Bio:

Dr. Thompson has over a decade of practice experience in psychiatric and substance abuse settings with adolescents and their families. He worked for five years as a Clinical Social Worker at Turning Point, an acute care adolescent psychiatric unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH), where he provided individual, group, and family therapy, crisis intervention, case management services, parenting classes, and multi-family aftercare groups.

As Educational Director for the AIDS Education Training Project, he developed training curriculum for mental health care providers on the psychosocial and neuropsychiatric aspects of HIV/AIDS, provided this training to over 3,000 providers across Arkansas, and evaluated the impact of the training on providers' knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice related to HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Thompson also served as Clinical Supervisor for INSURE THE CHILDREN! Substance Abuse Treatment Program, an adolescent substance abuse treatment program at ACH. In this capacity, he assisted in the development of the program, clinical protocol, research design, and implementation; provided individual, group, family, and multi-family therapy; and directly supervised other clinical staff and social work interns.

Dr. Thompson's practice experience continues to influence his research agenda, which focuses on the co-occurrence of mental health and substance use problems and HIV risk behaviors among adolescents in high risk contexts.

Research Interests:

• Adolescent Mental Health, Substance Use, and HIV Risk Behaviors
• HIV/AIDS Prevention Interventions for Adolescents in High Risk Contexts
• Child Welfare
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Evaluation of Programs and Services

Current Projects:

• Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Problems and HIV Risk Behaviors among Adolescents in Foster Care
• Experiences and Outcomes of Youth who Age-Out of Foster Care
• Attrition and HIV Prevention Programs for Adolescents
  

Recent Publications:

McMillen, C., Auslander, W., Elze, D., White, T., & Thompson, R. (2003, July/August). Educational experiences and aspirations of older youth in foster care. Child Welfare, LXXXII(4), 475-495.

Edmond, T., Auslander, W., Elze, D.E., McMillen, C., & Thompson, R. (2003). Differences between sexually abused and non-sexually abused adolescent girls in foster care. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 11(4).

Auslander, W.F., McMillen, J.C., Elze, D., Thompson, R., Jonson-Reid, M., & Stiffman, A. (2002). Mental health problems and sexual abuse among adolescents in foster care: Relationship to HIV risk behaviors and intentions. AIDS and Behavior, 6(4), 351-359.

Elze, D. E., Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Edmond, T., & Thompson, R. (2001). Untangling the impact of sexual abuse on HIV risk behaviors among youths in foster care. AIDS Education and Prevention, 13(4), 377-389.

Aruffo, J., & Thompson, R. (1996). Training rural mental health care providers: The Arkansas Project. In AIDS and People with Severe Mental Illness (pp. 201-204). Yale University Press: New Haven.

Aruffo, J., Thompson, R., Gottlieb, A., & Dobbins, W. (1995). An AIDS training program for rural mental health providers. Psychiatric Services, 46(1), 79-81.

Alford, J., Aruffo, J., Thompson, R., Dobbins, W., & Gottlieb, A. (1994). HIV and psychiatric clients with developmental disabilities. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 17(4), 41-49.

Recent Presentations:

Thompson, R., & Auslander, W. (2003, March). Addressing the co-occurrence of substance use and mental health problems and HIV prevention needs of adolescents in foster care. Poster presented at the NIMH Mental Health Services Conference, Beyond the Clinic Walls: Expanding Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services Research Outside the Specialty Care System, Washington, DC.

Auslander, W., Thompson, R., Elze, D., & Drufke, T. (2002, May). Mental health problems and HIV risk among adolescents in foster care. Poster session presented at the Longer Life Foundation Poster Session at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.

Elze, D., Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Edmond, T., & Thompson, R. (2002, January). Severity of sexual abuse and HIV risk characteristics: Implications for HIV prevention with youths in the foster care system. Paper presented at the Sixth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Diego, CA.

Thompson, R., & Auslander, W. (2001, August). Factors related to attendance in an HIV prevention program for adolescents in foster care. Paper presented at the 2001 National HIV Prevention Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Thompson, R., Elze, D., White, T., & Krebill, H. (2001, July). Mental health problems and sexual abuse as determinants of HIV risk behaviors and intentions among adolescents in foster care. Paper presented at the AIDS Impact 2001 Conference, Brighton, England.

Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Thompson, R., Elze, D., & Sherraden, M. (2001, July). Predictors of HIV risk among adolescents in foster care: Implications for prevention programs and child welfare policy. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Tampere, Finland.

Thompson, R., & Auslander, W. (2001, April). The Bridges to Life Options Program for adolescents in foster care: Factors related to attendance. Paper presented at the Sixteenth Annual Symposium on the Empirical Foundations of Group Work, St. Louis, MO.

Thompson, R., & Auslander, W. (2001, January). Comorbid mental health and substance use problems among adolescents in foster care: Relationship to HIV risk. Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Atlanta, GA.

Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Stiffman, A., Elze, D., Thompson, R., & Krebill, H. (2000, July). Prior abuse as a critical determinant of HIV risk behavior among adolescents in foster care. Poster session presented at the 13th International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa.

Thompson, R., Auslander, W., & Krebill, H. (2000, January). Severity of substance use and HIV risk behaviors among adolescents in foster care. Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Charleston, SC.

Auslander, W., McMillen, C., Stiffman, A., Williams, J. H., Krebill, H., Elze, D., Thompson, R., & Robinson, A. (2000, January). Methodological strategies of community-based intervention research: Successes and pitfalls. Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Charleston, SC.

Honors and Awards:

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Predoctoral Fellow, Center for Mental Health Services Research, Washington University, 1996 - 2002
• George Warren Brown School of Social Work Dissertation Scholarship, Washington University, 2002
• Dirty Dozen Award: For Outstanding Contributions to the Substance Abuse Field, Mid-South Summer School on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Problems, 1996
• Chancellor's List, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Fall 1989 - Spring 1991
• Graduate Assistant, UALR Department of Social Work, Fall 1989 - Spring 1990
• Co-President, Student Government Association, Graduate School of Social Work, Fall 1990 - Spring 1991
• Selected to receive Veterans' Administration Medical Center student stipend, Fall 1990 - Spring 1991
• Dean's List, Southern Methodist University, 1981 - 1985

Last updated March 28, 2008.