Return to Research Areas at ORI
Every community would like its young people to be healthy and successful, and shares in the responsibility for raising the next generation.
ORI scientists have studied how communities can help to promote healthy and successful children. Building on our expertise in tobacco cessation, we have worked with communities across Oregon to reduce young people’s problem behaviors such as smoking and drug use. Our programs combine the strengths of community leaders, schools and parents to promote successful youth. Our community-wide approach has reduced tobacco and alcohol use by young people.
Promoting optimal development draws on ORI-wide knowledge of behavior change. By combining our expertise at many levels, from the individual child to the entire community, we have a powerful formula.
Current Grants
Student Self-Management System (Self-Man)
Investigators are developing an intervention to be delivered by behavior specialists that promotes the shift of external (teacher) control of behavior to internal (student) control for upper elementary students who have been identified as needing additional Tier 2 supports.
Principal Investigator: Barbara Gunn
Co-Investigator: Carol Metzler
Project Period: 7/1/11 - 6/30/14
Subcontract with IrisEd from the U.S. Department of Education
Web-Based Parenting Intervention for Mothers of Infants At-Risk for Maltreatment (Baby-Net)
Investigators are developing an internet-based parent education intervention to promote the social-emotional development and communication skills of infants to decrease the chances of child maltreatment for young children from low-income families.
Principal Investigators: Ed Feil & Kathleen Baggett (University of Kansas)
Co-Investigators: Betsy Davis, Lisa Sheeber, Susan Landry (University of Texas)
Project Period: 9/28/10 - 7/31/14
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
A Web-Based Professional Development Program for Child Care Providers (CCP Web)
Feil and colleagues are developing an Internet-based professional development program for caregivers of infants. The program will promote positive caregiving skills to improve caregiver interactions with typically developing infants.
Principal Investigator: Ed Feil
Co-Investigator: Betsy Davis
Project Period: 8/1/10 - 7/31/12
Subcontract with the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
Expanding the Reach of Evidence-Based Interventions for Improving Social-Emotional Outcomes for Infants in Child Care (Infant Teacher Net)
Scientists are adapting an empirically-based program for parents of infants for use with teachers of infants with and at-risk for disabilities. The program will focus on improving responsive teacher interaction with infants to promote social-emotional outcomes for infants with a diverse set of learning needs. The project will compare effectiveness for infants at-risk for/with disabilities to that of typically developing infants.
Principal Investigator: Ed Feil
Co-Investigators: Betsy Davis & Julie Rusby
Project Period: 3/1/10 - 2/28/13
Subcontract with University of Kansas, Center for Research, Inc. from the U.S. Department of Education
Salivary Biomarkers (DNA, RNA and Cortisol), Life Stress and Nicotine Dependence (Genetic Biomarkers GO ARRA)
This project has the potential to advance drug abuse prevention and intervention research through identifying Genetic x Environment (GxE) interactions, which may help to explain the success or failure of interventions designed to prevent the initiation of tobacco use and the progression to nicotine dependence, or to maintain cessation.
Principal Investigators: Judy Andrews & Andrew Bergen (SRI International)
Co-Investigators: Anne Simons & Liz Tildesley
Project Period: 9/30/09 - 8/31/12
National Institute on Drug Abuse: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Creating the Scientific Infrastructure for the Promise Neighborhood Initiative (Promise GO ARRA)
Investigators are creating the Promise Neighborhood Consortium to develop an infrastructure through which the scientific community can develop research to evaluate interventions to help America's highest poverty neighborhoods.
Principal Investigators: Tony Biglan & Brian Flay (OSU)
Co-Investigator: Laura Backen Jones
Project Period: 9/30/09 - 8/31/12
National Institute on Drug Abuse: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Translating Effective Maltreatment Intervention into the Community (Healthy Infants)
Investigators are adapting an evidence-based parenting intervention approach into a feasible, community-based program approach aimed at reducing child maltreatment by harnessing the power of the internet to effectively provide community agencies with both training opportunities as well as immediate and ongoing supervision and guidance by professional program consultants.
