Research

Research and Program Evaluation/Quality Assurance Project Opportunities for Department of Psychiatry Residents and Fellows

Project LAUNCH

Dr. Young-Walker, head of the Division of Child Psychiatry, is the PI of a five-year grant funded by SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) that is part of the Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children's Health) initiative. This program entails the following:

• Creation of a  coordinated system to improve the integration and efficiency of the regional health care systems in promoting the wellness of young children.
• Enhance and expand evidence-based prevention and promotion programs and practices.
• Enhance the expertise of the regional workforce in young children’s wellness, and healthy child development.
• Increase public awareness and knowledge of child wellness.
  
  

This project presents residents and child psychiatry fellows with an the opportunity to work with Dr. Young-Walker in   implementing the project’s strategic plan and accomplishing the goals noted above. The experience will include work with multiple child service agencies, acquiring knowledge of evidence-based prevention and promotion practices for early childhood, and participating in their implementation.

 

Pharmacotherapy and Cognition in Schizophrenia (Dr. Lauriello)

Dr. Lauriello is involved in a variety of projects pertaining to this topic. Most notably he is the  local PI of  a collaborative, multi-site schizophrenia trial  which includes Columbia University/New York, UCLA, Northwestern/Chicago, Harvard University, the Medical College of Georgia, and 15-20 other sites. The main purpose of the study is to study putative protective/enhancing properties of 2nd generation antipsychotic drugs in the treatment of schizophrenia. The study design calls for placing patients with schizophrenia diagnoses and being treated with a new 2nd generation antipsychotic drug into an intensive cognitive remediation program, and comparing the performance of these patients over time to a group of patients receiving a control treatment. This study presents residents the opportunity to partner with Dr. Lauriello by seeing patients and participating in the assessment process, as part of a 4th year elective available to all residents who are part of the adult residency program.

 

Predicting and Controlling Aggression on the part of psychiatric inpatients (Dr. Niels Beck)

This research program is currently underway  at the State Hospital at Fulton, where the Department operates a Forensic Fellowship program and where residents do clinical rotations in the 2nd year, with an opportunity for an elective rotation in the 4th year. The Fulton campus includes a 200 bed maximum security forensic hospital, the only one of its kind in Missouri. Dr. Beck co-ordinates this effort, and currently  studies are being conducted which involve abstracting data from hospital records of highly assaultive patients, including seclusion/restraint records and tracking the types of medications used to control these behaviors, with the goal of developing medication algorithms for the management of aggressive behavior. Additional investigations are underway which examine differences in Staff/Patient interactional patterns in highly assaultive vs. non-assaultive patient samples, the frequency of abuse and neglect in the family histories of these patient groups, and a genetic study which targets several polymorphisms of genes thought to play a role in the development of hyper-emotionality and aggressive behavior. Residents in the 2nd and 4th year, as well as Forensic fellows, have an opportunity to work with Dr. Beck on these project.

 

Studies of Recidivism and Length of Stay(LOS) in Acute Psychiatric Hospitals (Dr. Ithman)

Work in this area focuses on the patient population at the Missouri University Psychiatric Center (MUPC), a 60-bed inpatient  facility owned and operated by the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, and staffed by Department of Psychiatry faculty. Current work on LOS involves several samples of patients hospitalized at MUPC, and uses multivariate statistical modeling methods to help staff predict patient LOS and recidivism. In this regard, data are being collected from patient medical and outpatient service records, abstracting data regarding patient demographic characteristics, diagnosis, and various circumstances surrounding the reason for admission. Future studies are planned in this area that will involve tracking patient attendance in outpatient treatment settings, emergency room visits and other proxy measures of adjustment following discharge.

Recent Faculty Publications

• Haddad P, Lambert T and Lauriello J, editors.  Antipsychotic Long Acing Injections , Oxford Press, 2011
• Lauriello J and Beck N. Recently approved long Acting antipsychotic injections: paliperidone LAI and olanzapine LAI in  Antipsychotic Long Acing Injections , Oxford Press, 2011
• Beck, NC, Durrett, C, Stinson, J, Colman, J, Stuve, P and Menditto, A. Trajectories of Seclusion and Restraint Use at a State Psychiatric Hospital.  Psychiatric Serv 59:1027-1032, 2008.
• Hammer, J. H., Springer, J., Beck, N., Menditto, A., & Coleman, J. (in press) Seclusion and restraint: Relationship with childhood sexual and physical abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence
• Newbill, W; Marth, D; Coleman, J; Menditto, A; Carson, S; Beck N. Direct Observational Coding of Staff Who Are the Victims of Assault.  Psychological Services, 2010; Vol. 7, No. 3, 177-1