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  • Center for Prevention Science

Extending a helping hand to another

Center for Prevention Science

Our Mission

To develop and disseminate knowledge through research that builds the capacity of community-based organizations to create changes in public policy or environmental conditions that cause social and health disparities.

In 2012, a research group focused on community-level approaches to prevention began its work as an integral part of an initiative to empower New Jerseyans in our efforts to prevent the use and ill effects of substance misuse in our communities. Since its establishment as the Center for Prevention Science in 2016, we have expanded our scope of research and collaborative efforts to areas of focus such as prevention of assault and sexual abuse, prevention of HIV, prevention of childhood neglect, heath disparities, workforce development, program evaluation, as well as empowerment theory and measurement to name a few areas. Our expansion also included our reach to our region and working nationally within the prevention science field and workforce. To date, the Center has been granted research, evaluation, and consultation project awards totaling over $21 million dollars.

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Center Initiatives & Programs

The Center has opened its doors to new opportunities and growth. Much of the center’s work has focused on:

  • substance misuse prevention (e.g.. opioid, alcohol)
  • the prevention of sexual assault
  • the prevention of child abuse and neglect
  • community organizing
  • health disparities research
  • the prevention of HIV and AIDS
  • program evaluation and continuous quality improvement
  • empowerment theory and measurement studies
  • prevention workforce development
  • technology transfer

For more information about current and past research project, click on "Center Initiatives" below!

Three people in the frame with one person speaking to the students/people working at a shared table

Opportunities

Please check back with us often for new full-time, part-time, and temporary employment graduate student and internship opportunities.

Full and part-time positions:

No positions at this time.

Student positions:

No positions at this time.

Black and white photo with a group of people in professional clothing sitting around a conference table with most of them raising their hands
Three people in the frame with one person speaking to the students/people working at a shared table
Black and white photo with a group of people in professional clothing sitting around a conference table with most of them raising their hands

Accordion Content

  • **PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE ONLY INCLUDING ITEMS SINCE 2019**

    Treitler, P., Crystal, S., Cantor, J., Chakravarty, S., Kline, A., Morton, C., Powell, K.G., Borys, S., & Cooperman, N.A. (in press). Emergency Department Peer Support Program and Patient Outcomes After Opioid Overdose. JAMA Open Network.

    Lardier, D.T, Powell, K.G, Morton, C.M., Peterson, N.A. & Borys, S. (in press). Peer recovery specialists and referrals to treatment: Clinical correlates among patients of an opioid overdose recovery program in New Jersey. Substance Use & Addiction Journal. 

    Orwenyo, E.K., Farmer, A.Y. & Peterson, N.A. (in press). The implicit curriculum and BSW students’ professional empowerment. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work.

    Lardier, D.T, Powell, K.G, Peterson, N.A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D. (2023). Client characteristics and service utilization with emergency department peer recovery specialists in a statewide opioid overdose prevention. Social Work in Mental Health, 21(3), 223-242. 

    Peterson, C.H., Peterson, N.A. & Casey, C. (2023). Effect of method bias on the internal structure of the SCORE measure of family functioning. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 31(3), 498-508.

    Powell, K. G., Chaple, M. J., Henry, M., Morton, C., Becker, S. J., Gotham, H. J., ... & Yanez, R (2022). Virtual Training and Technical Assistance: A Shift in Behavioral Health Workforce Access and Perceptions of Services During Emergency Restrictions. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), 1-10.

    Lister, H.H., Marcello, S.C., Lister, J.J., Toto, A.M., Powell, K.G., & Peterson, N.A. (2022). Advancing the behavioral health workforce: An innovative integrated care and substance use disorder training model to improve outcomes for people in medically underserved communities. Families, Systems, & Health40(4), 586-591.

    McMahon, S., Banyard, V., Peterson, N.A., Cusano, J., Brown, Q. & Farmer, A. (2022). Physical spaces for campus sexual violence prevention: A conceptual model. Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion, 3(3), 347-378.

    Farmer, A.Y., Wei, Y., Powell, K.G., Treitler, P., Killawi, A., Lardier, D., Peterson, N.A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D.K. (2022). Knowledge of predatory practices within the substance use disorder treatment industry: Development of a measurement instrument. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), 1-11.

    Lardier, D.T., Powell, K.G., Peterson, N.A., Borys, S., & Hallcom, D.K. (2022). Polysubstance use latent class membership in New Jersey: Association with prior overdoses, prior emergency department peer recovery engagement, and mental health diagnosis among participants in an opioid overdose recovery program. Substance Abuse, 43(1), 1011-1022.

    Reyes, L., Treitler, P. & Peterson, N.A. (2022). Testing relationships between racial-ethnic identity, racial-ethnic discrimination, and substance misuse among Black and Latinx older adults in a nationally representative sample. Research on Aging, 44(1), 96-106.

    Farmer, A.Y, Wang, Y., Peterson, N.A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D.K. (2022). Social isolation profiles and older adult substance use: A latent profile analysis. The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 77(5), 919-929. 

    Treitler, P., Powell, K.G., Morton, C.M., Peterson N.A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D.K. (2022). Locational and contextual attributes of opioid overdoses in New Jersey. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 22(2), 108-119.

    Peterson, N.A., Lardier, D.T., Powell, K.G., Mankopf, E., Rashid, M., Morton, C. & Borys, S. (2021). Psychometric properties of a recovery empowerment scale: Testing emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational domains. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(7), 2874-2891.

    Powell, K.G., Peterson, N.A. Treitler, P., Lardier, D.T., Rashid, M. & Reid, R.J. (2021). Measuring youth empowerment: An item response theory analysis of the sociopolitical control scale for youth. American Journal of Community Psychology, 68(3-4), 471-485.

