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Research Projects
Adaptation and Implementation of the Modular Act & Adapt Program (AIM)
Project AIM is a collaboration between DePaul University and Chicago Public School's (CPS) Office of Social and Emotional Learning. Act & Adapt is a group-based cognitive behavioral intervention geared towards 5th-8th grade youth of predominantly low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds who are at risk for depression. The Act & Adapt program teaches coping skills through the use of video-guided vignettes, discussions, and group activities to help students manage stress and improve their mood. Since 2017, we have trained over 180 school-based providers across 90 elementary schools.
More information on Act & Adapt can be found on the following website: https://www.actandadapt.com/
Act & Adapt - Implementation
The goal of this implementation study is to train and support mental health providers (social workers, counselors, psychologists) in delivering the Act & Adapt intervention in their schools. We assess eligibility, provider and group member fidelity, and student outcomes.
Act & Adapt - STRIDE
STRIDE, which stands for School-Based Trainee Recruitment and Retention through Innovation and Diversity Enrichment, is a 5-year grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project expands the capacity of the Chicago Public School (CPS) District, the fourth largest district in the United States, to train mental health counselors and school social workers in high-need schools. We have several partners working with us in this project, including the Office for Social and Emotional Learning (OSEL), Office of School Counseling and Post-Secondary Advising (OSCPA), the Office of Students with Disabilities (OSD), and several community agencies including DePaul’s Family and Community Services (FCS). The high-need schools served by project STRIDE are those with 60% or higher enrollment of African American and/or Latinx students, and/or 25% or higher English Learner enrollments. We plan to support and train over 100 school-based trainees so that they are employed by CPS or another high-need educational agency and be well-equipped to serve students of diverse backgrounds. STRIDE Scholars receive funding for tuition and/or a stipend along with several other supports during their internship year. They are also trained on Act & Adapt, an evidence-based group coping skills intervention that was developed and tailored for ethnic minority early adolescents that they will deliver along with a co-facilitator at their internship school-placement. Read about STRIDE here and watch a brief segment about project STRIDE featuring Dr. Antonio Polo and Dr. Melissa Ockerman here: CBS News STRIDE story.
Act & Adapt - Sustainability
In partnership with the Chicago Public School’s Office of Social and Emotional Learning, this project focuses on supporting mental health providers trained in Act & Adapt who have previously facilitated the program at one or more schools across the city. We assess eligibility, provider and group member fidelity, and student outcomes.
Act & Adapt - Replication
In collaboration with Children-Youth-Cabinet (CYC) this project is a replication of Act & Adapt in Providence, Rhode Island. With support from a 5-year grant from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) we are training providers and supporting the infrastructure of CYC to deliver and evaluate this and other evidence-based programs. During the first year of implementation (2021-22 academic year), two public schools in providence will deliver groups during the Fall and Spring.
Act & Adapt - Adaptation
In partnership with the academic enhancement program, Saturday Place, this project aims to adapt the Act & Adapt curriculum for 3rd and 4th grade students. In addition to receiving academic supports through their Saturday Place teachers, students enrolled in an Act & Adapt group learn evidence-based cognitive behavioral strategies to cope with stressors.
Diversity in Anxiety Trials (DINA)
This project is a systematic review of published intervention trials for youth anxiety that use a randomized control design. The goal of the study is to examine the extent to which diversity is considered in treatment outcome studies, as reflected by the reporting practices, sample representation, analyses and results.
Student Projects
Laura Saldana - Dissertation
Examining Changes in Control Beliefs and the Role of Self-Determination in a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Elementary-Aged Students
This study aims to examine the nature of the relation between control beliefs and self-determination domains of competence and relatedness. Additionally, this study examines whether Act & Adapt - SP is associated with increases in primary and secondary control beliefs. Lastly, it focuses on whether primary and secondary control beliefs explain changes in competence and relatedness.
Paulina Paredes Cienega - Dissertation
The Youth Multidimensional Group Fidelity Scale (Y-MGFS): Psychometric Properties and Correlates
This study aims to improve youth mental health outcomes by evaluating the Youth Multidimensional Group Fidelity Scale (Y-MGFS), a tool designed to measure program fidelity in school and community-based mental health interventions. It will assess the reliability and validity of the Y-MGFS, explore factors like school climate and provider attitudes that influence fidelity, and examine how program fidelity relates to client engagement and satisfaction.
Paulina Paredes Cienega - MA Thesis
Cultural Values and Internalizing Symptoms among Latinx Youth: The Role of Gender
This study aims to explore the interplay between supportive familism and affiliative obedience in relation to the presence of internalizing symptoms among a sample of Latinx youth. Additionally, this study will examine gender differences across both supportive familism and affiliative obedience, along with gender’s potential role in shaping the combined effects of these family cultural values on Latinx youth mental health.
Elizabeth Martinez-Charleston - MA Thesis
Family Obligation, School Climate, and the Academic Achievement of Latinx Youth Living in One- and Two-Parent Households
This study explored how family obligation and school climate impact academic achievement among Latinx youth, with a focus on how household composition influences this relationship. It found that while family obligation and test scores did not differ significantly across household types, school climate moderated the connection between family obligation and academic performance, particularly for youth in two-parent households. These results highlight the complex interplay of cultural values, family structure, and school environment in shaping academic outcomes for Latinx adolescents.
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Melissa Lopez - MA Thesis
The Relation Between Pressure to be Thin, Self-Oriented Perfectionism, and Deliberate Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation in Latinx Youth: The Moderating Effect of Familism
This study aims to investigate the mediational role of self-oriented perfectionism on the relation between perceived pressure to be thin and deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation among Latinx youth, considering gender differences.
Melisa Dangles - MS Thesis
Understanding the Influence of Acculturative Stress on Youth Latinx Mental Health: The Role of Emotional Reactivity and Parental Attachment
The study examines how acculturative stress, which is the stress experienced during cultural adaptation, contributes to externalizing behaviors like aggression and delinquency. It also analyzes how heightened emotional responses to stress influence this relationship. Furthermore, the research considers the role of parental attachment as a possibility to either lessen or worsen the effects of acculturative stress on these behavioral outcomes. The thesis aims to illustrate how effective parenting practices can play an important role in developing interventions and strategies to support Latinx youth during their cultural adjustment.
Angel Lee - Research Posters
School Climate and Social Anxiety among Urban African American Students: The Moderating Roles of Parental Expressed Emotion and Neighborhood Climate
Building off the Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development, this study explores how overlapping environments (i.e., school climate, home climate, and neighborhood climate) may affect social anxiety symptoms in urban African American youth. Specifically, the study examines: 1) whether parental expressed emotion moderates the relation between school climate and social anxiety and 2) whether this moderational effect is additionally moderated by neighborhood climate. This work will be presented at the 2024 Midwest ECO Conference.
The Moderating Role of Control Beliefs on School Climate and Conduct Problems among Urban African American Students
This developing project examines how the perception of school climate is related to conduct problems among African American students. Moreover, this study looks at how primary and secondary control beliefs moderate the relationship between school climate and conduct problems.
Sophia Pitillo - Undergraduate Honors Thesis
The Relationship Between Expressed Parental Warmth and Negative Cognitive Errors
This study aims to understand the relationship between expressed parental warmth and negative cognitive errors in young children. Understanding the impact parenting styles have on their children and their implication on cognitive well-being provides a chance to learn about child development, as well as possibly paving way to creating new parenting techniques surrounding expressed warmth with cognitive development in mind.