Aug. 25, 2022
Surprising snapshot of trafficking survivors
Contrary to common belief, the portrait of a human-trafficking survivor in Missouri is not that of a young, white teenager who is abducted and forced into the sex trade. Instead, Kathleen Preble’s survey of the state’s social service providers found that survivors usually are Black or brown (46%) and Asian (10%). The assistant professor of social work also found that 18- to 35-year-olds make up the bulk of the survivors (56%). The vast majority were not immigrants but rather poor or working-class U.S. citizens trafficked for sex (83%), labor (5%) or both (13%). In considering survivors’ prospects for…
Aug. 25, 2022
Loren Bauerband receives $411,000 NIH grant to address social gender dysphoria
The National Institutes of Health awarded Loren Bauerband, assistant professor, $411,000 to study the relationship between external experiences and internal responses for transgender and gender non-binary individuals. Their research will help practitioners tailor mental health interventions for individuals with social gender dysphoria. Dr. Bauerband is co-PI on the project, “Gender Dysphoria as a Measure of Proximal Stress: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Novel Measure of Social Gender Dysphoria,” with Dr. Paz Galupo of Towson University. The two-year project will examine gender dysphoria as a proximal stressor (an internal response to social pressures or prejudices), rooted in a dynamic…
Aug. 25, 2022
Health care for newcomers
Gashaye Tefera and his family — wife Mackda and daughters Melos, left, and Barckot — were recently reunited in Columbia after being separated for nearly two years due to the pandemic. Photo by Sam O’Keefe. Gashaye Tefera knows firsthand how difficult it is for international students to deal with unfamiliar health care systems. In 2018, he was a fellow at the world’s largest nonprofit, United Way Worldwide, in Alexandria, Virginia, when he started having gastrointestinal issues. But he struggled to understand the care and the cost of coverage, so he delayed seeking treatment. “I’m used to health services that…
Aug. 25, 2022
Location matters: Neighborhood shapes youth exposure to firearm violence and substance use
Illustration by Blake Dinsdale A youngster’s neighborhood often shapes their exposure to firearm violence or substance use — situations that raise their risk of becoming homeless, says Hsun-Ta Hsu, associate professor of social work. For earlier studies on suicide and HIV prevention among people experiencing homelessness, Hsu walked block by block identifying signs of blight — broken windows, sidewalks in disrepair, piles of garbage — because neighborhood-level data are difficult to find. The scarcity of information prevented him from conducting research on a larger scale. To help remedy the problem, Hsu and Jianlin Cheng of the College of Engineering developed…
Aug. 24, 2022
Bill Janes awarded $760,000 grant to advance ALS research and intervention
The Department of Defense awarded Bill Janes, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, a two-year $760,000 grant, alongside his collaborators at the University of Missouri, to advance ALS prevention and early intervention. This interdisciplinary project will combine an in-home sensor system, wearable smartwatch and electronic medical records to predict health outcomes for people living with ALS. “We are hopeful that this project can close a critical gap in ALS care. If we are successful, this system could help interdisciplinary ALS care teams to identify changes in health status before someone with ALS winds up sick, hospitalized or…
Aug. 22, 2022
Kelli Canada receives grant for community-engaged research
Kelli Canada, associate professor in School of Social Work, received $10,000 from Washington University’s Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences for her project aiming to build a community-engaged research course for staff at Moberly Correctional Center and those who are incarcerated there. The project is titled “Improving Prison Living and Working Conditions through Community Based Participatory Research.” This mini class on research basics will engage its students with the skills they need to engage in the co-creation of interventions, testable research questions, research projects, grants and dissemination products. The project is in partnership with Dana Plunkett-Cafourek at the Missouri Department…
Aug. 3, 2022
FACE the Community
FACE’s multileveled approach to social services has earned widespread recognition.
July 25, 2022
MU researchers reveal historical impact on vaccine hesitancy among African-Americans
June 24, 2022
Wilson Majee earns Fulbright grant
Dr. Majee will boost community engagement efforts in South Africa.
June 14, 2022
Tim Wolf inducted to AOTF Academy
Dr. Wolf’s research focuses on identifying and managing cognitive changes to improve participation after neurological injury.