    Cardenas, I., Steiner, J. & Peterson, N.A. (2021). Measurement invariance of the Brief Sense of Community Scale across non-Hispanic, Black, and Hispanic college students. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(6), 2106-2121.

    Speer, P.W., Christens, B. & Peterson, N.A. (2021). Participation in community organizing: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of impacts on sociopolitical development. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(8), 3194-3214.

    Cross-Technology Transfer Center (TTC) Workgroup on Virtual Learning**. (2021). Providing behavioral workforce development technical assistance during COVID-19: Adjustments and needs. Translational Behavioral Medicine. [Advanced online publication, 6 pages].

    Morton, C.M. (2021). Alcohol sales during COVID-19 social restrictions: Initial evidence from Alcoholic Beverage Control states. Substance Abuse, online firsthttps://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2020.1856293.

    Cross-Technology Transfer Center (TTC) Workgroup on Virtual Learning (2020). Virtual Reality of Behavioral Health Workforce Development in the Era of COVID-19. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatmenthttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108157

    McGuire, A.B., Powell, K.G., Treitler, P., Wagner, K., Smith, K., Cooperman, N.A…Watson, D.P. (2020). Emergency Department-based Peers for Medication Assisted Treatment Linkage Post Opioid Overdose: Models and Factors Affecting Implementation. Journal for Substance Abuse Treatment, 108, 82-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2019.06.013

    Schneider, J.E., Scheibling, C.M., Peterson, N.A., Granados, P.S., Fulton, L. & Novotny, T.E. (2020). Online simulation model to estimate the total costs of tobacco product waste in large U.S. cities. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 17, 4705-4719. (R)

    Peterson, C.H., Peterson, N.A., Cheng, Y.J., Dalley, L.M. & Flowers, K. (2020). A systematic review of standardized measures of couple and family constructs in GLBT populations. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 16, 455-474. (R)

    McMahon, S.M., Peterson, N.A., Farmer, A.Y. & Miller, S. (2020). Examining relationships among student empowerment, sense of community, and the implicit curriculum: A multigroup analysis of race and ethnicity. Journal of Social Work Education, 56, 1, 68-90. (R)

    Peterson, N.A., Powell, K.G., *Treitler, P., Litterer, D., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D. (2019). The strategic prevention framework in community-based coalitions: Internal processes and associated impacts on policies affecting adolescent substance abuse. Children and Youth Services Review, 101, 352-362. doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.04.004

    Farmer, A.Y., Powell, K.G., *Treitler, P., Peterson, N.A., & Borys, S. (2019). A case study of SBIRT on a college campus: Challenges, adaptations, and improved outcomes. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 19, 1-19. DOI: 10.1080/1533256X.2019.1590703

    Powell, K.G., *Treitler, P., Peterson, N.A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D. (2019). Promoting opioid overdose prevention and recovery: An exploratory study of an innovative intervention model to decrease opioid-related deaths. International Journal of Drug Policy, 64, 21-29. doi:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.12.004

    Speer, P.W., Peterson, N.A., Christen, B. & Reid, R.J. (2019). Youth cognitive empowerment: Development and evaluation of a measurement instrument. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64, 528-540. (R)

    McMahon, S., Treitler, P., Peterson, N. A., & O’Connor, J. (2019). Bystander intentions to intervene and previous sexual violence education: A latent class analysis. Psychology of Violence, 9(1), 117 – 126. (R)

    Peterson, N. A., (2019, June). Innovations in Research on Sense of Community Responsibility and Psychological Sense of Community. Presentation at the 2019 Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Chicago, IL.

    Peterson, N. A., Powell, K. G., Treitler, P., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D.K. (2019). The strategic prevention framework in community-based coalitions: Internal processes and associated impacts on policies affecting adolescent substance abuse. Children and Youth Services Review, 101, 352-362.

    Farmer, A. Y., Powell, K. G., Treitler, P. C., Peterson, N. A., and Borys, S. (2019). A case study of SBIRT on a college campus: Challenges, adaptations, and improved outcomes. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions.

    McMahon, S., Treitler, P., Peterson, N. A., & O’Connor, J. (2019). Bystander intentions to intervene and previous sexual violence education: A latent class analysis. Psychology of Violence, 9(1), 117 – 126. 

    Powell, K. G., Treitler, P. & Peterson, N. A., Borys, S. & Hallcom, D.K. (2019). Promoting opioid overdose prevention and recovery: An exploratory study of an innovative intervention model to address opioid abuse. International Journal of Drug Policy, 64, 21-29. 

    McGuire, A. B., Powell, K. G., Treitler, P. C., Wagner, K. D., Smith, K. P., Cooperman, N., Robinson, L., Carter, J., Ray, B., & Watson, D. P. (2019). Emergency department-based peer support for opioid use disorders: Emergent functions and forms. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

    Mankopf, E., Powell, K. G., Peterson, N. A., & Borys, S. (2019, January). Voices of Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: A Qualitative Study of Client Satisfaction and Program Performance in a Medication-Assisted Treatment Program. Presentation at the 23rd Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.

    Treitler, P., Powell, K. G., Peterson, N. A. & Hallcom, D. & Borys, S. (2019, January). Connecting Opioid Overdose Survivors to Treatment and Recovery Support: Early Findings from a Promising Intervention Delivered By Peers and Patient Navigators. Presentation at the 23rd Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.

For more information about the Center and opportunities for collaboration and mentorship please contact the Center’s director, Dr. N. Andrew Peterson, at 848-932-5367 or the center’s associate director, Dr. Kristen Gilmore Powell, at 848-932-8609.

Address:

Center for Prevention Science
390 George Street, 5th Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Center Staff

Faculty Affiliates