Briana A. Woods-Jaeger

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Emory University

Latinx adolescents, representing 25% of the U.S. child population, face significant mental health challenges due to aggressive immigration enforcement and policies rooted in racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism. These systemic issues contribute to increased rates of sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal behaviors among Latinx adolescents. Addressing t...

Black perinatal women experience high rates of mental health disorders including depression and traumatic stress disorders, but also face significant disparities in access to mental health treatment. We conducted focus groups with 43 Black perinatal women in the Southeastern U.S. to understand barriers and facilitators that affect their access to m...

Introduction Engaging families in behavioral health services is a high priority for juvenile justice (JJ) systems and family advocacy groups. Family-driven care (FDC) enhances family engagement and decision-making power in youth behavioral health services, ultimately, improving youth and family mental health and substance abuse outcomes. Despite th...

We examine and compare the relationship between minimum wage increases and youth homicide rates in three groups: all youth, White youth only, and Black youth only. Using 2001–2019 mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) for all 50 states and Washington DC, we apply a difference in differences (DD) design to compare the chang...

Objective: Latinx immigrants are at risk for migration-related trauma that can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Among parents in immigrant families with undocumented family member(s) (i.e., mixed-status), risk for PTSD may be exacerbated by policies that threaten family separation and exclude immigrants from systems of support. Underst...

Objective: Black women in the United States experience increased risk for mental disorders and are less likely to have access to appropriate mental health treatment compared with White women. To develop culturally responsive strategies to improve Black women's access to mental health treatment, the authors evaluated social determinants associated...

Introduction Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for homicides and suicides. As poverty is both a predictor and a consequence of IPV, interventions that alleviate poverty-related stressors could mitigate IPV-related harms. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a monthly cash assistance program, is one such potential intervent...

Community health workers (CHWs) have established pathways to implementing effective, sustainable, and cost-effective health programs among underserved populations. Despite the significant role of CHWs, there is limited literature describing the needs of CHWs, specifically in times of health emergencies and crises. Thus, we explored the challenges a...

Background Improving family engagement in juvenile justice (JJ) system behavioral health services is a high priority for JJ systems, reform organizations, and family advocacy groups across the United States. Family-driven care (FDC) is a family engagement framework used by youth-serving systems to elevate family voice and decision-making power at a...

Background Exclusionary immigration policies rooted in structural racism threaten the wellbeing of Latinx families, increasing stress, anxiety, depression, and distress among immigrant parents. The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating and disproportionate impacts on communities of color with unique impacts on Latinx immigrant parents in mixed-stat...

Increasingly, immigration policies are understood as structural determinants, rooted in racism, nativism, and ethnocentrism, which raise serious public health concerns for Latinx adolescents' mental health. Our objective was to examine how immigration policy enforcement affects mental health of Latinx youth raised in a county with an aggressive int...

While the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted many occupations, teachers and school staff have faced unique challenges related to remote and hybrid teaching, less contact with students, and general uncertainty. This study aimed to measure the associations between specific impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and stress levels in Minnesota educato...

This chapter includes a review of the research on and applications of historical trauma, racial trauma, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the Black American community, as well as historical and systemic factors that account for disproportionately high rates of exposure, maladaptive coping strategies, and problematic outcomes. Specifically...

Recognizing the need for a transformative shift to advance scholarship and practice focused on traumatic stress, this paper emerged from a special invited panel at the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). The panel brought together scholars from interdisciplinary backgrounds, including psychology, p...

Students of color face disproportionate rates of adverse childhood experiences, including racial discrimination in school settings. Effective interventions strategies are needed to address school-based racial trauma. Link for Equity was designed to be a culturally-responsive trauma-informed intervention that includes universal cultural humility tra...

Introduction Temporary Assistance for Needy Families requirements can be stress-inducing, difficult for families to complete, and may be detrimental during early life. We assessed the impact of TANF requirements on primary caregiving mothers’ experiences of material hardship, anxiety, depression, and parental aggravation in the first year of a chil...

