April 4, 2025
Caitlin Rancher and colleagues present findings on improving access to trauma-focused services at SPPAC!
Caitlin Rancher (left), Emily Hilton (Center), and Casie Morgan (Right) delivered a series of talks centered around improving equitable access to evidence-based care among trauma exposed youth at the Society for Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference (SPPAC). Shout to Dr. Morgan for organizing and chairing this symposium!
April 1, 2025
Assistant Professor Position
Starting April 1, 2025, Dr. Caitlin Rancher will transition from K99 Postdoctoral Fellow to Assistant Professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. So excited about this next step and opportunity to keep collaborating with MUSC!
March 12, 2025
R00 Transition Approved!
The R00 transition was officially approved by NICHD! This will provide 3 more years of federal funding to examine the effectiveness of Project Support to enhance parenting skills, reduce distress, and increase engagement in mental health treatment. Next steps involve conducting a randomized controlled trial among families waiting to receive trauma-focused treatment for their child. The following comments from the review committee were provided by the NICHD Program Officer:
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“Dr. Rancher is a talented scientist whose K training was completed at a solid laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where her mentor Dr. Smith, provided a detailed letter highlighting her successes during the K99 phase.” “Dr. Rancher will have all the resources necessary to continue her studies on interventions to enhance supportive parenting and treatment engagement among families waiting for trauma-focused services. The Data Safety and Monitoring Plan was considered excellent”.
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January 8, 2025
New paper alert!
New publication in Child Abuse and Neglect! This study was a collaboration with colleagues at Southern Methodist University and Dallas Children's Advocacy Center. This study examined the extent to which adolescent perceptions of divine spiritual support, divine spiritual struggles, and self-blame predicted trauma symptoms at the beginning of trauma-focused treatment. Results suggest that assessing for adolescents' divine spiritual struggles and self-blame for sexual abuse may be important in triage and treatment planning for youth who have experienced sexual abuse.
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Check out coverage of this study by the National Children's Alliance
Jouriles, E. N., Sitton, M. J., Rancher, C., Johnson, J., Reedy, M., Mahoney, A., & McDonald, R. (2025). Spirituality, self-blame, and trauma symptoms among adolescents waiting for treatment after disclosing sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 160, 107214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107214
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January 2, 2025
First publication of the year!
Together with K99 Mentor Dan Smith, Caitlin Rancher published a paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examining how mothers' experiences of violence are associated with their provision of emotional support following child sexual abuse. We found that most mothers had experienced intimate partner violence (68%) and child physical abuse (87%). Interestingly, for child-report of emotional support, findings suggested mothers' experiences of violence were associated with higher levels of emotional support -- consistent with the compensatory hypotheses. Findings highlight the importance of assessing for mothers' experiences of violence to best support families receiving services for child sexual abuse.
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Rancher, C., & Smith, D. W. (2024). Mothers’ violence experiences and provision of emotional support following child sexual abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0(0), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241308290
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