Supporting Underserved Children, Caregivers, and Emerging Adults in Systems and Services (SUCCESS)
Clinical Research Collaborative
Our mission is to advance knowledge at the intersection of psychology and child-serving systems such as the juvenile legal and child welfare systems. We aim to conduct cutting-edge research to reduce behavioral health inequities and foster positive outcomes for minoritized and marginalized youth within these systems.
Our Goals:
Successfully collaborate with system partners including youth, families, cross-system staff
Prioritizing cultural responsiveness research questions focused on the needs of youth and families
Disseminating systems and clinical research outcomes to system partners
Foster non-competitive collaborations across researchers at various training and career stages
Our research areas include:
Suicide Prevention
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma
Mental Health Screening and Assessment
Substance Use Screening and Intervention
Resilience
Health Inequities and Social Justice
Dissemination and Implementation Science for System-Involved Youth
Suicide Prevention
Youth in the juvenile legal system are four times more likely to attempt suicide in their lifetime. Our research has focused on the most vulnerable youth involved in the juvenile legal system to first identify the rates of suicide ideation and attempts in different intercept points of the juvenile justice system. This research was a natural extension of our expertise in the implementation of mental health and suicide screening with youth in the juvenile legal setting. The next iteration of research currently involves the development and implementation of suicide interventions specifically for youth involved in the juvenile legal system.
Kemp, K., Webb, M., Vieira, A., Pederson, C., & Spirito, A. (2021) Do Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior Persist Following Juvenile Justice Involvement? Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 51 (6), 1148 - 1158. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12797
Kemp, K., Webb, M., Wolff, J., Affleck, K., Casamassima, J., Weinstock, L., & Spirito, A. (2021) Screening and Brief Intervention for Psychiatric and Suicide Risk in the Juvenile Justice System: Findings from an Open Trial. Evidenced-Based Practice of Child and Adolescent Psychology, 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2021.1908190.
Kemp, K., Pederson, C., Webb, M., Williamson, S., Elwy, R., & Spirito, A. (2021) Feasibility and Acceptability of a Brief Suicide Intervention for Youth Involved with the Family Court. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 39(1), 26-43.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma
Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). Youth in the child welfare and juvenile legal systems experience a disproportionate number of ACEs, which have a large negative effect on mental health outcomes for youth. Our projects explore the impact of ACEs on behavioral health outcomes for juvenile legal and child welfare involved youth as well as court-based interventions to help mediate the impact of those negative experiences.
Modrowski, C. A., Sheerin, K., Grant, M., Collibee, C., & Kemp, K. A. (2023). Applying the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment Framework to Trauma-Focused Screening in the Juvenile Legal System: Considerations and Recommendations for Future Research. Psychological Injury and Law, 1-14.
Sheerin, K. M., Modrowski, C. A., Williamson, S., & Kemp, K. A. (2022). The effect of sexual concerns on placement changes and school transfers for youth in the child welfare system. Children and youth services review, 138, 106520.
Kemp, K., Yurasek, A. M., Poindexter, B., Webb, M., & Tolou-Shams, M. (2022). Suicide screening among youth at first court contact. Archives of suicide research, 26(2), 748-760.
Substance Use Screening and Intervention
Similar to mental health concerns, substance use is particularly prevalent among youth with juvenile legal and/or child welfare system involvement. Few system-involved youth who have substance use concerns access needed treatment. Our work particularly focuses on (a) improving screening and linkages to care and (b) developing low- to moderate-intensity interventions to improve access to needed care for youth and families. Current work focuses on the early stages of an adaptation of a 6-session, personalized family-based treatment for cannabis use among diverted youth.
Yonek, J., Dauria, E., Kemp, K., Koinis-Mitchell, D., Marshall, B., & Tolou-Shams, M. (2019) Factors Associated with Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Services Use by Justice-Involved Youth. Psychiatric Services, 70(7), 586-595.
Sheerin, K.M., Williamson-Butler, S., Vieira, A., Grant, M., & Kemp, K.A. (2024). Parent Mental health and reported barriers to treatment participation for youth in the juvenile legal system. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 50, 218-232.
Dissemination and Implementation Science for System-Involved Youth
Our work also broadly focuses on meta-science issues within intervention science for youth with system involvement. Areas of focus include how intervention success is assessed for youth with system involvement and how to successfully adapt manualized treatments to youth with system involvement. Currently, we are also working on a review paper of the current state of interventions for youth involved in the juvenile legal system and also an overview of National Institute of Health funding for projects focused on system-involved youth.
Vieira, A., Sheerin, K., Modrowski, C., & Kemp, K. (2023 online) The Intersection of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health Concerns for Youth in the Child Welfare System. Journal of Community Psychology. http://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23024.
Folk, J., Ramaiya, M., Ramos, L. Holloway, E., Marshall, B.L.D., Kemp, K., Bath, E., Koinis Mitchell, D., & Tolou-Shams, M. (2022) The Association Between Expanded ACEs and Behavioral Health Outcomes Among Youth at First Time Legal System Contact. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 1-14.
Folk, J., Ramos, L., Bath, E., Rosen, B., Marshall, B., Kemp, K., Brown, L., Conrad, S., Tolou-Shams, M. (2021) The Prospective Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Justice-Involved Youth's Psychiatric Symptoms and Substance Misuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(6), 483. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000655
Mental Health Assessment and Screening
Youth involved in the juvenile legal and child welfare systems experience high rates of mental health concerns. Screening and assessment are considered to be important steps in terms of linking youth to evidence-based services. Our work has focused on both understanding current practices within the juvenile legal and child welfare, as well as determining new avenues of improving screening and assessment practices.
Kemp, K., Micalizzi, L., Becker, S.J., Brick, L., Chieto, A., Suazo, N., Fox, K., Hernandez, L. & Spirito, A. (2023) A Pilot Randomized Trial of Motivational Enhancement Therapy plus a Parenting Intervention for Marijuana Using, Court-involved Non-incarcerated Youth. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2023.209100.
Yurasek, A. M., Otero, J., Kemp, K., & Toulou-Shams, M. (2021). Substance Use Screening and Rates of Treatment Referral among Juvenile-Justice Involved Youth. Addictive Behaviors, 122, 107036.
Health Inequities and Social Justice
Juvenile legal and/or child welfare system-involved youth also face inordinate barriers to accessing needed services and this is especially true for minoritized youth and families. We seek to understand the youth-, family-, and system-level barriers and facilitators to services access. Forthcoming projects are also focused on the role of ethnoracial inequities that drive reduced access to services.
Sheerin, K. M., Brodell, R., Huey, S. J. & Kemp, K. (2023) Applying Ecological Systems Theory to Juvenile Legal System Interventions Outcomes Research: A Measurement Framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 2468. https:// doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1177568.
Wolff, J. Modrowski, C., Janssen, T., Frank, H., Velotta, S., Sheerin, K. Becker, S., Weinstock, L., Spirito, A. & Kemp, K. (2023) From Court to the Community: Improving Access to Evidence-Based Treatment for Underserved Justice-Involved Youth At-Risk for Suicide. BMC Psychiatry, 23, 320. https:// doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04824-7.
Goldstein, N., Kemp, K., Lochman, J., & Leff, S.(2012). Adapting manualized treatment for new target populations: A step-wise approach. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 19 (4), 385-401.