Research
Research at the Boston College School of Social Work is about more than publishing papers—our faculty and students analyze emerging trends in hopes of breaking new ground in the field, and uncovering innovative ways to address social problems locally and globally.
Our Research Focus
PrintImproving the Lives of Priority Populations
Our researchers are committed to fully engaging with people to understand their lived experiences in order to co-design the most effective interventions and programs. BCSSW research focuses attention on communities that experience disproportionate social, health, and economic disparities in the United States, including the following:
Latinx Communities
Black Communities
Homeless and Housing Insecure Communities
Older (or Aging) Populations
Low-wage Workers
Child and Family Well-being
Many factors contribute to child and family well-being, including maternal access to prenatal care, environmental factors such as housing and food insecurity, and even societal issues like structural racism. Our researchers are focused on numerous topics related to child well-being including:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Child Abuse Prevention
Positive Parenting
Maternal Health
Focus on Fathers
Global Research
BCSSW faculty forge strong collaborative relationships with government officials and policymakers to ensure effective interventions can be scaled and sustained, and our implementation partners include leading humanitarian organizations and local NGOs. Our global research includes the following areas of focus:
Research Partnerships in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
Refugees and Migrants
Children and Families in Humanitarian Settings
Environment and Sustainable Development
Community-engaged Research
A key strength of our partnerships is application of novel approaches that enable community members to engage in intervention planning, design, and implementation. These methods center community voice, enable shared decision-making, and ensure culturally appropriate and relevant interventions and outcome measures. Our methods prioritize:
Research-Practice Partnerships
Participatory Research and Design
Participatory Modeling
Place-based Research
Centers, Labs, & Programs
Affirm Lab
Center for Social Innovation
The Center promotes faculty research and expertise in the design, implementation, and assessment of innovative social interventions to complex social problems. CSI's goal is to improve life in diverse and vulnerable communities through sustainable approaches focused on data, iteration, and collaboration.
Center on Aging & Work
Child & Behavioral Health Research Innovations Lab (CABHRI)
The CABHRI Lab conducts and translates research to enhance the social and behavioral health of children and families. The lab’s work emphasizes preventive interventions and dissemination strategies to improve overall well-being and disrupt intergenerational cycles of childhood trauma, violence, and abuse.
Macondo Lab
Racism-based Violence Injury & Prevention Lab
Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA)
This program investigates key mechanisms shaping child development and mental health, focusing on the resilience of children facing multiple forms of adversity such as poverty, conflict, and infectious disease. The RPCA develops targeted psychosocial interventions that can be delivered effectively in low-resource settings.
By the Numbers
32
Grants Awarded
Prev. 3 fiscal years
$10M
Grant expenditures
FY24
66
Paid student research positions
FY21
Global Symposium on Forced Migration
"“BC is a global university, and opportunities to come together and talk about issues that extend far beyond our campus are critically important.”
At a time when the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has reached unprecedented levels, the Boston College School of Social Work’s Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) and the Trinity College Dublin Centre for Forced Migration Studies gathered together at a symposium in Dublin to discuss the spectrum of resources and services necessary to aid such populations in remaking their lives.
Equity at the Workplace
Work Equity partnered with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley to conduct the Boston Workplace Equity Study. The mission of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley is “… to create positive, lasting change for people in need.”
Project Details
The Youth Readiness Intervention
The Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) is a promising approach for addressing mental health problems among at-risk youth in low resource settings. The YRI uses a structured, manual curriculum divided into 12 modules, with sequential 90-minute group sessions designed to be delivered by non-specialists. It integrates six empirically-supported practice elements shown to have trans-diagnostic efficacy across symptom dimensions of mental health disorders, ranging from major depressive disorder and anxiety to conduct problems. The YRI has three phases which are delivered in a sequential fashion: stabilization, integration, and connection. The YRI is designed to be integrated into education or livelihood programs and has been successfully implemented in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Columbia, and South Sudan.
Project Details
Understanding Afghan Families Needs and Strengths During Resettlement and Refining Mental Health Measures for Afghan Youth
Through partnership with the International Rescue Committee's Switchboard Program, the RPCA is working to develop, refine, and optimize a mental health screening toolkit with psychometric properties and instrument functioning of mental health screening toolkits to provide refugee service agencies with a culturally relevant and statistically validated toolkit to use with Afghan children and youth. This research is currently being conducted to support new arrivals from Afghanistan so resettlement agencies and affiliates, state agencies, community-based organizations, and other Office of Refugee Resettlement funded organizations providing services to refugees can understand how to best work with vulnerable populations.
Project Details
Family Strengthening Intervention for Early Childhood Development and Violence Reduction
The family strengthening intervention for early childhood development and violence reduction (FSI-ECD+VP) has been refined and developed over decades of work in post-genocide settings in Rwanda. Informed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Care for Child Development package the intervention (a) builds parenting skills and improves knowledge of ECD to create a safe, stimulating, and nourishing environment for the growth of young children with a focus on nutrition, health, and hygiene promotion; (b) coaches parents of young children in “serve and return” interactions and playful parenting; (c) develops a “family narrative” to build hope and highlight sources of resilience for addressing challenges and reducing the risk of violence; (d) strengthens problem-solving skills as well as the navigation of formal and informal community resources; and, (e) builds skills in parental emotion regulation and alternatives to harsh punishment. The FSI-ECD+VP integrates these core components into 12 modules and two booster/follow-up sessions through a home-visiting model and active coaching. Currently, the FSI-ECD+VP is being implemented in Rwanda, with a digital component to test effectiveness, as well as in Sierra Leone and Colombia.
