Publications

Topitzes, J., Mersky, J. P., Mueller, D. J., Bacalso, E., & Williams, C. (2019). Implementing Trauma Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (T‐SBIRT) within employment services: A feasibility trial. Research suggests that low‐income adults accessing employment services have experienced high levels of trauma exposure and associated consequences. Moreover, the health‐related effects of trauma undermine employment and employability. A trauma‐informed protocol—trauma screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment or T‐SBIRT—was therefore implemented within employment service programs serving low‐income urban residents…

Herrenkohl, T. I., Mersky, J. P., & Topitzes, J. (2019). Applied and translational research on trauma-responsive programs and policy: Introduction to a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology. The special issue highlights work across systems that include child welfare, education, juvenile justice and health, as well as agencies serving adults who are at‐risk for high levels of childhood and adult trauma exposure. While articles appearing in the special issue are not divided equally across these systems, they cover important and overlapping concepts within each…

Mersky, J. P., Topitzes, J., & Britz, L. (2019). Given the human costs of psychological trauma, social workers should be well versed in trauma-informed care (TIC). This framework helps guide the efforts of systems, organizations, and practitioners toward reducing trauma or mitigating its effects…

Blair, K., Topitzes, J., & Mersky, J. P. (2019). This exploratory study of 23 parent–child dyads receiving child welfare services examined the association between the number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) parents reported and their children’s externalizing behaviors. We also assessed whether the effects of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) on externalizing behaviors varied by parents’ ACE histories…

Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E. (2018). Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Findings from a Low-Income Sample of U.S. Women. Child Abuse and Neglect.

Despite great interest in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), there has been limited research on racial and ethnic differences in their prevalence. Prior research in the United States suggests that the prevalence of ACEs varies along socioeconomic lines, but it is …

Mersky, J. P., Topitzes, J., & Blair, K. (2017). Children served by the child welfare system count among society’s most vulnerable members given their history of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences. Once they enter the system, however, these children seldom receive empirically validated interventions to mitigate the effects of trauma. This article highlights the promise of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for trauma-exposed children in the child welfare system…

Topitzes, J., Berger, L., Otto-Salaj, L., Mersky, J.P., Weeks, F., Ford, J. (2017). Reducing alcohol misuse is a priority for U.S. health officials considering that misuse of alcohol is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Consequently, health centers are routinely integrating Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol misuse within usual care. Although SBIRT is well validated among general patient samples, results have not generalized to drinkers …

Topitzes, J., Pate, D., Berman, N., Medina-Kirchner, C. (2016). The present study explored factors associated with barriers to current employment among 199 low-income, primarily Black American men seeking job services. The study took place in an urban setting …

Mersky, J.P., Janczewski, C.E. (2013). Research has shown that children placed in foster care fall below population norms on many indicators of well-being. Yet few studies have been designed to distill the effects of foster care from conditions that precede foster care. Based on the availa…