Research
As an integral part of the University and the School of Social Work, CIR aims to vigorously pursue and conduct both educational and behavioral health intervention research that is interdisciplinary in nature, engages both military and civilian resources, and focuses primarily on influencing evidence-based, translational applications of promising, empirically-supported interventions to better serve community-dwelling veterans and their families.
CIR’s educational research is led by Dr. Anthony Hassan, Dr. Jeffery Wilkins, and a team of skilled project staff. CIR’s behavioral health intervention research is led by Dr. Hassan, Dr. Wilkins, and Dr. Kathleen Ell. In addition, senior research faculty at the USC School of Social Work provide in-house advice and are available for consultation and collaboration.
CIR Research Projects and Scope
CIR’s research includes creating and testing scalable/replicable models for training behavioral healthcare providers to deliver culturally-informed and evidence-based behavioral healthcare interventions to servicemembers, veterans, and family members impacted by military service. CIR’s current research projects are:
- Sexual Dysfunction as a Result of Combat Trauma
- The Los Angeles Veteran Survey
- A Rapid and Revolutionary Response to the Needs of Wounded Warriors
- SimCoach
- Building Capacity to Create Highly Supportive Military-Connected School Districts
- Trauma Services Adaptation (TSA) Center for Resiliency, Hope, & Wellness in Schools
- Safety and Effectiveness Study in support of Soar Technology’s Project— Interactive Game-Based System for Psychological Health Education
- Reintegration Partnership Project (RPP)
- Behavioral Health and STI Risk Among Homeless Veterans in Skid Row, Los Angeles
- Evaluation of the U.S. VETS Veterans Re-entry Project and Outside the Wire Program
These projects include efforts to:
- Evaluate clinical impact and changes in therapist knowledge, skill, and sense of competence in treating military-impacted populations after completing Military Behavioral Health training courses (A Rapid and Revolutionary Response to the Needs of Wounded Warriors)
- Develop and refine Virtual Reality technology (Virtual Patient) as well as Military Social Work training and education curricula in order to increase competency and capacity in behavioral healthcare for military-impacted populations (A Rapid and Revolutionary Response to the Needs of Wounded Warriors)
- Evaluate the impact of educating and training Military Social Work students and behavioral healthcare providers through the use of an evidence-based curriculum, in combination with the Virtual Patient or CIR’s Clinical Skill Assessment measure (A Rapid and Revolutionary Response to the Needs of Wounded Warriors)
- Manage and measure a training partnership pilot program with the California Army National Guard using a stigma-minimizing, problem-solving skills approach to support and enhance reintegration goals of servicemembers and their adult family members (Reintegration Partnership Project)
- Identify gaps in and barriers to behavioral healthcare for homeless veterans in Skid Row through focus groups with Skid Row area providers and homeless veterans (Behavioral Health and STI Risk Among Homeless Veterans in Skid Row, Los Angeles)
- Test the effectiveness of interventions in regional school systems designed to help address military children’s needs by modifying the school climate (Transforming the Public School Response to Children from Military Families; Trauma Services Adaptation (TSA) Center for Resiliency, Hope, & Wellness in Schools)
- Develop a Virtual Reality-based avatar guide aimed at reducing common barriers to care and connecting military-impacted populations with needed services (SimCoach)
Research Goals
CIR strives to become the pre-eminent worldwide center for educational research and information in Military Behavioral Health and to significantly expand its behavioral health intervention and potentially translational research for servicemembers, veterans, and their families. By promoting and sustaining high quality and innovative research activity both internally and through partnerships, CIR aims to:
- Develop effective content and methods for educating and training behavioral health providers in how to treat military-impacted populations
- Develop and refine conceptual models that guide the scientific and intellectual activity of the CIR research collection
- Identify barriers to care-seeking among military-impacted populations and methods to overcome these barriers
- Ultimately inform best practices in treating military-impacted populations by conducting large scale quasi-experimental and randomized clinical trials of specific intervention models based on initial pilot and beta testing study outcomes
- Expand its research partnerships with community service partners via designing and conducting evaluation research
- Significantly expand its behavioral health research by engaging senior and tenured faculty researchers from within and outside the USC School of Social Work