The focus of our lab is the interplay of behavioral sleep medicine, suicidal behavior, and clinical geropsychology. Our projects are determined in large part by our students’ interests. Below are the lab projects that we are currently working on, or hope to do in the near future.
Comparing in-person and application-driven Imagery Rehearsal Therapy for Nightmare Disorder
There is a strong literature supporting the use of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy for nightmare disorder. However, given the few number of clinicians who specialize in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, it is commonly difficult to find a therapist to provide the treatment. Recently the VA released a smartphone application based upon this innovative treatment, but research has yet to examine whether or not the application is as effective as Imagery Rehearsal Therapy provided in-person. For Kat Speed’s dissertation, we will be conducting a randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy being provided by a clinician in-person to the treatment being provided through the smart phone application. If you are an active duty member or Veteran with nightmares and are interested in the study please contact Dr. Nadorff. We thank the Military Suicide Research Consortium for providing funding for this study.
Validating The Alliance Project Gatekeeper Training
The Alliance Project is a gatekeeper training that was developed as part of our 2013-2016 SAMHSA campus GLS suicide prevention grant. As part of our new state-wide GLS grant we will be collecting validation data in order to strengthen the empirical basis of this empirically-derived gatekeeper training. Additionally, we will use these data to continue to improve and refine our gatekeeper training.
Measuring nightmares: the Mississippi State Bad Dreams and Nightmares scale
Although there is evidence that nightmare frequency and severity are two related but separate constructs, as are bad dreams and nightmares, there are few nightmare measures that bring all of these constructs together in one measure. We are in the process of writing up our validation of the Mississippi State Bad Dreams and Nightmares scale in the hopes of providing the field with a new measure that incorporates all of these important constructs.
Student projects
In addition to these we have several on-going student projects. Ashley and Anisha are currently working on an acculturation project, Anisha is studying the impact of race and ethnicity on suicidal behavior, and Courtney is examining human-animal interactions, particularly in relation to depression in older adults.