This study is evaluating a program designed to support adults recovering from a traumatic injury, such as a motor vehicle crash, fall, or other serious injury. Recovery after an injury can be challenging, particularly for people who are experiencing emotional distress as well as difficulties with needs such as housing, food, transportation, or finances. The program, called TRRP+, combines mental health support with assistance from a Community Health Worker who can help participants identify needs, connect with available resources, and navigate services during their recovery. The study will include approximately 100 adults who have experienced a traumatic injury and report emotional distress and at least one unmet social need.
Researchers will examine whether TRRP+ is practical and helpful for patients and will gather feedback from participants, Community Health Workers, and trauma center staff about their experiences with the program. The information learned from this study will help researchers understand how programs like TRRP+ can better support patients' emotional, social, and practical needs as they recover from a traumatic injury.

This study aims to improve the early identification of depression and substance use concerns during pregnancy and after childbirth by developing an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that uses information already collected in electronic health records. The goal is to help healthcare providers identify individuals who may be at risk for mental health or substance use problems earlier, allowing for timely support and treatment. Researchers will also work closely with patients, healthcare providers, and community partners to ensure the AI tool is trustworthy, easy to use, fair, and able to fit into routine healthcare settings.
The study includes two components. First, researchers will use existing electronic health record data from pregnant patients to develop and test an AI model that can predict the likelihood of depression or substance use concerns. Second, pregnant or postpartum individuals and obstetric healthcare providers will participate in a one-time virtual interview/focus group to share their perspectives on the use of AI in maternal healthcare. Feedback from these interviews/focus groups will help refine the AI tool and support its future implementation in clinical care.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how ear stimulation techniques may impact how people think about themselves in social situations. The goal is to identify how the addition of ear stimulation can impact cognitive processes, including the ways that people think about themselves in social situations and attend to or process social information, that underly an activity known as "self-imagery rescripting." Eligible individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 65 years will complete a variety of activities after providing consent to study participation. These include: (1) completing questionnaires on the computer, (2) completing tasks similar to a video game on the computer, (3) having an electrode attached to their ear that will stimulate nerve activity, (4) completing an interview about how they feel in social situations, and (5) engaging in an activity during which they will be prompted about how they see themselves in social situations. Throughout these activities, participants also will be asked to wear a variety of sensors, bundled together in a cap for their head and individually on other parts of their body, that will collect information about brain activity, heart rate, and eye blinking. Participation in this research study is entirely voluntary and will last approximately 3 hours during a single session at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Participants will be compensated for their time.

There are some risks associated with this study. Some survey questions ask about personal thoughts and feelings. Ear stimulation may cause tingling sensations or irritation around the ear. Thinking and talking about how one sees themselves in social situations may be distressful.

There are no direct benefits to participants. This study will help researchers better understand how ear stimulation can improve the strategies that can help the way that people think about themselves in social situations.

Up to 40% of people who want to reduce their drinking have thought about suicide. However, currently there are no treatments that create a plan to manage cravings for alcohol and to manage suicide ideation. This study consists of three studies: Study 1 aims to conduct interviews with adults with lifetime alcohol misuse and thoughts of suicide and with providers who have worked with patients with alcohol misuse. The interviews obtain feedback on a newly developed brief (single appointment) treatment for alcohol craving and thoughts of suicide. Study 2 aims to pilot test the single-appointment treatment and 1 week of text messages with adults with recent alcohol misuse and recent thoughts of suicide. Adults will provide feedback in a brief interview. Study 3 aims to test the single-appointment treatment and 4 weeks of text messages with adults with recent alcohol misuse and recent thoughts of suicide. Specifically, different types of text messages will be tested.

In the current study, we will recruit individuals using addictive drugs (cocaine, cannabis, opioids, or methamphetamine) and non-drug use control individuals. The study participants will fill out questionnaires, consent, and donate samples (urine, saliva, nasal swab, and blood). These samples will be used to study the causes of unhealthy conditions. Our goal is to prevent or treat the drug-associated unhealthy conditions (i.e., anxiety, memory impairment).

