Projects

CURRENT LAB PROJECTS 

Dr. Meza is a Principal Investigator of a small Faculty Career Development grant to study the effects of oppresive experiences (i.e., racial discrimination, racial trauma) and self-harm/suicide among Black and Latinx college students. This mixed methods study will also examine culturally relevant protective factors that can mitigate the risk between oppresive experiences and self-harm/suicide. 

Dr. Meza is a current Principar Investigator in a grant to study " The Racial Violence of Suicide: Decolonizing Suicide Prevention fro Black Youth" with funding from the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. 

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. Despite over 50 years of treatment development, efficacy testing and major advancements in suicide prevention, suicide rates in the last 10 years have significantly increased from 6.3% in 2009 to 8.9% in 2019 among adolescents (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). The prevalence estimates of suicide attempts are highest among non-Hispanic Black adolescents (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). Even more alarming is new data suggesting that suicide rates are two times higher among Black children ages 5–12 compared with their White counterparts. Although increases in suicide rates among Black youth have been documented since the 1990s (Bath & Njoroge, 2021), racial disparities in addressing Black youth suicide have not been adequately challenged. Black youth suicide must be centered and prioritized; otherwise, mental health disparities will continue to further expose Black children and adolescents to premature death. To adequately address the Black youth suicide crisis, a “ground zero approach” is necessary to truly begin decolonizing current evidence-based treatments of their implicit bias toward preserving the lives of White youth. Thus, Black suicide and its historical negligence are forms of structural anti-black violence and must be reckoned with as such.

Dr. Meza is a current Co-Investigator in a PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) funded study that is comparing two evidence-based interventions for reducing suicide attempts and improving outcomes for youth presenting to EDs with suicidal episodes: (a) Safety-Acute(A), a crisis therapy session in the ED focused on enhancing safety (previously called Family Intervention for Suicide Prevention, FISP); and (b) SAFETY-A + Coping Long-term with Active Suicide Program (CLASP), comprised of brief therapeutic follow-up contacts after discharge from the ED/hospital. The team partners with diverse stakeholders, develops a stakeholder council, and includes stakeholder partners in all study phases to promote two-way knowledge exchange and enhance the value of the study for patients, families, and for improving patient care and outcomes. Dr. Meza leads the Health Equity and Adaptation of Treatment (HEAT) team in this study and is also one of the bilingual CLASP advisors.

Recruitment is being conducted at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Emergency Department (ED).

Dr. Meza is a current Co-Investigator/Project Lead in an Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Research Center Grant (P50 MH126337-01A1). The Project within this Center Grant that Dr. Meza collaborates on focuses on suicide/self-harm risk and care strategies among ehtnoracially minoritized East Los Angeles Community College students.  Using the Center methods and sample of 800 students, our project evaluates distal and proximal risk and protective factors (including STAND treatment offered and received) for suicide/self-harm using baseline and time-varying predictors to identify indicators of “suicide/self-harm risk states” that emerge prior to the onset of suicidal/self-harm behavior and may allow delivery of just in time interventions to prevent suicide/self-harm behavior. Second, we evaluate the impact of STAND with driven tier assignment and adaptation, compared to standard adaptation, on suicide/self-harm outcomes. Finally, we aim to enhance the effectiveness of STAND for suicide/self-harm prevention by evaluating a technology-enhanced suicide prevention intervention (TE-SPI) that combines intervention components with demonstrated benefits in prior research: safety planning; a digital intervention that prompts safety plan use, skills, and hope; and caring contacts.

Dr. Meza is Principal Investigator (MPIs: Folk, Meza & Tolou-Shams) in a grant funded by the American Psychology- Law Society Research to Enhance the Impact and Diversification of Psychology and Law Research (REID). This 2 year grant focuses on the cultural adaptation of a brief family-based intervention for systems-involved Latinx youth in out-of-home placement.

Dr. Meza is a Co-Principal Investigator (MPIs: Dr. Inmaculada García-Sánchez, Dr. Marjorie Faulstich Orellana and Kristi Westphaln) in Transdiciplinary Research Acceleration Grant.

 A group of UCLA researchers from the School of Medicine (Dr. Jocelyn Meza), the School of Nursing (Dr. Kristi Westphaln), and the School of Education (Dr. Inmaculada García-Sánchez and Dr. Marjorie Faulstich Orellana) have come together to design a community-engaged program in partnership with the West Los Angeles branch of the public library.  The program will serve school-aged children and families of mostly Spanish speaking immigrant origin in West Los Angeles.  Funded by a Transdiciplinary Research Acceleration seeds grant from the UCLA Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA), this project will provide a strong program of biliteracy development to emergent bilinguals focusing on emotional wellbeing and healing, and health through story-making and storytelling.