Black individuals are at particularly high risk for birth-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, in part due to a lack of opportunity to lead maternity care decisions. Maternal care providers need evidence-based ways to reduce pregnant persons' risk for birth-related PTSD symptoms despite reduced autonomy in decision making resultin...

Exposure to community violence is known to be associated with a host of maladaptive outcomes in both youth and adult populations. Though frequently examined in other interpersonal violence literature, family functioning has yet to be examined as an outcome in community violence literature. The current study begins to address this need by exploring...

Introduction: Immigrant-related social policies and immigration enforcement contribute to a sociopolitical environment that affects immigrants' health. This exploratory study in six metro-Atlanta counties examined associations among immigrants' perceived vulnerability to harmful immigrant-related social policies and county-level 287(g) agreements...

To promote health equity among Black youth exposed to community violence, it is critical that psychologists partner with other health care professionals and communities with lived experience to explicitly address anti-Black racism and historical trauma as fundamental contributors to violence-related health inequities. This article describes our com...

Children in poverty are at significantly greater risk of experiencing child maltreatment. Family economic security policies, such as minimum wage laws, offer a promising prevention strategy to support low-income families. This study utilized data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study, to examine the...

Background: Link for Equity is a multi-tiered, school-based program of trauma-informed care and cultural humility designed to reduce the impact of Adverse Child Experiences among Black Indigenous and other children of color (BIPOC). This report describes the program, its trial design, and the study participants' baseline characteristics. Methods:...

In this study, academic researchers partnered with Black youth to engage in critical analysis of the intersection between racism and community violence to promote anti-racist social action that advances health equity. Through youth participatory action research, we examined perspectives and experiences of Black youth to develop a shared understandi...

Structural racism inflicts a disproportionate burden of stress and trauma within Black communities, resulting in physical and mental health inequities that impact Black youth. Yet few multilevel interventions exist to address these deeply rooted inequities from a preventive standpoint, and even fewer are informed by the participatory input of the i...

Objective: Prolonged exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the absence of protective relationships and systems contributes to toxic stress and can lead to numerous psychological and physical health consequences. Disproportionate exposure to ACEs and lack of appropriate responses stemming from systemic racism contributes to racial ineq...

Women experiencing poverty are more likely to face intimate partner violence (IPV), poor health, and stigma. IPV survivors are overrepresented among those who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a conditional cash program serving families experiencing poverty. More generous TANF policies may be protective against IPV, but a grea...

Students of color are disproportionately affected by exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), racial trauma, and traumatic stress. Trauma-informed interventions in schools can promote healing among ACE-impacted students of color. These interventions require collaboration with family members to decide upon services and referrals; however, e...

Trauma exposure can lead to poor psychological health not only for those directly affected, but also for their children. Additional research is needed to understand mechanisms in the intergenerational sequelae of traumatic stress. The current study examined parenting stress as a moderator of the association between parents’ lifetime trauma exposure...

The Family Stress Model (FSM) has been used to show the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and child externalizing behaviors and suggests that interventions promoting economic security may be a promising approach to reduce child externalizing behavior. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study from 200...

Research participation effects (RPEs)—effects due to study design rather than study intervention—have long been acknowledged as a research phenomenon. Identifying RPEs is crucial to understanding the true effects of an intervention and outcomes may change during dissemination. Few researchers systematically identify the potential role of RPEs on th...

Objectives: A comparative effectiveness trial tested 2 parent-based interventions in improving the psychosocial recovery of hospitalized injured children: (1) Link for Injured Kids (Link), a program of psychological first aid in which parents are taught motivational interviewing and stress-screening skills, and (2) Trauma Education, based on an in...

Objective: African American adolescents experience disproportionate rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which heightens their risk for negative social, behavioral, and health outcomes. Schools may be a source of support for adolescents exposed to ACEs; however, for many African American adolescents, schools are a source of additional str...

Background: Child maltreatment disproportionately affects families experiencing poverty and structural discrimination, including African American (AA) families. The generosity of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) may reduce child maltreatment disparities. Objective: Our aim is to understand TANF's impact on the mother's perpetration...

