Undergrad Student Assistant for Dr.Holzman - Early Childhood Mental Health

Employer/Dept: University of Colorado Denver/ Psychiatry

Supervisor: Jacob Holzman, PhD

Job Title: EURēCA! Research Assistant in Early Childhood Mental Health

Job Location/Address: CU Anschutz / Flexible with some remote and some on-campus components.

Purpose: The research assistant will provide support for research studies led by a psychologist in the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Studies focus on: 1) prospectively predicting engagement and outcomes from a brief, parenting intervention for young children with behavioral concerns in two settings (Children’s Hospital Colorado; Head Start), and 2) retrospectively evaluating outcomes from the brief, parenting intervention delivered through telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Position Description: The student research assistant will assist with research in the PARENT Lab (PARents ENgaged in Treatment) aimed at understanding ways to improve early childhood interventions that improves early childhood mental health, parental well-being, and parent-child relationships. The research assistant will be involved in quantitative data coding, project management, data collection, data coding, and data entry/management. Opportunities to engage in participant recruitment and/or treatment fidelity coding may be available pending students’ availability.

Duties and Responsibilities: Responsibilities will include supporting the principal investigator’s interdisciplinary research through the following possible duties: • Conducting data entry of family engagement in treatment delivered through Children’s Hospital Colorado through medical chart review (training will be provided) • Completing data entry regarding parental executive functioning and treatment outcomes (e.g., parenting stress, child behavioral concern) • Coding neuropsychological task performance with parents recruited to prospective study (training and supervision provided by psychologist / principal investigator) • If available and interested, shadowing opportunities for completing participant consent/recruitment and observational data collection procedures. • Organizing and managing research files and supplies • Attending weekly lab meeting with psychologist and research team. 

Additional responsibilities may include literature searches and support for clinical program evaluation or other research studies conducted by medical providers in the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. The opportunity to participate in a research journal club to critically evaluate published research studies will also be available.

Skills and Knowledge Gained: The student will gain knowledge in conducting prospective and retrospective research studies evaluating ways to improve engagement and outcomes from brief, parenting interventions addressing early childhood mental health concerns. The student will also gain excellent skills in research database management (particularly use of REDCap software) and study organization. The student will gain experience reviewing electronic medical records through the EPIC system. The student will benefit from the experience of learning about conducting research with young children and their parents as well as the use of multiple methodologies (e.g., surveys, observational performance, informant-based surveys).

Minimum Qualifications: • Strong organizational skills • Conscientious • Ability to work independently  • Strong communication skills • Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Preferred Qualifications: Previous research experience; interest in working in the health field (medical, psychology)

Preferred coursework: Psychology statistics and research methods

Position Commitment: 7-10 hours per week

Class Standing: Junior, Senior

Minimum GPA: N/A

Preferred Work Times: Early evenings (4-6:30pm) throughout week; Availability on Fridays for lab meeting; May occasionally work on weekends if involved in data collection

Mentoring Plan

The faculty mentor will provide oversight and guidance to the undergraduate research assistant to facilitate growth as a behavioral science researcher. Individual meetings between the faculty mentor and the research assistant as needed. Meetings will take place, at least, biweekly in the beginning of the Fall to discuss training, progress, and goals as well as biweekly in the Spring to prepare presentation for the Research & Creative Activities Symposium (RaCAS). The undergraduate research assistant will attend a weekly research team meeting to discuss the progress of the project. Success will be measured by whether assigned tasks and milestones are being met. The faculty mentor will provide feedback regularly so that the student may adjust their performance and grow professionally. The preferred method for communicating will be by email and/or during remote, Zoom meetings. A professional research assistant employed by CU School of Medicine can also help if the faculty mentor is unavailable.