“It’s Not Herding Cats”: Facilitating Collaborative Multi-tiered Research Teams

Integrating undergraduate students in research projects offers several mutual benefits for faculty and students. Still, many scholars are reluctant to mentor undergraduate research assistants (UGRAs) due to the perception that UGRA mentorship is time consuming and fails to yield publishable results. With effective structure, Doctoral students and faculty utilizing UGRAs can experience greater research productivity. This workshop will debunk the myths surrounding UGRAs and offer practical instruction for developing and maintaining effective research teams. Presenters will provide hands-on guidance for recruitment strategies, application processes, training procedures as well as tips for productivity and suggestions for troubleshooting common challenges.

Objectives

1) To demonstrate the benefits of including undergraduate students in collaborative research teams. 2) To identify practical strategies for developing and maintaining multi-tiered collaborative research teams. 3) To provide strategies for navigating challenges associated with integrating undergraduate students in collaborative research teams.

Rooting Your Community in Your Research

Translating research to communities is a slow, difficult process. One method designed to ease the translation of outcomes to practice and promote collaboration between researchers and community members is community-based participatory research (CBPR). Taking a collaborative approach through CBPR means a mutual (e.g., researchers and research participants) ownership of the research topic, methodology, and decision-making are established (Faridi, Grunbaum, Gray, Franks, & Simoes, 2007). This poster presentation will introduce CBPR, describe its strengths and challenges, and contextualize CBPR from the personal experiences of a Doctoral student and new faculty member’s perspectives at East Carolina University.

Objectives

1. To promote skill development in CBPR for students and new professionals 2. To identify the strengths and challenges of CBPR as a research method to increase the translation of research to communities 3. To provide tips and techniques from the presenters’ real world experiences with CBPR to the attendees regarding developing collaborative relationships, navigating community involvement, and conducting CBPR research

Burnout in MFTs: Implications for training and professional development

  Mental health professions such as Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) are psychologically and emotionally very demanding.  This increases the likelihood of burnout in MFTs. This presentation will focus on better understanding the factors related to professional stress and burnout in MFTs. It will also highlight preventative strategies that can be incorporated in the training of MFTs to reduce burnout and the likelihood of prematurely abandoning the profession.  The strategies will have an additional benefit of increasing the MFTs sense of well-being and in turn, the quality of services provided to the public.

Objectives

1. To evaluate the factors affecting burnout in Marriage and Family Therapists. 2. To discuss preventative strategies that can reduce burnout and the likelihood of prematurely abandoning the profession in Marriage and Family Therapists. 3. To explore ways in which the curriculum and training in Marriage and Family Therapy programs can incorporate ways to reduce burnout and increase well-being as a part of successful professional development.

Title IX Mandated Reporting: What You Need to Know as a SNP

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and new professionals are all affected by Title IX regulations. However, there is usually confusion about the role one has as a mandated reporter under Title IX. This report is meant to be a guidebook for the Student/New Professional (SNP) members of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) who are unsure of what they are required to do regarding Title IX. Understanding Title IX responsibilities is an important part of a SNP's professional development.

Objectives

Inform about... History of Title IX Mandatory reporting requirements for Title IX Critiques of Title IX

Action Research: A Bridge Connecting a University and Local Communities

This presentation will describe a partnership between a university and community agencies that uses effective strategies to bridge the gap between research and practice through implementation of an impact evaluation of community-based couples’ relationship education (CRE). Our goal was to promote the efficacy of the community partners in the research process and ensure buy-in from them and community members, given the sensitivity in communities regarding random control designs that result in a portion of interested participants not participating in the program. Evaluation results related to community educators’ readiness to implement a randomized control trial (RCT) will be presented and discussed.

Objectives

1. To describe a collaborative partnership between a university and a network of community agencies that bridges the gap between research and practice through implementation of an impact evaluation of community-based couples' relationship education. 2. To define key elements for training, skill-building, and promoting the efficacy of the community partners in the research process. 3. To evaluate community educators' research efficacy and readiness to implement a randomized control trial.