Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Thailand

Research Statement

Broadly, all of my projects currently include work with interdisciplinary teams that span child welfare populations or children who have experienced/witnessed a potentially traumatic event. I think one of the most interesting things we have learned recently is that screening for traumatic stress in primary care settings and children’s advocacy centers (CACs) is feasible. By studying the effectiveness and implementation of screening for traumatic stress, we are improving and disseminating screening processes across settings, such as screening for traumatic stress and suicide in CACs. When frontline, non-clinician staff are able to screen for traumatic stress, respond to suicide, and teach families coping mechanisms, families may be able to do a better job keeping themselves safe and reducing their symptoms while waiting to get into treatment in communities where there may be scarce evidence-based trauma providers. Additionally, in primary care, screening for depression alone (a common screening measure used in primary care) misses a lot of children who have high traumatic stress symptoms. This is important because understanding trauma symptoms and trauma exposure can have an impact on a child’s diagnosis and treatment plan.
 
I do this research because I want to improve outcomes for children who have experienced a traumatic event. Our research is developing processes to identify children at risk for PTSD earlier, and the sooner we can get kids into therapy and teach them skills to cope with their symptoms/process their trauma in a way that has been shown to improve outcomes, the better!

Research Keywords

  • Trauma Therapy
  • Child Welfare
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Child Abuse or Neglect
  • Community Based Research
  • Refugee and Immigrant
  • Collective Impact
  • Housing

Grants, Contracts & Research Gifts

  • Evaluation of Implementation and Monitoring of Plan of Safe Care. PI: Jeremiah Jaggers. Co-PI(s): Kara Byrne. Utah Department of Human Services Division of Child and Family Services, 01/01/2019 - 12/31/2019. Total project budget to date: $99,787.00
  • Analyzing Evictions and Housing Stability for Low-Income Renters. PI: Kara Byrne. URC Faculty Research & Creative Grant Proposal, 03/25/2017 - 04/01/2018. Total project budget to date: $5,963.00
  • Pediatric Integrated Post-Trauma Services: an Evidence Based Care Process Model for Pediatric Traumatic Stress. PI: Brooks Ryan Keeshin. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 09/30/2016 - 09/29/2021. Total project budget to date: $3,000,000.00
  • University Neighborhood Partners Program Evaluation. PI: Kara Byrne. University Neighborhood Partners, 07/14/2016 - 06/30/2018. Total project budget to date: $10,000.00
  • Division of Child and Family Services Implementation of evidence-based practices project: Residential Services. PI: Matt Davis. Title IV-E Project, 04/01/2015 - 12/31/2017. Total project budget to date: $0.00
  • Technical Assistance Project. PI: Matt Davis. Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services, 04/01/2015 - 02/28/2017. Total project budget to date: $0.00
  • Juvenile Justice Services Program Evaluation and Improvement Project. PI: Matt Davis. Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services, 04/01/2015 - 01/31/2017. Total project budget to date: $0.00
  • Family Prosperity Initiative: Financial Literacy for New Immigrants and Refugees. PI: Kara Byrne. American Library Association & FINRA Foundation, 02/01/2015 - 12/31/2017. Total project budget to date: $10,000.00

Research/Scholarship Projects

  • Understanding the Context and Issues Contributing to the Migration of Unaccompanied Women, Minors, and Families (urban refugees and asylum seekers) in Bangkok, Thailand. PI: Hunter, Rosey. 07/01/2016 - present.

