of the first large-scale representative studies about the effects of long-lasting, supportive relationships on older foster youth. His research found enduring relationships reduced the risk of negative outcomes in early adulthood.

The more than 700 youth interviewed were participants in the CalYOUTH Study, which evaluated the impact of extending the foster care age limit from 18 to 21 on youth outcomes in early adulthood.

The study, published in Social Service Review, found that slightly less than half – 48 percent – of the youth studied had an enduring relationship, defined as a relationship with an individual who has a long-standing presence in their life and who is a reliable source of support. Black and Native American foster youth were less likely to have such a relationship.

Enduring relationships had real consequences for foster youth, reducing the risk of negative outcomes in early adulthood, such as food insecurity, economic hardship, and homelessness. “It’s really about the enduring quality of the relationships – that you have people that have been there with you, through thick and thin, over a period of time,” Okpych says.

Read more about this study at UConn Today.

Read more about Okpych’s research.

Ph.D. student Cynthia Nichols has been awarded a NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research (BST) T32 program grant of $26,352 through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The BST program provides intensive training to 16 fellows from various behavioral disciplines to gain hands-on experience conducting research, building their publication records, and writing grants for outside funding.

“This grant support will aid in the continuation of my dissertation research investigating factors impacting the implementation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in recovery residences (RR),” says Nichols. “With overdose deaths on the rise, long-term, supportive recovery programs are imperative. While RR have been expanding eligibility requirements to include residents using MOUD, limited research has investigated the use of MOUD within these settings.”

The National Wraparound Implementation Center (NWIC) at the UConn School of Social Work’s Innovations Institute has expanded the implementation of Wraparound — a support strategy for meeting the needs of young people with complex mental health needs — to 16 states across the United States as part of broad health reform strategies.

NWIC’s expertise in the research-based drivers of implementation — policy, financing, evaluation, and workforce development — are critical supports for states and organizations seeking to build and advance effective systems for supporting young people and families. 

“This new partnership involves supporting youth with complex behavioral needs in their homes, schools, and communities through Wraparound installation and building families’ natural networks,” says NWIC Director and UConn SSW Assistant Extension Professor Kimberly Estep. “We are also working to reduce out-of-home placements and use of congregate care settings. Our research has shown the importance of peer support networks and we are expanding these networks in Maine so that more families can be supported by other families who have struggled with similar challenges and who have benefitted from Wraparound.”

Read more about NWIC’s work.

Leaders of the National Center for Youth with Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE), a collaborative of social justice organizations led by UConn School of Social Work’s Innovations Institute, have published “The influence of juvenile justice workforce’s knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs on behaviors toward youth with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions,” in Children and Youth Services Review.

Findings indicate that juvenile justice staff who exhibited greater knowledge about LGBT populations, and those who had an LGBT youth on their caseload, were significantly more likely to report that they would demonstrate protective and supportive behaviors toward youth with diverse SOGIE. Conversely, staff who had more negative attitudes were less likely to report that they would protect and support youth with diverse SOGIE.

“There is evidence in the literature that LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system and that they too often experience inadequate care. This study found that knowledge plays a role in staff providing protection and support to these young people which has implications for training, education, practice, and policy reform within the juvenile justice system,” says SOGIE Center Principal Investigator and UConn SSW Associate Research Professor Marlene Matarese.

Read more about this new research.

LGBTQIA+ youth experience significant mental health disparities compared to peers. Assistant Professor Gio Iacono’s research has found that LGBTQIA+ youth who participated in a virtual mindfulness-based mental health intervention experienced improvements in anxiety and depression.

Gio Iacono was awarded a UConn Office of the Vice President for Research grant of $50,000 as well as a Mind & Life Varela Grant of $20,000 to study Tuned In!, a virtual mindfulness-based intervention collaboratively developed with LGBTQIA+ youth and community stakeholders. LGBTQIA+ youth experience mental health disparities and are subject to political attacks and violence across the United States. They are simultaneously overlooked in social work research and practice.

“There are significant mental and sexual health disparities among LGBTQIA+ youth that require urgent attention,” he says. With Tuned In! “we saw improvements in depression, anxiety, and internalized oppression. We also saw improvements in sexual self-efficacy, or the ability to refuse certain unsafe sexual practices.” Iacono also observed significant improvements in mindfulness and self-compassion among youth, which is a critical component of the program’s mechanism of change.

Read more about this study at UConn Today.

Read more about Iacono’s research.