Project Details
Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees
The Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees (FSI-R) was developed and tested culturally and linguistically tailored in partnership with immigrant and refugee communities. The FSI-R is developed using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach and is adapted for multiple cultures using the ADAPT-ITT framework. The FSI-R is designed to be delivered by non-specialists who are from the community they are serving in a home-visiting 10-12 module approach focused on building and supporting the whole-family during resettlement. Currently, the FSI-R is being implemented with Afghan resettled families.
Project Details
Intergenerational/Longitudinal Study of War-Affected Youth and Families in Sierra Leone
The RPCA has pioneered the Longitudinal/Intergenerational Study of War that began in 2002 at the end of Sierra Leone’s civil war. We are investigating how toxic stress 'gets under the skin' and transfers over generations. This research is the first known effort in Sub-Saharan Africa to examine modifiable risk and protective biobehavioral mechanisms driving the intergenerational effects of war on the mental health of offspring.
Project Details
Fathers & Families
This cohort study involving over 1,200 biological, adoptive, and social fathers of preschool-aged children and their co-parents comprehensively examines the role of fathers in childhood obesity prevention.
Project Details
An In-Depth Analysis of Fatal Encounters with U.S. Law Enforcement: Dissecting the Roles of Federal, State, and Local Agencies
This report from The Racism-based Violence Injury & Prevention Lab delves into the prevalence and characteristics of fatal encounters from 2013-2023, distinguishing the roles and responses of different law enforcement agencies.
Project Details
MI VACUNA explores vaccination rates in Latinx adults with mental illness
In partnership with NeighborHealth, behavioral health clinicians are trained to use motivational interviewing to engage Latinx patients missing a COVID or influenza vaccine in a guided conversation about vaccination.
Project DetailsFind information about training, mentoring, and consulting services to support BCSSW faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and student investigators to plan, fund, and implement research that generates a deeper understanding of and robust solutions to intractable social problems.
BCSSW Research Support Services
Provides education and 1:1 coaching to support faculty career progression and development—particularly for junior and mid-career faculty—to help them plan and implement a research agenda and generate timely and high-quality research outputs.
Contact
Kirsten K. Davison, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research
kirsten.davison@bc.edu
617-552-1616
The Dean of Finance and Administration reviews all financial aspects of BCSSW proposals to external funders and authorizes the OSP to submit the proposal to funder on behalf of the BCSSW by signing the PTF in PeopleSoft Financials Grants Module.
Contact
Sveta Emery, M.B.A.
Associate Dean for Finance & Administration
sveta.emery@bc.edu
617-552-9198
Supports planning and implementation of new research and educational initiatives, including Dean’s priorities, Center for Social Innovation initiatives, and faculty-initiated projects.
Contact
Linda DeLauri, Ed.M.
Director of Research and Program Development
linda.delauri@bc.edu
Administrative contacts assist PIs in the development and submission of complete proposal packages to the OSP; and coordinate the BCSSW internal review and approval process by creating a proposal record in PeopleSoft Financials Grants Module and completing and managing the PTF signature process. BCSSW strongly encourages PIs contact their administrative contact as soon as a decision is made to pursue a funding opportunity.
Contacts
Alexandria Burk, Ph.D.
Assistant Director Fiscal and Grant Administration*
alexandria.burk@bc.edu
617-552-1040
(* Contact for all BCSSW faculty except those affiliated with or developing proposals in collaboration with Research Program on Children and Adversity.)
Andrea Morris
Associate Director, Grants Administration
Research Program on Children and Adversity
Andrea Morris@bc.edu
617-552-8394
Serves as a schoolwide resource for investigators. Interdisciplinary expertise in econometrics, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Collaborates with SSW faculty and doctoral students on study design, survey development, IRB applications, and data analysis. Contributes to the development of competitive grant proposals.
Contact
Indrani Saran, Sc.D.
Assistant Professor of the Practice
Indrani.Saran@bc.edu
University-wide Resources
Boston College’s Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations (CFR) is a resource for faculty identifying potential funders and developing proposals to submit to foundations and corporations.
The OSP is the University’s signature authority (authorized official) for proposals and awards. PIs may not submit requests for funding to outside entities (sponsors) without the prior approval of OSP’s Pre Award representative. In most instances, BCSSW Administrative Contacts act as liaisons between faculty and OSP Pre Award staff.
The Boston College Institutional Review Board's (IRB) mission is to protect the rights and welfare of people who take part in research at Boston College.
The Office for Sponsored Programs maintains lists of internal and external funding sources.
Research Services provides consultation, training, and tutorials to support computing and research at Boston College. The Research Services staff has expertise in statistics, statistical software, qualitative research, surveys, GIS, scientific computation, data analysis, computational mathematics, and visualization. We also provide assistance with coding, databases, Web technologies, and administration and consultation for research oriented computing hardware based within the departments and institutes.
