Community Health and Development News

With an aim to inform and develop local solutions to reduce community rates of youth violence nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the University of Kansas a grant to establish one of only five federally funded national centers of excellence on youth violence prevention.

The Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the University of Kansas will launch its fall seminar series this week with a talk presented by a University of Kentucky scientist who studies cocaine use disorder.

A year after her brother's death from complications related to alcohol use disorder, Gayla Guthrie hopes that sharing his story and creating a fund for addiction research will fuel discoveries and reduce the stigma of substance use disorders.

Study participants who consumed a greater proportion of hyperpalatable carbohydrate and sodium foods in their buffet meals had significantly greater weight change and percent body fat change a year later.

Sexual and gender minority individuals experience alcohol and substance use disorders at rates much higher than their peers, yet little is known about how treatment and recovery programs work for them. A University of Kansas researcher is leading a study to better understand how members of the LGBTQ community experience SMART Recovery, an alternative to traditional 12-step programs, and potentially guide improvements to the program.

The Health Behavior and Technology Lab at the University of Kansas is conducting a research study on eating experiences of individuals using a mobile app called SmartIntakeQnA.

For youth who are treated through The University of Kansas Health System, a hospital-based intervention program provides support to young victims of violence in hopes of reducing the reverberating effects.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new perils and challenges for people experiencing substance use disorders and addictive behaviors. Social distancing and isolation can trigger loneliness, anxiety and depression. These circumstances have put some “recreational users” at risk for developing addictions and caused some in recovery from addictions to relapse.

A federal grant awarded through the KU Medical Center Frontiers program to a Life Span Institute investigator will support addiction research focused on the relationship between tobacco addiction and decision-making. 

The University of Kansas, through the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, is a partner in two autism spectrum disorder research projects that have recently been awarded $13 million in federal grants.