From Left to Right: Social Work Ph.D. Candidate, Kenan Sualp; Social Work MSW Student and Graduate Research Assistant, Carli Meyerson; Social Work Assistant Professor Asli Cennet Yalim, Health Sciences Lecturer Katia Ferdowsi; Health Sciences Assistant Professor Keith Brazendale; Social Work Interim Director and Professor Ana Leon; College of Nursing, Associate Dean for Academic Excellence Norma Conner; Social Work Assistant Professor Susanny Beltran, Chair Population Health Sciences and Professor Eric Schrimshaw; Social Work Assistant Professor Julia O’Connor.
The UCF School of Social Work is committed to providing essential and unique research to health and mental health fields through the school’s Center for Behavioral Health Research and Training (CBHRT) research grants. Recently, four interdisciplinary research teams from Nursing, Population Health Sciences, Physical Therapy, Health Sciences and Social Work received seed grant funding of $5,000 to work together on their research topics. Some teams also include graduate students to assist on the research.
Assistant Professor Asli Cennet Yalim’s team’s research will focus on Understanding Barriers to Implementation of a Refugee Mental Health Assessment for Newly Arrived Refugees in Central Florida. “I’m excited to be a part of Dr. Yalim’s research team because refugees are a rapidly growing population in the United States. I expect to learn about gaps in current service provision and hopefully that will give us a baseline for how to start addressing those gaps,” says MSW student Carli Meyerson who is also a MSW Fellowship recipient and a graduate research assistant.
Central Florida Nursing Home Staff’s Perceptions and Experiences Collaborating with Hospice, will assess the needs of nursing homes through a social work, physical therapy and nursing lens. “The focus of the study is on identifying barriers to collaborative practices between nursing home and hospice staff, from the perspective of the nursing home workers. We are recruiting from around 51 nursing homes in the Central Florida region to better assess their needs,” says Social Work Assistant Professor Susanny Beltran and principal investigator on the grant.
Health Sciences Assistant Professor Keith Brazendale is working with Social Work Interim Director and Professor Ana Leon, on their project, Investigating the Underlying Mechanisms of Disparities in Sleep Deficiencies in Children. By incorporating technology using smart watches, their team will analyze sleep patterns and daily activities in children and parents fitted with the device. “Our combined research interests and expertise provide a wonderful synergy,” said Ana Leon. “Dr. Brazendale’s expertise is on children’s sleep deficiencies and obesity, while I bring expertise in child development, assessing children and assessing the impact of trauma on children, families and home environments.”
Social Work Assistant Professor Julia O’Connor who also has a secondary appointment with the UCF College of Medicine, Department of Population Health Sciences and is a member of the Violence Against Women faculty cluster, teamed up with the Population Health Sciences Chair and Professor, Eric Schrimshaw for their project titled, Exploring Protective-Factors for Sexual Violence Perpetration Among College-Aged Men.
Congratulations to the four interdisciplinary teams and CBHRT grant recipients!
View the full album to see the photos from the ceremony including the 2019 award recipients present their research.
