Biography

Professor Rosanna Breaux is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Child Study Center at Virginia Tech. A licensed clinical psychologist, Professor Breaux’s research centers on the social, emotional, and academic functioning of children and adolescents, with a particular emphasis on those with ADHD. Her work explores the development of emotion regulation and the role of parents and environmental factors in shaping children’s and adolescents’ social-emotional growth. She leads the CALMER Lab and is actively involved in evaluating and disseminating the RELAX intervention, which targets emotion dysregulation and interpersonal conflict among adolescents and their parents. Professor Breaux earned her BS from Carnegie Mellon University and her MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is passionate about mentoring students, promoting work-life balance, and advancing diversity in psychological sciences. Her research has been widely published and supported by major organizations and grants.

Abstract

Due to significant mental health provider shortages and other barriers to accessing traditional therapy (e.g., transportation, cost, childcare, stigma), many families never receive evidence-based care for child and adolescent mental health concerns. These difficulties are particularly true in rural communities, where there are fewer providers and larger distances required by families to travel. Mobile Health (mHealth) which leverages wireless technology like smartphones, tablets, computers, and wearable sensors to deliver healthcare holds promise for addressing this significant mental health need and reaching a broader, underserved population. This presentation will discuss and demonstrate two self-paced interactive websites that we have developed, one for parents targeting strategies to manage behavioural concerns (supportbranchprogram.com) and one for adolescents targeting emotion regulation and interpersonal conflict (RELAXcopingprogram.com). Preliminary evidence of the efficacy of these self-paced websites will be reported on from pilot studies, and discussion of how they are being utilized as part of a stepped-care approach with clinician-delivered group-based telehealth for non-responders will be presented.