Department News
IJR: A Leading Force in Children's Mental Health

For nearly a century, the Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR) has been a leading force in providing a broad range of innovative mental health services to children, adolescents and their families, as well as rich grounds for research in prevention and intervention, and clinical experiences for trainees in the fields of child psychiatry and child psychology. IJR, established in 1909 and transferred to UIC in 1990, was the first child guidance clinic and the second organized psychology training program in the nation. It was also one of the first sites for training child psychiatrists.

For a presentation on the history of IJR please click here

IJR: Multidisciplinary Research, Training and Service for Children's Mental Health
Today, IJR remains a vital part of the Chicago community and a major research and training center for children's mental health. Directed by Carl C.Bell, M.D, a national and international leader in community psychiatry, the Institute comprises more than 35 faculty and 65 professional staff engaged in a broad spectrum of research, demonstration and training. Our programs address pressing issues such as HIV risk, access to effective school services, epidemiology of drug abuse, services for families in the child welfare system, and training of child mental health providers. The Institute also offers child psychiatry clinical services and training programs in child psychiatry, psychology and social work.

Clinical Services

The Colbeth Child and Adolsecent Psychiatry Clinic
As part of the Institute of Juvenile Research, our faculty and staff apply scientific advances in the causes, intervention methods, and service approaches for child and adolescent psychiatric problems. Psychiatric disorders in youth can arise from many sources, and often are an interplay between biological and environmental influences.  Effective treatment is based on careful diagnosis and case formulation, and application of combinations of a range of interventions, including consultation, medication, family therapy, and work with the school.  Through these methods, working with the family, our expert staff act to provide relief from symptoms of the psychiatric disorder, alleviate psychosocial and environmental stressors that precipitate or perpetuate disorders, and enhance the youth's psychosocial functioning at home, in the school, and in the community. Click here for more information on services offered at the clinic.

A fundraiser benefiting the Colbeth Child and Adolescent Psychiatry clinic was held on April 30th, 2005. Please click below to see pictures of the event.
http://www.psych.uic.edu/institutes/ijr/colbethfund.htm

Federally Funded Research Programs

Positive Attitudes for Learning in Schools (PALS)
This project is a new model for school-based mental health consultation. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded program, in collaboration with the Community Mental Health Council and the Chicago Public Schools, uses an ecological model to identify ways to increase children's learning in the classroom and to promote parent involvement. This model emphasizes least-restrictive, group-administered, individualized services across contexts to integrate mental health services with school routines and resources. The model links the teacher, a parent hired by the project, and a mental health provider to plan and deliver evidence-based mental health services, specific to the individual's needs. The program has operated for four years in three Near West Side schools and will soon expand to include more schools on the Westside and South Side.
Project staff: Principal Investigator, Marc Atkins, Ph.D; Robert Gibbons, Ph.D (Co-I); Jaleel Adil, Ph.D (Co-I); Carl Bell, MD; Betsy Talbott, Ph.D; Patricia Graczyk, Ph.D; Stacy Frazier, Ph.D; and Deborah Starks, MBA

Teacher Leaders & Services for Children with ADHD
This program responds to a pressing need for enhanced school-based services for children with Attention Deficit The Doug and Margaret Colbeth Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic employs a multidisciplinary systemic approach to treating psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a need for better collaboration between mental health providers and educators. Social diffusion theory guides the work, with the intent to identify and train key opinion leaders in 14 randomly selected low-income urban schools. UIC team members train these opinion leaders and community-based mental health providers on best practices for ADHD students. This model will be compared to routine mental health services provided at 12 similar schools. We hypothesize that teachers in schools with the intervention will show more positive attitudes towards educational and mental health services and will make greater use of recommended classroom accommodations for ADHD students. We also anticipate more parental involvement and improved academic and social behavior for students.
Project staff: Principal Investigator, Marc Atkins, Ph.D; Betsy Talbott, Ph.D (Co-I); Carl Bell, MD, (Co-I); Robert Gibbons, Ph.D, (Co-I), Patricia Graczyk, Ph.D; Jaleel Adil, Ph.D; Stacy Frazier, Ph.D; Dina Birman, Ph.D; Lara Jakobsons, BA; and Deborah Starks, MBA

