EUReCA! Student Assistant in Early Childhood Mental Health at University of Colorado Denver

EUReCA! Student Assistant in Early Childhood Mental Health

The EURēCA! Student Assistants Program provides introductory opportunities for CU Denver undergraduates to engage in research and creative activities.

Students must complete the self-paced EURēCA! Presentation and Quizzes in Canvas (30 minutes) or meet with a EURēCA! advisor before applying for all EURēCA! positions.
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University of Colorado Denver Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

EURēCA! Student Assistant in Early Childhood Mental Health

CU Anschutz Psychiatry Department / This position can be flexible with some remote and some on-campus components.

The student research assistant will assist with research in the REACH Families Lab (Real‑world settings to improve effectiveness and accessibility of mental health services for children) aimed at understanding ways to improve early childhood interventions that improve early childhood mental health, parental well‑being, and parent‑child relationships. The research assistant will be involved in quantitative and qualitative data coding, project management, data collection, data coding, and data entry/management.

Opportunities to engage in participant recruitment and/or treatment fidelity coding may be available pending students’ availability.

The research assistant will conduct dissemination and implementation science research aimed at improving the accessibility and effectiveness of mental health services for young children and their families. This employee will be involved in data collection, management, and analysis; consenting participants; and disseminating research products.

• Conduct data entry of family engagement in treatment delivered through Children’s Hospital Colorado through medical chart review (training will be provided)
• Complete data entry regarding parental executive functioning and treatment outcomes (e.g., parenting stress, child behavioral concern)
• Coding neuropsychological task performance with parents recruited to prospective study (training and supervision provided by psychologist / principal investigator)
• If available and interested, shadowing opportunities for completing participant consent/recruitment and observational data collection procedures.
• Organizing and managing research files and supplies
• Attending weekly lab meeting with psychologist and research team.

Additional responsibilities may include literature searches and support for clinical program evaluation or other research studies conducted by medical providers in the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. The opportunity to participate in a research journal club to critically evaluate published research studies will also be available.

The student will gain knowledge in conducting prospective and retrospective research studies evaluating ways to improve engagement and outcomes from brief, parenting interventions addressing early childhood mental health concerns. The student will also gain excellent skills in research database management (particularly use of REDCap software) and study organization. The student will gain experience reviewing electronic medical records through the EPIC system.

The student will benefit from the experience of learning about conducting research with young children and their parents as well as the use of multiple methodologies (e.g., surveys, observational performance, informant-based surveys).

• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to work independently
• Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point

• Preferred courses:
  Psychology statistics and research methods
• Previous research…