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College of Medicine: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine

Research and Evaluation Division

DFPM-RED Program Manager Highlighted for HIV Work

UAMS College of Medicine Department of Family and Preventative Medicine Community Research Group program manager LaTunja Sockwell was recently featured The Little Rock Daily Record. The article entitled “Slaying the Dragon” highlights Sockwell’s work in HIV prevention and education and focuses on her motivations for championing this work at DFPM-RED.

“I share my story because when people can put a face with something, it always changes their attitudes and their beliefs about what they thought they knew.

“Sharing my own personal story helps people see the real person, not just what they thought HIV was about.”

Read the full article here.

Project HEAL Awarded $2.5 Million Grant from SAMHSA

A team with DFPM-RED, others at UAMS, and Better Community Development. (BCD) (sub-recipient) will lead Project HEAL to expand and enhance treatment and recovery support services among African American (AA) adult men and women who reside in the Pulaski County area and are involved in the criminal justice system, have a substance use disorder (SUD) particularly alcohol, marijuana, and/or opioid abuse, or co-occurring SUD/mental illness (COD), and are at high risk for HIV/Viral Hepatitis (VH) infection or transmission. The group plans to serve 1,200 individuals over the five-year project (240 individuals annually). A large proportion of persons served are expected to have some type of criminal justice involvement and underrepresented minorities. BCD, a three-decades-old program serves as a catalyst to constructively meet central AR’s urgent needs in SUD/COD treatment and HIV prevention, filling a service gap by establishing services beyond SUD/COD treatment to include a Community Health Worker (CHW) and HIV education/testing/stigma reduction for all enrollees of their program. The CHW will assist project enrollees with client-centered emotional, tangible, informational, and appraisal supports focused on recovery. The BCD team will refer clients to licensed treatment partners as needed for direct COD treatment services, including MAT, HIV, and Hepatitis services. Evidence-based interventions (in addition to MAT and CHW) will include Motivational Interviewing, Healthy Love, and Seeking Safety provided by BCD staff. Project HEAL will provide outreach and engagement services and assist enrollees with development of an individualized Recovery Plan. Project HEAL participants will have access to a full continuum of acceptable, effective, and individualized SUD/COD treatment including MAT and recovery support services including substance abuse peer counseling and support groups, housing for homeless and low income individuals and families, violence prevention, prevention of incarceration and community re-entry, and HIV prevention and service coordination. Lessons learned will be shared with providers and policy-makers.

Project HEAL is lead by DFPM-REDs Latunja Sockwell in partnership with Better Community Development.

The $2.5 million grant is funded by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

DFPM-RED Featured in Upcoming Research Showcase

DFPM-RED will present two posters in UAMS Research’s upcoming Showcase of Medical Discoveries. The September showcase will focus on community-based research and both posters will feature DFPM-RED‘s work with HIV education and prevention in Arkansas. The showcase event will be held Wednesday, September 25th and DFPM-RED will present the following research-based posters:

HIV Education among Men in a Treatment Setting

Sockwell, L., Marks, B. (2019, May)

Healthy Love is a 3-4 hour class to motivate men to practice safe sex lifestyles. This class was administered as part of educational training for the male clients of the Better Community Development Center Substance Use Recovery program. This study reveals the outcomes of this educational class and the impact it had compacting the need to address the rise in HIV/AIDS cases of African American men in the state of Arkansas.

Passion Project’s Additional Health Resources build Positive Outcomes in Women Substance Use Disorder Clients

Vaughn, K., Sockwell, L., Crone, C. (2019, May)

The Passion Project is a grant created to address the health care needs of women entering the Better Community Development Center Substance Use Recovery program. This study reveals the outcomes of this project and the impact it had compacting the need to address the rise in HIV/AIDS cases of African American, the lack of mental health needs, availability of health screening, and barriers of links to care for women in the state of Arkansas.

About the Showcase of Medical Discoveries

The Showcase for Medical Discoveries is a wine and cheese reception featuring UAMS investigators discussing their research and discoveries. The series’ goals include fostering communication and collaboration between investigators as well as increasing campus-wide awareness of exciting research areas.

The next Showcase is scheduled for September 25, 2019 and will focus on Community-based research.

New Publications and Presentations

DFPM-RED continues to share their research and their work in publications and at conferences around the country. Here are the team’s latest entries:

Publications:

Whiteside-Mansell, L., Swindle, T. M. & Davenport, K (In Press, 2019). Evaluation of “Together, We Inspire Smart Eating” (WISE) nutrition intervention for young children: Assessment of fruit and vegetable consumption with parent reports and measurements of skin carotenoids as biomarkers. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition

Whiteside-Mansell, L., Swindle, T., & Selig, J. (In Press, 2019). Together We Inspire Smart Eating: An examination of implementation of a WISE curriculum for obesity prevention in children 3 to 7 years. Global Pediatric Health.

Whiteside-Mansell, L, McKelvey, L., Saccente, J, & Selig, J. (2019) Adverse Childhood Experiences for Preschool Children Living in Poverty: Rural, Minority Status. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142623
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/14/2623/htm

Swindle, T., Johnson, S. L., Davenport, K., Whiteside-Mansell, L., Thirunavukarasu, T., Sadasavin, G., & Curran, G. M. (In Press, 2019). A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Barriers and Facilitators to Evidence-Based Practices for Obesity Prevention in Head Start. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.06.019
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1499404619309066?via%3Dihub

Conners Edge, N. A., Kraleti, S., McKelvey, L. M., Jarrett, D. M., Sublett, J. D., & Bennett, I. M. (In Press, 2019). Training Residents in Maternal Depression Care to Improve Child Health: A CERA study. Family Medicine.