Presentations

  • Jaggers, J., Byrne, K., & Osteen, P. (November, 2020). Systematic Review of Seeking Safety Intervention: Lessons for Child Welfare Service Delivery. Virtual. Poster, Presented, 11/18/2020.
  • Byrne, K. (October, 2020). PIPS: Identifying, Responding, & Providing Treatment for Children At-Risk for Traumatic Stress and Suicide. Critical Issues Facing Children and Adolescents: Salt Lake City. Presentation, Presented, 10/05/2020.
  • Byrne, K. & Medina, R. (September, 2020). Housing Inequalities Eviction Patterns in Salt Lake County. 24th Annual Utah Housing Matters Conference: Salt Lake City. Conference Paper, Presented, 09/02/2020.
  • Byrne. K., Keeshin, B., & Shepard, L. (January, 2020). Connecting Care Across Systems: A Care Process Model for Child Traumatic Stress. San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment: San Diego, CA. Presentation, Presented, 01/05/2020.
  • Byrne, K. & Shepard, L. (June, 2019). Development and Implementation of a Brief Screening and Intervention Care Process Model for Child Traumatic Stress in Children’s Advocacy Centers. The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children: Salt Lake City, UT. Presentation, Presented, 06/18/2019.
  • Byrne, K. & Vogel-Fergusion, M.B. Foundations for Refugee Case Management. Jesuit Refugee Services. Bangkok, Thailand. Presentation, Presented, 12/13/2016.
  • Byrne, K. & Mohamed, A. (May, 2016). Community Voices for Housing Equality. Community-Campus Partnerships for Health 14th Annual International Conference: New Orleans. Conference Paper, Presented, 05/14/2016.
  • Byrne, K., Mohamed, A., & Magana, G.R. (October, 2015). Community Voices for Housing Equality. Utah Housing Matters Conference: Park City, UT. Presentation, Presented, 02/10/2015.
  • Byrne, K. & Mohamed, A. (June, 2013). Engaging Community Members in Developing Knowledge, Informing Growth, and Bridging the Cultural Gap. CU Expo 2013 Engaging Shared Worlds: Corner Brook, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. Presentation, Presented, 06/15/2013.
  • Finn, J. & Mileski, K. (May, 2011). Pedagogy of Gender Oppression and Globalization. Unsettling Feminism: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Presentation, Presented, 05/15/2011.
  • Mileski, K. (May, 2011). Is Fair Trade Fair? Unsettling Feminism: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Presentation, Presented, 05/15/2011.
  • Finn, J. & Mileski, K. (October, 2008) Pedagogy of Gender Oppression and Globalization: Council on Social Work Education’s 54th Annual Program Meeting: Philadelphia, PA. Presentation, Presented, 10/25/2008.

Publications

  • Keeshin, B., Byrne, K, Thorn, B & Shepard, L (2020). Screening for trauma in pediatric primary care. Current Psychiatry Reports. Vol. 22. Published, 09/05/2020.
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32889642/
  • Medina, R., Byrne, K, Nicolosi, E. & Brewer, S. (2020). Housing inequalities: Eviction patterns in Salt Lake County, Utah. Cities. Vol. 104. Published, 05/24/2020.
    https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/10.1016/j.cit...
  • Keeshin, B., Shepard, L.D., & Byrne, K. (2019). Trauma-informed care and treatment. In A. Sirotnak & T. Laskey (Eds), Child abuse: Medical diagnosis and management (4th ed.). Published, 10/01/2019.
  • Kuttner, Paul, Byrne, Kara, Schmit, Kim & Munro, Sarah (2019). The art of convening: How community engagement professionals build place-based community-university partnerships for systemic change. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. Vol. 23. Published, 03/31/2019.
    https://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/index.php/jheoe/...
  • Aster Tecle, Kara Byrne, Mary Beth Vogel-Ferguson, Kimberly Schmidt & Naima Mohamed (2018). Seeking Refuge: An Exploration of Unaccompanied Women, Minors from Somalia and Families from Pakistan Experiences of Services in Bangkok, Thailand. Advances in Social Work. Special Issue: Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees. Published, 09/25/2018.
    http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsoci...
  • Kara Byrne, Paul Kuttner, Abdulkhaliq Mohamed, Ellie Goldberg & Gilberto Magana (2018). This is our home: Initiating participatory action housing research with refugee and immigrant communities in a time of unwelcome. Action Research Journal. Accepted, 08/13/2018.
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750318790797
  • Mileski, K., Mohamed, A., & Hunter, K. (2014) Creating inclusive spaces for partnership: Responses from local leaders engaged in a community-university partnership center. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 7(1). Published, 05/01/2014.
  • Hunter, R., & Mileski, K. (2013). Emerging leaders project: Connecting university resources to community-based organizations supporting refugee resettlement. Advances in Social Work, 14(2), 613-628. Published, 02/11/2013.
  • Finn, J.L. & Mileski, K. (2013). Globalization and gender oppression: Reflections on teaching and learning. In Finn, J., Perry, T. & Karandikar, S. (Eds.), Gender Oppression and Globalization: Challenges for Social Work. (281- 305). Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education. Published, 02/04/2013.