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 Associate 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.
Erin Kasson, MS, MSW
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. Ms. Kasson has previously worked and conducted research across a variety of mental disorders.
Xiao Li, MS
Data Analyst
Ms. Li completed her Master’s degree in Health Data Science from 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.
Raven Riordan
Professional Rater
Ms. Riordan completed her B.S. at the University of Missouri with a major in Biology and a minor in Spanish. She is currently pursuing admission into medical school and hopes to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has extensive experience conducting a variety of bench research as well as assisting patients overcome opioid addiction.
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.
Andrea Fentem, MA
Project Manager
Ms. Fentem completed her undergraduate in psychology and her Masters in Clinical Psychology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She has clinical experience working with a wide-variety of populations, focusing specifically on the behavioral aspect of personality.
Christine Xu, MPH
Data Analyst
Ms. Xu recently received her MPH specializing in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Brown School at Washington University. She received her undergraduate degree in pharmaceutical engineering from Chengdu University of Technology in China. She is interested in psychiatric epidemiology, psychiatric genetics, health behavior, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysis. Ms. Xu has experience examining risk factors and psychiatric comorbidity of eating disorders and social anxiety disorder, and the effects of child maltreatment using data from genetically informative, longitudinal study designs. She is also conducting biostatistics research on reproducibility.
Amelia Dorsey
Research Assistant
Ms. Dors
ey completed a BS in Psychology at Webster University in St. Louis, MO and plans to apply for master’s programs in the next year. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings including volunteering at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and BJC Hospice. Ms. Dorsey works with Dr. Alex Ramsey, as well, on genetic implementation research.
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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