Undergraduate Research Opportunities

 

We appreciate your interest in our lab. The lab is engaged in research projects designed to promote understanding of how psychotherapy reduces dysfunction and promotes mental health in youth and inform efforts to improve the quality of mental health care in community based service settings. We currently have one ongoing project that involves observational coding of therapy sessions which provides an opportunity for undergraduates to gain research experience.

Project Description: The goal of our therapy process research is to understand what clinicians do in the therapy they carry out with youths and to assess whether the quality of the child- and parent-therapist alliance is related to youth clinical outcomes. By coding taped therapy sessions we aim to identify the key elements of the child- and parent-therapist alliance and understanding how these elements facilitate progress in youth psychotherapy.

Tasks and Duties: RAs and volunteers would be involved in this project at several levels. Specifically, RA’s and volunteers would learn the TPOCS Alliance coding system and would code therapy sessions for the therapeutic alliance between the child and therapist and the parent(s) and therapist. RAs and volunteers will also: (a) enter data into SPSS, (b) organize and maintain the SPSS databases, and (c) engage in organizational and clerical duties. RAs and volunteers will be required to attend a regularly scheduled research meeting.

If these studies sound interesting to you, you can obtain details on working in the lab for course credit or to volunteer by clicking here.

If you are interested in becoming a member of our team please contact Emily Wheat . We are always looking for motivated individuals who are interested in getting involved in research.