LiveWell mBC is a group-based skills training program for women with metastatic breast cancer (mBC). The program teaches skills from dialectical behavioral therapy, an evidence-based psychotherapy, that have been adapted specifically to help women live as well as possible, with metastatic breast cancer. LiveWell mBC involves meeting with a small group of women with mBC plus two skills trainers 9 times total via telemedicine. Meetings include orientation plus 8 sessions learning and practicing skills including mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness and they last 90 minutes each. We are interested in seeing whether the program can help women to balance their emotions and better manage distress (e.g., anxiety, sadness) and symptoms (e.g., fatigue, breathlessness, pain) that can be common when living with mBC.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. They will have a 2 in 3 chance of being assigned to LiveWell mBC (experimental group) and a 1 in 3 chance of being assigned to Usual Care (control group). Women in the usual care group will continue to receive their standard oncology care. Participants in both groups will complete questionnaires four times total. Participants may be invited to participate in an exit interview about their experience. Participants will be compensated for completing questionnaires and the interview. For most people, participation will last approximately 4 months.

This study is testing a new therapy called GRIEF Approach (Grief Recovery with Individualized Evidence-Based Formulation) to help adults who have lost a loved one to a sudden or violent death, such as suicide, homicide, drug overdose, or car crash. Many people who experience this type of loss develop depression, post-traumatic stress, and/or prolonged grief, and current treatments often fail to address all of these symptoms together. GRIEF Approach is a flexible, individualized therapy that combines evidence-based strategies to address traumatic stress, grief, and depression within a single treatment. The primary goal of this study is not to test whether the therapy works, but to evaluate whether it is feasible and acceptable to patients and therapists. Participants will complete mood and symptom questionnaires at the start of the study, weekly during treatment, and one month after treatment ends. Participants will also provide feedback on their experience with the therapy through questionnaires and brief interviews. Findings from this study will be used to refine the treatment and study procedures in preparation for a larger clinical trial.

This study looks at how teens with trauma-related symptoms respond to stress and strong emotions. We will measure brain activity, body responses, and behavior during activities that involve reacting to possible threats, managing emotions, and imagining parts of their own stressful or traumatic experiences more than once.

The goal of this research is to better understand how repeating these imagining activities affects teens. We also want to learn whether a teen's reaction to stress and their ability to manage emotions are connected to how they respond to imagining stressful events.

What we learn may help improve treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and help identify which teens are most likely to benefit from these treatments, based on brain, body, and behavior responses.

Quantitative survey of certain substances of abuse in the adolescent and young adult population of SC. Survey study will be focused on substances of abuse that are easily accessible at a gas station due to little to no regulations or excessive amounts available in various forms such as Kratom, 7-OH, Tia, nicotine pouches, THC, etc.

Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a five-session mental health therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research shows that it works as well as longer treatments for PTSD among people over 18, even though it requires fewer sessions than other PTSD therapies. However, WET has not been adapted and formally tested in individual therapy with people aged 12 to 18. Our study aims to see how WET can be adapted to meet the needs of people aged 12 to 18 who have experienced trauma and currently have PTSD symptoms. To adapt WET for this age group, first we will talk with PTSD experts and people aged 12 to 18 to learn what changes might make WET more suitable for young people. We'll also deliver WET to five people aged 12 to 18 following the manual as it is written for people over age 18 to see what needs adjusting.

In the next part of the study, we will recruit 48 adolescents aged 12 to 18 in a pediatric primary clinic who have symptoms of PTSD and randomize them to either receive the adapted version of WET or to receive gold-standard PTSD treatment: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy. If assigned to receive adapted WET, participants will take part in five to seven weekly therapy sessions and five study visits (before therapy, and 6-week, 10-week, 20-weeks, and 30 weeks after starting the therapy). If assigned to receive TF-CBT, participants will take part in 12 to 16 weekly therapy sessions and five study visits (before therapy, and 6-week, 10-week, 20-weeks, and 30-weeks after starting the therapy). The purpose of the study visits for a 30-week time period is to better understand who they are as a person and their current mental health symptoms and diagnoses. All therapy and study visits can be completed remotely or in person, per your preference. Individuals who are 18 can participate without caregiver permission; individuals aged 12 to 17 can only participate with caregiver permission. Our goal is to find the best way to provide effective PTSD treatment for young people that can be delivered in real-world pediatric primary care settings, so that ultimately more people can get the help they need after traumatic experiences.