People
Marc Karver
Associate Professor
CONTACT
Office: PCD 4107
Phone: 813/974-7443
Email
LINKS
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2000
TEACHING
Ph.D. Area: Clinical Program
RESEARCH
Child, adolescent, and young adult suicidality; Suicide prevention; Child and adolescent psychotherapy and mental health services research; Psychotherapy treatment process research; Clinician behaviors and decision making; Assessment of child and adolescent strengths.
Research Synopsis
My research interests focus on evaluation and improvement of the quality of mental health services mainly in suicide prevention. I have studied what increases suicide/self-harm risk (building on my published model). I have published (or under review) studies on biological correlates/predictors of self-harm, e.g. sleep deficits, hearing deficits and chronic illness, on environment factors such as sexual harassment, bullying/victimization, discrimination, invalidation(experiment), negative life events, prior exposure to death by suicide, military experience, on vulnerabilities or protective factors such as problem solving deficits, self-perceived burden, prior self-harm, negative thinking, perfectionistic self-expectancies, negative body image, emotion regulation problems and maladaptive functioning/coping/ skills deficits and strengths (positive functioning, optimal well-being). This research has enhanced understanding of possible pathways to suicide/NSSI risk and has suggested areas for suicide prevention targeting. Given low service use by suicidal persons, I have conducted studies to better understand barriers to help seeking/adequate mental health service provision such as perceptions of school climate, beliefs about mental illness and treatment, perceptions of the acceptability of youth treatments, challenges in consenting participants in suicide prevention research, youth conflicts with care providers, mental health professionals’ ability/training to evaluate high risk youths and make placement decisions, mental health professional’s diagnostic abilities, parent-child agreement on youth behavior, crisis counselors’ prediction of suicide related behaviors, and mental health professional’s actual ability to engage suicidal youths. My work has provided important information on problems in the mental health service field. In response to what I have learned about possible pathways to suicide risk and gaps in the service provision system, I have conducted/published (or under review) studies on how one can intervene to reduce suicide risk. These studies have examined the potential effectiveness of approaches to suicide prevention such as studies on teaching non-professional adults and/or youth to recognize suicidal youth and make referrals, training family members (e.g. family guide and developing a version for Latino families, new training teaching parents to validate at risk youth) to recognize and support suicidal youth and make referrals, plus a variety of other trainings (developed by my research team – care coordination, safety planning) for mental health professionals working with suicidal clients, and I am developing an upstream coping skills training for middle school youth and piloting a mentor training program. My studies, built off my youth intervention model have examined service mechanisms e.g. changing adolescent decision making, trainer engagement of suicide prevention trainees (1st study trainer-trainee alliance in suicide prevention), and the role of the therapeutic alliance and other treatment processes (such as therapist treatment techniques) in treatment of youth (numerous studies going back over 2 decades to current studies). My research has been supported by many past federal grants with three currently funded projects (one currently funded black youth suicide prevention grant with another black youth suicide prevention grant under review). These efforts have focused on how to increase the coping and supportive abilities of at risk individuals and their family members and how to transform the larger services system so that it is more capable of identifying, assessing, and managing suicide risk and making sure that at risk individuals are linked to (via care coordination) and maintained in evidence based treatment (e.g. CBT, DBT).
SPECIALTY AREA
Clinical
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Gryglewicz, K., Totura Garrison, C. M. W., Childs, K. K., Labouliere, C. D., & Karver, M. S. (accepted). Examining Individual and Service Delivery Context Variables and their Association with the Effectiveness of QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research.
Orlowski, E.W., Bender, A. M., & Karver, M.S. (accepted). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinician Behaviors and Characteristics Related to Alliance Building with Youth Clients. Clinical Psychology Review.
Bender, A. M., Wilson, R.; Borntrager, L., Orlowski, E. W., Gryglewicz, K., Karver, M. S. (2023). Evaluating Dialectical Behavior Therapy Training with Mental Health Clinicians. Journal of Personality Disorders, 37(1), 95-11.
Gryglewicz, K., Peterson, A., Nam, E., Vance, M. M., Borntrager, L., & Karver, M. S. (2023). Caring Transitions – A Care Coordination Intervention to Reduce Suicide Risk Among Youth Discharged From Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 44(1), 7-13.
Schuck, A., Gryglewicz, K., Bender, A., Nam, E., McNeill, M., Cosare, M., Rosler, M., & Karver, M. (2023). Examining the Effectiveness of a Family-Focused Training to Prevent Youth Suicide. Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science, 72(1), 325-346.
Gleason, L.L., Bender, A. M., Chen, J.I., Bozzay, M.L., Brown-Hangartner, R., Romero, G., Labouliere, C., Elzy, M., Gryglewicz, K., & Karver, M.S. (2022). Under the Surface: The Role of Covert Cues in Peer Suicide Risk Referrals. School Mental Health, 14(1), 125-135.
Bender, A., Schuck, A., Peterson, A., Rosler, M., Gryglewicz, K., & Karver, M. S. (2022). LINC to Life: Evaluation of a Safety Planning Training Program with Clinicians and Mental Health Staff. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(3), 1378-1394.
Vance, M., Borntrager, L., Gryglewicz, K., Nam, E., & Karver, M. (2022). Exploring Service Use Disparities among Suicidal Black Youth in A Suicide Prevention Care Coordination Intervention. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 1-13, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01402-7
Peterson, A., Bender, A., Sullivan, B., & Karver, M. (2021). Ambient Discrimination, Victimization, and Suicidality in a Non-Probability Sample of U.S. LGBTQ Adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(3), 1003-1014.
Peterson, A., Monahan, M., Bender, A., & Karver, M. (2021). Don’t Invite Everyone! Training Variables Impacting the Effectiveness of QPR Trainings. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 48(2), 343-353.
Gryglewicz, K., Monahan, M., Chen, J. I., Bozzay, M., Bender, A., Gleason, L. L., Witmeier, M., & Karver, M. S. (2019). Examining the Effects of Role Play Practice in Enhancing Clinical Skills to Assess and Manage Suicide Risk. Journal of Mental Health, 11, 1-9. DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2018.1521936.