Chicago Adolescent Risk and Evaluation Study (CARES)
This NIMH-funded study explores why adolescents seeking psychiatric care often engage in risky sexual behavior and drug/alcohol use that put them at risk for HIV infection. Findings will guide design and implementation of specially tailored HIV-prevention programs for youth and families receiving mental health services.
Principal Investigator: Geri Donenberg, Ph.D

Chicago Youth Development Study (CYDS)
This longitudinal study, begun in 1991, is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), and NIMH. It tracks the development of risk for school failure, antisocial behavior and violence among inner-city male adolescents. The most recent funding expands the focus to the romantic partners of the males and a cohort of similar age females. The study can now evaluate issues related to relationship development and partner violence among this population.
Project Staff: Deborah Gorman-Smith, Ph.D; Patrick Tolan, Ph.D; David Henry, Ph.D

Schools and Families Educating Children (SAFE Children)
This study applies CYDS findings to an intervention focusing on inner-city Chicago families with children entering first grade. The study assesses effects of a family-based comprehensive preventative intervention targeting key risk markers for later antisocial behavior, school failure and substance abuse. It is a continuation of an original study and is designed to evaluate the impact of a booster intervention for fourth graders and long-term impact of the intervention for first graders.
Project Staff: Patrick Tolan, Ph.D; Deborah Gorman-Smith, Ph.D; David Henry, Ph.D; Jennifer Treuting, Ph.D

Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project (CHAMP)
This is a series of studies aimed at better understanding of the family and mental health factors that strengthen youth development and promote physical and sexual health during transition to adolescence, as well as at developing appropriate programs to promote health and prevent risk for youth based on developmental findings. Thus far, CHAMP has focussed on these issues among urban, African American youth and their families. A basic study of youth was begun in 1993, and has followed youth from the age of approximately 10 to about 17. In addition, a family-based intervention program was begun in 1995 involving children in pre- and early adolescence. Community involvement has been an important part of the program's development and delivery. In fall of 2000, a related project began, examining community transfer of leadership of the intervention project in Chicago and in New York. This work is supported by the NIMH Office on AIDS, and previously received support from The William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholar Program.
Key Faculty/Staff: Principal investigator: Roberta Paikoff, Ph.D; Co-investigators: Carl Bell, MD; Donna Baptiste Ed.D; Robert Gibbons, Ph.D; Sybil Madison, Ph.D; Project directors: Kristi Jordan, Ph.D; Jerome Richardson, PhD; Doris Coleman, Ph.D; Co-project directors: Ida Coleman; Pamela Coleman; LaDora McKinney; CHAMP Collaborative Community Board

Guiding Responsibility and Expectations in Adolescents Today and Tomorrow (GREAT Schools and Families)
This is a multi-site school violence prevention initiative funded by the CDCP, UIC, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Georgia, and Duke University. It will implement a multi-component intervention to address a major scientific question regarding school violence: Which yields the greatest reduction in school violence -- a general prevention program for all children in a given grade, an intervention targeted at youth considered at risk (those already showing aggressive behavior), or are both interventions needed? Programs that previously showed promise in reducing violence will be evaluated for school-wide effects.
Project Staff: Patrick Tolan, Ph.D; Deborah Gorman-Smith, Ph.D; David Henry, Ph.D; Franklin Gay, MPH

Metropolitan Area Child Study (MACS)
This is an NIMH-funded longitudinal research program conducted in selected Chicago and Aurora schools since 1990. The program focuses on high-risk urban children and involves more than 4,000 students. It aims to prevent development of aggression and other problems by providing and testing an in-class program, small group meetings for children at high risk for aggression in addition to the classroom program, and an evening family program for children who participated in the small group meetings. Long-term effects are being tested.
Project Staff: Patrick Tolan, Ph.D; David Henry, Ph.D

Feasibility and Use of Biological Measures In Drug Surveys
This National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded study, built on a program of Chicago-area epidemiological research, investigates the impact of alternative incentives on drug test participation and compares self-report data to drug test results. The study will provide critical information on prevalence of emerging drug use patterns and the impact of method of measurement.
Principal investigator: Michael Fendrich, Ph.D