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color and highlighted longstanding racial health inequities. Communities of color also report higher rates of medical mistrust driven by histories of medical mistreatment and continued experiences of discrimination and systemic racism. Medical mistrust may exacerbate COVID-19 disp...

Statement of purpose Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students are more likely than White students to face harsher disciplinary policies and practices in schools.¹ Such institutional-level policies interact with micro-level forces of racism, increasing the likelihood of race-related traumatic stress². This study aimed to characterize the...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including trauma exposure, parent mental health problems, family dysfunction, and community-level adversities put individuals at risk for a host of negative health outcomes. The effects of cumulative ACEs are numerous, diverse, and can predispose an individual to cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical he...

Studies consistently demonstrate that African American youth experience disproportionate levels of community violence, which is associated with negative health and well-being outcomes among these youth. The frequency and severity of community violence exposure is a unique challenge for these youth and requires tailored approaches to promote resilie...

The Health Equity Advancement Lab (HEAL) at the University of Iowa College of Public Health began in 2012 to support students, researchers, and community members interested in tackling persistent health inequities through a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Using concepts from critical consciousness theory, we developed an app...

Women experiencing poverty and women of color disproportionately experience intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. Economic policies targeting women at this intersection of poverty and IPV, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Minimum Wage (MW), and Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), may be powerful violence prevention...

Objective: This study assessed parent engagement and satisfaction with an evidence-based parenting intervention delivered within a pediatric primary care clinic serving families at-risk for toxic stress. Method: Ten pilot study parent participants (all female; 80% African American; mean age = 26.1 years) completed sociodemographic, adverse childhoo...

Community violence continues to be a major national public health issue that disproportionately impacts African American youth. Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approaches have been recommended to address youth violence and provide an opportunity to partner in research with those most impacted to develop new strategies. In this brief r...

Social determinants of health, such as poverty, lower parental education, parental unemployment, and racism, are critical but often overlooked factors that contribute to racial inequities in mental health. The effects of social determinants on mental health persist despite positive intentions of individual professionals within psychology. A new app...

Trauma-exposed youth with impaired caregivers (i.e., due to substance use and/or mental health problems) may be at particular risk for negative outcomes. This study utilized data from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set to examine the impact of caregiver impairment on youth outcomes. Trauma-exposed youth with an impaired careg...

The burden of community violence on young African Americans includes disproportionate rates of physical and mental health consequences. To develop appropriate and sustainable interventions that mitigate the negative consequences after violence exposure, it is critical to incorporate the lived experiences and perspectives of African American youth....

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Objective: Pregnant African American women living in low-income urban communities have high rates of trauma exposure and elevated risk for the development of trauma-related disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Yet, engagement in behavioral health services is lower for African American women than Caucasian women....

Aim: Describe engagement activities in a comparative effectiveness study evaluating two interventions for promoting psychosocial health among youth ages 10-17 who have recently experienced a nonintentional injury. Methods: Institutional, community and patient stakeholders from four children's hospitals were engaged through consultation meetings, in...

Innovative interventions accessible to at-risk populations to prevent the intergenerational cycle of toxic stress are needed. This paper describes the iterative development of a community-based intervention, 2Gen Thrive, which was designed to prevent toxic stress and promote resilience by improving caregiver capacity to respond to children’s emotio...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including trauma exposure, parent mental health problems, and family dysfunction, put children at risk for disrupted brain development and increased risk for later health problems and mortality. These negative effects may be prevented by resilience promoting environments that include protective caregiving relat...

To address toxic stress among children growing up in poverty, an innovative collaboration was developed between a community center, Operation Breakthrough (OB), and a tertiary care children's hospital, Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH). OB started as a day care center but has expanded and developed ways to provide shelter, safety, food, employment, e...

Objective: This study explored the facilitators, barriers, and strategies used to deliver a child mental health evidence-based treatment (EBT), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), in a culturally responsive manner. In low- and middle-income countries most individuals with mental health problems do not receive treatment due to a sh...