Principal Investigator: Ed Feil
Co-Investigator: Betsy Davis
Project Period: 9/1/09 - 8/31/12
Subcontract with the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., from the Centers for Disease Control
Enhancing Core Reading Instruction in First Grade (ECRI): Implementing a System of Multi-Tiered Instruction and Data-Based Decision Making through Advanced Professional Development (ECRI)
Investgators are implementing and evaluating a Response to Intervention (RTI) system of reading instruction and assessment in first grade.
Principal Investigator: Keith Smolkowski
Co-Investigator: Barbara Gunn
Project Period: 9/1/09 - 8/31/13
Subcontract with the University of Oregon from the U. S. Department of Education
Improving Access to Early Parent Education and Support (Parent IVES II)
Metzler and her team are developing and evaluating an interactive video email service for parents of infants and toddlers that integrates automated email, video streaming, and interactive website technologies to deliver frequent, ongoing parent education and support services to parents of young children.
Principal Investigator: Carol Metzler
Co-Investigators: John Seeley & Laura Backen Jones
Project Period: 7/1/09 - 12/31/11
Subcontract with IRIS Media from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development
Enhanced First Step to Success: Improving School Readiness for School Children with Disruptive Behavior (Enhanced FS)
Scientists are working to establish effect sizes of the home only, school only, and home and school combined components of the Enhanced First Step to Success intervention related to improvements in child behavior and social skills outcomes.
Principal Investigators: Ed Feil & Hill Walker
Co-Investigators: John Seeley, Herb Severson, & Annemieke Golly
Project Period: 7/1/09 - 6/30/12
Subcontract with the University of Louisville Research Foundation from U. S. Department of Education
Reducing Teacher Stress and Building a More Effective School Culture (Teacher Wellbeing)
Investigators are examining the effects of an acceptance-based intervention for reducing teacher distress and increasing schools' collegiality.
Principal Investigator: Tony Biglan
Co-Investigators: John Seeley, Julie Rusby, & Laura Backen Jones
Project Period: 6/10/09 - 5/31/14
National Institute of Drug Abuse
Online School Staff Training: Establishing Positive Behavior Support in Elementary School Instructional Settings (Online PBS)
Smolkowski and colleagues are developing and field testing three modules of an online professional development program for elementary school staff on how to apply positive behavior supports (PBS) in order to manage behavior in elementary school instructional settings.
Principal Investigator: Keith Smolkowski
Co-Investigators: Hill Walker & Barbara Gunn
Project Period: 6/1/09 - 5/31/12
Subcontract with IRIS Media from IES/U.S. Department of Education
Ecological Momentary Assessment of Peer Affiliation, Perceptions and Behavior (Peer Affiliations)
Rusby and her team are developing and evaluating an assessment tool, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), for measuring the experiences middle school youth have during non-school times. This tool will provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of how adolescents' mood states, perceptions of peer acceptance, and associations with deviant and prosocial peers impact their behavior. The outcomes will inform prevention efforts by better defining when and how to intervene with at-risk youth to prevent initiation and escalation of substance use.
Principal Investigator: Julie Rusby
Co-Investigators: John Light & Tony Biglan
Project Period: 6/1/09 - 5/31/12
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Efficacy Trial of Carescapes: Promoting Social Development in Home-based Child Care (Carescapes Efficacy)
The research team is testing the efficacy of the Carescapes program "Promoting Children's Social Competence." This video-based training program was developed to improve home-based child care providers' practices and the quality of the child care environment.
Principal Investigator: Julie Rusby
Co-Investigators: Laura Backen Jones & Keith Smolkowski
Project Period: 3/1/09 - 2/28/13
U.S. Department of Education
Ecological Approach to Family Intervention and Treatment (EcoFIT) Integrated with PBS: An Effectiveness Trial in Middle School (EcoFIT)
Investigators are testing the effectiveness of the EcoFIT school-home intervention under scaled-up conditions using a randomized controlled trial.