McKelvey, L. M., & Fitzgerald, S. (In Press, 2019). Family Functioning and Involvement in Home Visiting: Examining Program Characteristics as Moderators to Support Retention in Services. Infant Mental Health Journal.

Presentations/ conference abstracts:

Whiteside-Mansell, L., Johnson, D., & Swindle, T. (2019). FP2 Predictors of CNP Nutrition-Related Engagement with Families. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 51(7), S25. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JNEB.2019.05.363

Johnson, D., & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (2019). FP1 Extending Education: WISE Lessons From Facebook and Retail Connections. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 51(7), S25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.05.362

 

REACH is International!

DFPM-RED’s Research-Based Early Childhood Professional Development includes, REACH; training and coaching to manage challenging behaviors and promote social-emotional health. The project is targeted to programs with limited access to state professional development resources.

Researcher Rabia Özen Uyar, Cukurova University Faculty of Education, Early Childhood Education, Sarıçam ADANA/TURKEY read a published article highlighting the REACH project and proposed to translate REACH materials and pilot in Turkey. The program was piloted this year in Turkey and initial feedback has been very positive. Teachers reported that they were very satisfied with the REACH program and also reported that behaviors of both teachers and children were positively impacted.  Data on the pilot is currently being analyzed and Dr. Uyar hopes to publish research findings in the coming year.

For more information on REACH, visit: https://medicine.uams.edu/familymedicine/REACH

Family and Preventive Medicine Receives 5-Year $3.29 Million Grant from CDC to Reduce Obesity

By Amy Widner

The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received $3.29 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a five-year project to reduce obesity, increase physical activity and improve nutrition in Arkansas, especially in the Delta.

The State Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) project funding began Oct. 1 and was awarded to the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division. Alysia Dubriske, director of Community Health and Education at UAMS, is leading the grant.

“The whole premise of this grant is to try to reduce obesity rates. The CDC has identified target areas, including access to better nutrition, increasing breastfeeding, encouraging healthier foods and physical activity in early childcare centers, and improving activity-friendly communities,” Dubriske said. “At UAMS’ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, we already have many projects in these areas, so we are looking forward to combining the progress we’ve already made with the CDC’s support to show measurable improvement on this important health issue.”

UAMS staff will be working in partnership with local leadership and stakeholders across the state, but especially in counties where life expectancy is lower than national and state averages. Many rural counties in the eastern Arkansas Delta fall into this category. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, low physical activity, poverty and lack of access to health care are factors.

The project aims to:

  • Develop and implement food service guidelines for food pantries, early childhood education centers, developmental disability day centers and local parks.
  • Support breastfeeding by partnering with family practice clinics, early childhood education centers and developmental disability day centers and by offering continuing medical education hours and early childhood center and developmental disability center professional development training.
  • Partner with communities to create activity-friendly routes to connect everyday destinations by implementing local policies to include bike routes, sidewalks and trails that increase safety and access for all abilities.
  • Implement nutrition standards and physical activity standards into early childhood education centers across the state by changing the Quality and Improvement Rating System in Arkansas to increase physical activity, increase nutrition and physical activity education to staff, and decrease screen time.

Assisting Dubriske with the project are Christopher Long, Ph.D., senior director of Research and Evaluation at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus; and Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Ed.D., director of the Research and Evaluation Division in the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, which is part of the UAMS College of Medicine. Bettie Cook, senior research administrator at UAMS, assisted with the successful grant application.

New Grants, Contracts, and Publications

DFPM-RED is active and busy making a difference in the lives of Arkansans through our research-based work throughout the state! Here are a few of the recent highlights.

Publications

McKelvey, L. M., Fitzgerald, S. K., Conners-Edge, N. A., & Whiteside-Mansell, L. (2017, in press). Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: Focusing on the Parent-Child Relationship Supports Depressed Parents’ Involvement in Home Visiting Services. Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Swindle, T., Selig, J., Rutledge, J.M., Whiteside-Mansell, L., & Curran, G. (In Press). Fidelity Monitoring in Complex Interventions: A Case Study of the WISE Intervention. Archives of Public Health

Grants/Contracts

Gilead HIV project – We’ve hired a community health worker and trainer/data person for the Gilead HIV project in collaboration with the Pulaski County Drug Court

DFPM-RED faculty member Nikki Edge, Ph.D., is collaborating with Russellville school district and NLR preschools to implement a pilot ‘trauma-informed’ classrooms.

DFPM-RED’s Cindy Crone and LaTunja Sockwell will be part of a homeless project with Our House funded by SAMHSA.

“UAMS and Our House are excited to share that the Home Together grant application to SAMHSA that your organization supported has been funded for five years. This provides an innovative and much-needed opportunity to improve health and social outcomes of homeless or housing insecure pregnant women and mothers of young children to age five who also have serious mental illness (SMI) or co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder (COD).” 

New HIV Grant from Arkansas Department of Health Prevention & Viral Hepatitis C Program, HIV Education ($40,000)