Purpose: This study examined associations among alcohol-related problems and family support, collective efficacy, emotion-regulation drinking motives, and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies among racially diverse adolescents. Methods: The sample included 150 racially diverse adolescent girls and boys (53.3% male) from two urban high sc...

African Americans have the highest rate of new HIV infection in the United States. This photovoice study explored the perspectives and experiences of African American female youth and sought to understand how adolescent development impacts HIV risk. This study used the photovoice methodology with seven African American or Biracial female youth, in...

Objective: Injury, the most common type of pediatric trauma, can lead to a number of adverse psychosocial outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder. Currently, few evidence-based parent programs exist to support children hospitalized after a traumatic injury. Using methods in evaluation and intervention research, we completed a formative r...

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and mortality rates are higher among African Americans than among people of other races/ethnicities. We aimed to understand how African American adults and adolescents conceptualize cardiovascular health and perceive related barriers and facilitators. Methods...

There were no differences between subjects in the least adherent group and the most adherent group at baseline (n=36 and 95, respectively) or at any follow-up visits regarding BMI, largest Cobb angle, quality-of-life, and body image. Conclusions Findings from this study do not support previous research indicating that wearing a brace may have a neg...

Nationally, there are alarming Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical cancer disparities experienced by African American (AA) women. Diagnosis rates of cervical cancer are nearly twice as high in AA women than white women and associated with higher mortality. In Iowa, AA experience significant cancer disparities, with a diagnosis rate...

The 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that African American youth experience obesity at a rate 1.8 times greater than that of their white peers. Additionally, the North Carolina Center for Health Statistics found that 36.5% of youth in Wake County are overweight or obese and African American community members demonstrate h...

Issue: Despite the undeniable role of policy initiatives in the HIV epidemic, little research has been conducted to evaluate HIV-related policy initiatives that involve partnerships among community members; representatives from community-based organizations, government agencies, and businesses; and academic researchers. Description: We review fiv...

To reduce current HIV disparities among African American youth, it is imperative to find effective ways to extend the reach of evidence-based HIV prevention. One promising community resource to support this effort is faith-based organizations (FBOs), a credible and respected resource in the African American community. This paper describes the exper...

African American adolescents are at increased risk for HIV/AIDS. Using a community-based participatory research approach, we engaged three black churches in adapting an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention, Focus on Youth (FOY)+ImPACT, for faith settings. To identify potential adaptations to increase FOY's relevance, utility, and efficacy for...

Despite the undeniable role of policy initiatives in the HIV epidemic, little research has been conducted to evaluate HIV-related policy initiatives that involve partnerships among community members; representatives from community-based organizations, government agencies, and businesses; and academic researchers. In this chapter, we review five pol...

This abstract is being submitted for consideration for inclusion in the Special Sessions on Rural Health Disparities Research has shown that residents of rural communities experience significant disparities in access to care and management of chronic health problems compared to residents of urban areas. Less is known about how these disparities exi...

The goal of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is to develop, implement and disseminate research WITH the community. CBPR projects focused on health disparities affecting minority youth are increasingly engaging youth as research partners, yet there remains a dearth in the literature of youth perspectives on this process. Youth Empowered...

African American youth are particularly at risk for STDs and HIV/AIDS in North Carolina. Finding effective ways to address the prevention needs of youth and engage faith settings, a cornerstone of the African American community, may help reduce HIV/AIDS disparities. Our community-academic partnership used a CBPR approach to implement and evaluate a...

Background: First-year college students are at higher risk for heavy episodic drinking (HED) and the negative consequences associated with this behavior compared to other college cohorts. Parents' communication about alcohol has been found to be a protective factor for HED. Objectives: This study used a modification the theory of normative social...

Evidence-based practice in community settings is increasingly the focus of HIV prevention efforts (Norton et al. 2009; NIH, 2008). One promising community resource for African American adolescent HIV prevention is faith-based organizations (FBOs) (Moore et al. 2010; Francis & Liverpool, 2009; Coyne-Beasley & Schoenback, 2000). FBOs are credible and...