Principal Investigators: John Seeley & Keith Smolkowski
Project Period: 3/1/09 - 2/28/14
U.S. Department of Education
Communities and Schools Together for Childhood Obesity Prevention (CAST)
This project uses community-based participatory research (CBPR) with a community-school partnership, including families, to develop researched solutions in preventing childhood obesity and related health risks. CAST is creating a research model for using geospatial community health information database systems (CHIDS) on local environmental, social, and family influences on child activity and diet, neighborhood designs related to active child transport to and from school and other neighborhood child activity, and presence of food outlets providing affordable, healthy food access for families. CHIDS will be used to guide collaboratively determined interventions and policy change to pursue locally driven solutions in childhood obesity prevention within elementary school settings.
Principal Investigator: Deborah Johnson-Shelton
Co-Investigator: Shawn Boles
Project Period: 5/1/08 – 4/30/13
National Institute of Child and Human Development
Efficacy Trials of Early Learning In Mathematics (K-Math)
To test the efficacy of “Early Learning in Mathematics”, a mathematics curriculum designed for use in the early grades. Two studies are being conducted in 100 kindergarten classrooms in Oregon and Dallas, Texas.
Principal Investigator: Keith SmolkowskiProject Period: 4/1/08 - 3/31/12
Subcontract with PIRE to U.S. Department of Education
Adolescent Peer Social Network Dynamics and Problem Behavior (DyNet)
Scientists are examining the effect of a group-randomized trial of an already funded school-level positive behavior intervention on the over-time interdependence between early adolescent problem behavior and peer group dynamics.
Principal Investigator: John Light
Co-Investigators: Julie Rusby & Tony Biglan
Project Period: 4/1/08 - 3/31/13
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Enhancing Literacy Outcomes for English Learners Through Systematic and Explicit Teaching Routines (SETR)
To enhance first grade literacy instruction in Spanish, transition to English, and enhance English reading instruction in the second grade.
Principal Investigator: Keith Smolkowski
Project Period: 8/1/07 - 7/31/12
Subcontract with PIRE to U.S. Department of Education
Evaluation of a Video-Based Media Series to Promote Effective Parenting (Parenting Media)
Researchers are developing and experimentally evaluating two variants of a 10-episode, brief, video-based, infotainment-style broadcast-quality media series targeted at parent practices, derived from the Triple P - Positive Parenting Program.
Principal Investigator: Carol W. Metzler
Co-Investigators: Julie Rusby & Matt Sanders
Project Period: 4/15/07 - 3/31/12
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Implementing School Wide Positive Behavior Support in Middle Schools (PBS)
Researchers are evaluating the benefits of school-wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS) for reducing the level of in-school problem behavior, improving academic achievement, preventing the development of deviant peer groups, and reducing the prevalence of substance use and anti-social behavior in non-school settings.
Principal Investigator: Tony Biglan
Co-Investigator: Julie C. Rusby
Project Period: 7/1/06 - 6/30/12
Subcontract with the University of Oregon from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Early, Evidence-based Intervention for Externalizing Behavior Problems in School: From Efficacy to Effectiveness of the First Step to Success Program (FS Effectiveness)
In this subcontract, ORI investigators are helping to evaluate the effectiveness of the First Step to Success program in a large randomized control trial using the RE-AIM framework.
Principal Investigator: John SeeleyCo-Investigators: Hill Walker, Herb Severson, Ed Feil, Annemieke Golly
Project Period: 3/1/06 - 2/28/12
Subcontract to SRI International from U. S. Department of Education
Intranet-based Tobacco Prevention Program for Children (Intranet/CAPS)
The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate a multi-media computer-based tobacco prevention program for children and to prevent or delay onset of children’s tobacco use and to modify intentions and willingness to try tobacco in the future. Principal Investigator: Judy AndrewsCo-Investigators: Judith Gordon, Sarah Hampson, Herb Severson, Paul Slovic
Project Period: 3/1/04 - 1/31/13
National Cancer Institute
Childhood and Adolescent Predictors of Substance Abuse in Emerging Adulthood (ABACUS)This is a continuation of a longitudinal study to expand our knowledge of the processes related to the development of substance use from adolescence through emerging adulthood; addiction and dependence in emerging adulthood; and risky sexual behavior in late adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Principal Investigator: Judy Andrews
Co-Investigators: Sarah Hampson, Anne Simons, Elizabeth Tildesley
Project Period: 1/1/98 – 2/28/14
National Institute on Drug Abuse