Current Research Areas of Interest
Substance Use
Many youth and young adults are exposed to substance use-related content via social media. We are using social media for insights into drug use behaviors, especially use of newly emerging drugs that are increasing in popularity. This information will help us understand how social media can be used for delivering substance use messages to young people.
Depression
As more and more people engage with social media, it is important to learn the motivations of individuals who publicly post about their depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm struggles via postings on social media. We are seeking to understand why this type of social networking occurs online and how it impacts users’ overall mental health.
Eating Disorders
There is increasing concern about online communities that promote eating disorder (ED) behaviors. We are exploring innovative strategies for online, accessible, and timely ED-related outreach that could facilitate novel ways to utilize social media in mental health promotion and prevention initiatives.
Our Team
Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, Principle Investigator
Dr. Patricia Cavazos-Rehg is the principal investigator (PI) of iCHASM. She is a clinically-trained licensed psychologist who has been involved in biomedical research for over 10 years. After receiving her Ph.D. in Psychology from SUNY at Buffalo in 2004, she moved to Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis, MO to begin her research career, focusing on understanding how policy and social media shape health risk behaviors of young people. In addition to her research, she is also a dedicated Professor and was voted “Course Master of the Year” by students enrolled in the Master of Science in Applied Health Behavior Research program at WUSM. Dr. Cavazos-Rehg is also the Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Psychiatry Department at WUSM.
Hannah Szlyk, PhD, LCSW
Instructor, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Hannah S. Szlyk, PhD is a doctoral-level licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with training in suicidology among underserved and minoritized populations and in qualitative and mixed methods study design and analyses. Her current work extends this research program to include mHealth interventions for SUD (e.g., opioid use disorder (OUD), alcohol, cannabis, and vaping) among adolescents and adults, and special populations, like pregnant and postpartum women and people. She is especially interested in understanding how mHealth tools can be used to amplify health equity. She holds graduate degrees in social work from Columbia University (MSSW) and the University of Texas at Austin (PhD) and received additional training at The Menninger Clinic and the Brown School (as a NIMH T32 postdoctoral fellow).
Erin Kasson, MS, MSW
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Ms. Kasson completed her undergraduate degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, with both Master’s of Science and Master’s of Social Work degrees from Saint Louis University. She has previous experience working with and conducting research among several clinical populations, with particular interest in anxiety, depression, and treatment of co-occurring disorders.
Xiao Li, MS
Data Analyst
Ms. Li completed her Master’s degree in Health Data Science and is pursuing her PhD in epidemiology at St. Louis University. She has experience with data mining of national databases and integrating machine learning algorithms into applications. Ms. Li has extensive experience with performing survival analysis, longitudinal analysis, and modeling of large population-based studies.
Nina Kaiser
Research Assistant
Ms. Kaiser obtained her BA in Sociology at Saint Louis University and is now studying at SLU School of Medicine. She has extensive research experience studying the opioid crisis and maintains an interest in analyzing reproductive health disparities and the relationship between mental health and social media platforms.
Mandy Montayne, MA
Project Manager
Ms. Montayne graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology. She has training in counseling, crisis intervention, trauma-informed care, and psychological assessment and has worked with variety of populations in various settings, including university counseling centers, community mental health centers, and a sexual assault care facility. Her research interests focus on eating attitudes and disordered eating, interpersonal violence, and sexual assault.
Georgi Sirko, MSW
Professional Rater II
Ms. Sirko completed her BA in Psychological Sciences from University of Connecticut and her Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in Saint Louis. She has training in conducting psychosocial assessment, crisis intervention, strengths-based intervention and trauma-informed care. She has worked with a variety of populations within non-profit organizations. Her research interests include intimate partner violence, PTSD, and how stigma influences help-seeking.
Recent Findings
Using an app to deliver information about Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
In this pilot study we examine the preliminary effectiveness of a mobile application, ‘uMAT-R’, that includes health information about opioid use disorder (OUD) recovery supported by science and MAT benefits.
Conducting investigations into substance use among teens and adolescents using nationally representative datasets (PATH, NYTS, NSDUH)
In this study that is linked, we looked at how social media impacts tobacco and vaping behaviors.
Examining the self‐reported advantages and disadvantages of socially networking about body image and eating disorders
We found that posting/following thin-ideal content on SMPs were motivation/encouragement to engage in a certain behavior, socializing, and information giving/seeking while posting/following thin-ideal content on SMPs were that the content elicits negative/bad feelings.
Leveraging social media to explore the barriers to treatment among individuals with depressive symptoms
We found that those with major depression were more likely to seek out treatment, to report an unmet need for
treatment, and have a higher risk of suicide. Barriers to treatment were more likely to be attitudinal, while participants with mild depression experienced more structural barriers.
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