Outstanding Dissertation Award
The Division 37 Student Outstanding Dissertation Award is a $500 award given to an outstanding, completed doctoral dissertation concerning issues of social policy, service delivery, welfare, and/or advocacy for children, youth, and families. Dissertations will be judged on the following dimensions: (a) scientific, technical, or clinical importance, (b) originality/creativity of the work, (c) adequacy of the research design and methods, (d) quality of the conclusions drawn from results, and (e) quality of the written presentation. The reviewers will be three members of the Division 37 Executive Committee.
A completed doctoral dissertation relevant to Division 37's mission is eligible to be submitted for consideration for the award. The dissertation should have been completed within the last two years. Applicants must be members of Division 37.
Annual deadline: February 20
Students should email their completed, approved dissertations, along with a copy/facsimile of the signed cover sheet and an abstract of no more than 1000 words summarizing the research and its relevance to Division 37's mission.
Division 37 is committed to the application of psychological knowledge to advocacy, service delivery and public policies affecting children, youth and families.
Dissertations submitted for the award should reflect this goal, including an explicit discussion of how the dissertation research contributes to policy and advocacy on behalf of children and families.
Submissions should be sent to the division current Past President of Division 37.
2023: Aitana Gomis Pomares, PhD
Jaume I University in Spain
Minors at Risk: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Youth Offending
2022: Doris F. Pu, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Couple and Family Dysfunction: Bidirectional Effects with Child Abuse Risk and Child Functioning
2020: Stephanie Caldas
The Impact of a Peer Mentor Intervention on Internalized Stigma, Mindfulness, and Adherence to Antiretroviral Medication Among Adolescents Living With HIV in Zambia
Runner Up: Amanda Sanchez
Improving Satisfaction, Engagement and Clinical Outcomes Among Traditionally Underserved Children Through Cultural Formulation
Runner Up: Reeve Kennedy
Bullying Trends in the United States and an Analysis of the Impact of Prevention Programs on Bullying Subtypes and Gender
2018: Irene Tung
2017: Rebecca Kanine, PhD
2016: Elizabeth Shuey, PhD
2014: Jonathan Martinez, PhD
2011: Anna D. Johnson
Child Care Subsidies: Who Uses Them, and What Do They Buy Low-Income Families and Children?
Sponsor: Columbia University
Advisor: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD
2010: Catherine DeCarlo Santiago
Family Coping as a Protective Factor for Poor Children
Honorable Mention: Erin Gabrielson
Cultural Responsiveness: Working with Interpreters when Providing Mental Health Services to LEP Clients
Honorable Mention: Margaret Stevenson
Understanding Jurors' Discussions of a Defendant's History of Child Abuse and Alcohol Abuse in Capital Sentencing Trials
2009: No award given
2008: Timothy D. Nelson
Practitioner Perspectives on Evidence-Based Practice: Toward a Model for Designing, Evaluating, and Disseminating Treatments with Research support
2007: Lily Alpert, University of Connecticut
Caseworker Family-Focus and Parent Engagement in Foster Care
2006: Richard Puddy, University of Kansas
The Role of Service Coordination in an Innovative School-Based Intensive Mental Health Program
2005: Shadi Houshyar, Yale University
Genetic and Environmental Predictors of Resiliency in Maltreated Children
2004: M. Alexis Kennedy, University of British Columbia
Identifying Child Abuse: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of History of Abuse and Westernization on Perceptions of Abuse among Asian-descent and European-descent Students
2002: Jane G. Querido, University of Florida
Early Intervention for Child Conduct Problems in Head Start Families