Establishing partnerships that follow the principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with community partners that do not have experience with this research approach and academic institutions that do not have a history of CBPR can be particularly challenging for junior tenure-track faculty. We established the HEaL at the University...

Engaging youth in participatory research enhances youth skills and assets and adds to the authenticity of the research. This case study will highlight a community-academic partnership between youth community members and academic researchers, formed with the goal of implementing and evaluating an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention in African...

There is an increasing call for HIV prevention programs that target social determinants of HIV. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of 12 African American adolescents to identify important social and community targets for HIV prevention. We used photovoice methodology to engage adolescents in a critical analysis...

This study examined relationships between substance use patterns and problems and sexual health outcomes among low-income, urban, African-American female adolescents with a history of seeking mental health services. Participants were recruited from outpatient mental health clinics serving urban, primarily low-income youth and families in Chicago, I...

This study used a community-based participatory research tool called photovoice to understand African American faith leaders' perspectives on the factors that influence childhood obesity in their communities. Five African American women, who self-identified as faith leaders, took photographs and discussed photographs and emergent themes in 5 meetin...

Up to 90% of justice-involved youth report exposure to some type of traumatic event. On average, 70% of youth meet criteria for a mental health disorder with approximately 30% of youth meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Justice-involved youth are also at risk for substance use and academic problems, and child welfare involv...

Background: This article describes the process our community-academic partnership used to lay the groundwork for successful implementation of an adolescent-focused, evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum in two Black churches. Objectives: We highlight the challenges encountered and lessons learned in building a relationship with two churc...

Photovoice is a process where individuals represent the strengths and challenges of their communities through photography. This study used photovoice methodology with 7 African American female youth, in grades eight through twelve, in an urban county in North Carolina to gain understanding of social and community issues that affect adolescents and...

HIV prevention programs targeting the social determinants of HIV are receiving greater attention and support as a means to reduce HIV disparities. This presentation describes the experiences and perceptions of 12 African American adolescents regarding the social and community context of HIV vulnerability among African American youth in their commun...

Objective: This study examined the relationship between violence exposure and sexual risk-taking among low-income, urban African American adolescent girls, considering overlap among different types and characteristics of violence. Method: African American adolescent girls were originally recruited from outpatient mental health clinics serving urban...

Background: According to a Gallup survey, 52% of African American teens say faith is the most important influence in their lives. A recent study in the southeastern United States indicates that African American faith leaders are aware that risk behavior impacts adolescents in their congregations, but they are reluctant to discuss certain topics cri...

BACKGROUND: While evidence-based behavioral interventions for African American youth exist, the disproportionate impact of HIV on the African American community warrants new approaches in HIV prevention with African American youth. To better understand the needs of African American youth related to HIV prevention it is important to develop genuine...

Several cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches are available for treating child and adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These treatments include common elements (eg, psychoeducation, gradual exposure, relaxation). This review (1) delineates common elements in CBT approaches for treating child and adolescent PTSD; (2) provides a...

This study evaluated the relationship between condom-related protective behavioral strategies (PBS; including those that require active behavior and mental planning) and condom use at both global and event levels. College students (N = 623; 57.8% female) completed self-report measures of condom-related PBS, as well as drinking and sexual behavior....

Previous research has evaluated marijuana motives among adolescents and emerging adults using a predetermined set of motives, largely adapted from the alcohol literature. This research was designed to identify marijuana motives from the perspective of the user. Recent high school graduates who reported using marijuana (N=634) provided self-generate...

College students overestimate the drinking of their peers, and the more they overestimate, the more they drink. The present research was designed to evaluate social anxiety as a moderator of the relationship between perceived norms and drinking among college men and women. Participants included 1,217 first-year residence-hall students (62.8% women)...

This paper provides a brief overview of harm reduction and individually focused alcohol prevention strategies. Universal, selective, and indicated prevention strategies are described for several populations including elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and medical settings. This paper primarily reviews individually focused alcohol preventio...