East Boston Family Study: A Project of the Program on Developmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology
This NIDA-funded study is designed to elucidate mechanisms by which prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke may contribute to the development of problem behavior. A central aim is characterizing the phenotype of exposure-related problem behaviors, with an emphasis on sex differences. Best estimate methods of combining biologic and self-reported smoking were developed for the study to enable precise characterization of exposure. Exposure is being examined as a predictor of patterns of problem behavior including reactive and callous antisocial behavior, substance abuse, and sexually risky behavior as well as inattention/impulsivity. The role of family context in these pathways is also being studied. A neuroscience supplement to the study recently funded by NIDA also enables (a) the examination of the interaction of exposure and genetic susceptibility in predicting youth problem behavior and (b) deficits in social information processing as a putative endophenotype.
http://www.psych.uic.edu/AJPH
http://www.psych.uic.edu/PYSJAACAP

Most recently, the Children's Brain Research Foundation has provided funding for us to conduct a supplementary study to the NIDA-funded study of University of Nebraska collaborator, Kim Espy. This supplementary study involve a three-wave toddler follow-up of this genetically-characterized Midwestern sample of infants prenatally exposed to cigarettes. The aim of the supplementary study is to replicate our recently reported findings of atypical behavioral trajectories of exposed toddlers in the first years of life and to examine the role of genetic susceptibility in these patterns.
http://www.psych.uic.edu/fhdp

UIC Project Team : Lauren Wakschlag, Ph.D., PI, Co-investigators: Bennett Leventhal, M.D., Edwin Cook , M.D., Robin Mermelstein, Ph.D & Gretchen Biesecker , Ph.D. , Project Director Collaborators : Kate Pickett, Ph.D. (University of York),.Kim Espy, Ph.D., (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Daniel Pine, M.D.& James Blair, Ph.D. (Section of Affective & Developmental Neuroscience, Intramural Research Program, NIMH)

Observing Young Children and Families Study: A Project of the Program on Developmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology
This NIMH-funded study reflects the central work of the Developmental Mechanisms Laboratory focused on characterizing the phenotype of disruptive behavior in young children. In particular, the study is designed to validate the Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule (DB-DOS)-a newly developed standardized clinical observation method for distinguishing normative misbehavior from disruptive behavior symptoms during the preschool period. This 50-minute lab paradigm assesses child disruptive behavior, modulation of negative affect and problems in competence in interaction with both parent and examiner/clinician. Parental responsive discipline, responsive engagement and problematic discipline are also coded. The DB-DOS is being validated as a research and clinical tool and is designed as a companion to diagnostic interviews. A central goal of the study is to characterize early disruptive behavior in a developmentally sensitive fashion and to capture meaningful heterogeneity including sex and age differences and disruptive behavior confined to the parent-child context. Following extensive psychometric analyses, the DB-DOS will be adapted for live clinical coding. http://www.psych.uic.edu/dbdos/index.shtml
http://www.psych.uic.edu/dbdos
http://www.psych.uic.edu/DSMV

UIC Project Team : Lauren Wakschlag, PI, Co-investigators: Bennett Leventhal , M.D., Barbara Danis , Ph.D., & Carri Hill , Ph.D., Project Director. Collaborators : Margaret Briggs-Gowan, Ph.D. ( University of Connecticut ), Alice Carter , Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts-Boston), Helen Egger , M.D.( Duke University ), & Kate Keenan, Ph.D. ( University of Chicago ).

Family Talk Study, a sub-study of the Health Connections Study: A Project of the Program on Developmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology
This NCI-funded study examines how family processes influence smoking trajectories for youth at high smoking risk. Family Talk is a sub-study of the Health Connections Program Project (P01) which uses a nested design to examine multiple facets of social-emotional processes as an influence on youth smoking patterns. The Family Talk Study videotapes home-based observations of parent-teen about smoking and family life. These are then coded to examine qualitative dimensions of family communication, behavioral regulation, engagement and individuation. Individual differences in the relationship of these processes are examined, including (a) which dimensions of communication are protective against smoking escalation for youth whose parents have a smoking history; (b) exploring the interaction of behavioral regulation and autonomy promotion and youth problem behavior patterns and (c) examining family context as a protective factor for youth at risk due to socioemotional problems and/or risky peer networks.

UIC Project Team: Lauren Wakschlag, PI, Family Talk; Robin Mermelstein, PI (Health Connections P01), Co-Investigators: Bennett Leventhal , M.D., & Joyce Ho, Ph.D., Project Director. Collaborators Paul Rathouz, Ph.D. ( University of Chicago ).

Club Drug Use in Gay Males
This study supplements the NIDA drug use study and adds a probability sample of gay men residing in the Chicago area. A module in the study specifically assesses use of such substances as MDMA (ecstasy), ketamine, rohypnol and GHB. This study examines linkages between drug abuse and risky sexual behavior.As in the main study, toxicological screening will give an accurate estimate of drug abuse prevalence.

Principal investigator: Michael Fendrich, Ph.D

Service Demonstration Projects

ADHD Policy Manual for School Administrators and Parents of Students with ADHD
This is a follow-up to a policy manual on ADHD developed for teachers and staff in Chicago Public Schools. The manuals will advise administrators of federal and state mandates for students with ADHD and will recommend appropriate accommodations. The manual for parents of students with ADHD will be accompanied by district-wide training in collaboration with Chicago CHADD, a national advocacy group for children and adults with ADHD.
Project staff: Director, Marc Atkins, Ph.D; Patricia Graczyk, Ph.D

Parenting Assessment Team (PAT)
This multidisciplinary team helps the child welfare system evaluate parenting capability in parents with psychiatric disorders. The PAT uses state-of-the art methodology to profile parenting strengths and weaknesses and to recommend interventions to improve parenting abilities when possible. Systematic research by the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinical Evaluation and Services Initiative concluded that PAT evaluations were superior in all categories studied. The team has been used as a model for improving parenting evaluations throughout Cook County, the state and several other parts of the US. The original model has spawned two new PATs in Cook County, and downstate teams are planned.
Team members: Laura Miller, MD; Teresa Jacobsen, Ph.D; Heather Hasslinger, MA, LSW

Child and Adolescent Training (CHAT) Initiative
The Illinois Department of Human Services contracted IJR to design and conduct a training program for clinicians, supervisors and administrators in more than 150 Illinois child and adolescent community mental health agencies to improve quality of services for children. The UIC team conducted focus groups and a needs assessment, then developed and presented training sessions based on these goals.
Project staff: Tom Wright, MD; Sucheta Connolly, MD; Vaudery Frelix, MA

CHAT Curriculum Development
This handbook promotes continuing education for Illinois' frontline child and adolescent community mental health providers and is an outgrowth of the CHAT training initiative. The curriculum format creates an opportunity to update information for the benefit of current and future providers.
Project staff: Sucheta Connolly, MD; Tom Wright, MD; Vaudery Frelix, MA

Telepsychiatry Project
This project will link UIC Psychiatry with three rural mental heath centers using the Illinois Century Network, a telecommunications backbone striving to connect all learning institutions and foster information exchange among education, business, government, health care and other fields. The sites will use video-conferencing to provide mental health consultation and treatment to children and adolescents. The technology will link UIC Psychiatry, three mental health centers and other institutions on the network.
Project staff: Tom Wright, MD; Jay Pennington, MSW; Angela Mitchell, LCSW

DCFS Behavioral Health & Welfare Programs

Clinical Services in Psychopharmacology
This program provides consultation services to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Consent Line to assure the safety and appropriateness of psychotropic medications prescribed for DCFS wards with severe emotional disturbances.
Acting Director: Michael Naylor, MD

Comprehensive Assessment and Response Training System (CARTS)
This program provides comprehensive evaluation, crisis intervention and stabilization, and treatment planning services for DCFS wards with severe emotional disturbances, as well as training, technical assistance, and service design consultation to providers serving these adolescents. The program strives to increase the stability of the ward's placement thereby preventing multiple placement disruptions, hospitalizations and referrals to out-of-state, locked residential treatment facilities.
Director: Michael Naylor, MD; Associate Medical Director, Tanya Anderson, MD; Director, Response Training System: Alan Morris, Psy.D; Psychiatric Consultant: Cyrus Solhkhah, MD