Bio:

Dr. Thompson has over fifteen years 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 recent research efforts on understanding how adolescents who exit foster care become homeless, developing brief alcohol and HIV prevention with homeless adolescents who exited foster care, and examining the influence of adverse childhood experiences on offspring lifetime alcohol dependence.


Research Interests:

• Adolescent Mental Health, Substance Use, Homelessness, and HIV Risk Behaviors
• Brief Alcohol and HIV Prevention for Adolescents in High Risk Contexts
• Experiences and Outcomes of Adolescents who Exit Foster Care
• Adverse Childhood Experiences and Offspring Lifetime Alcohol Dependence

Awards:

• Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Research (CHPS) Scholar, Columbia University School of Public Health, 2007-present
• 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

Current Projects:

• How Older Adolescents Who Discontinued Child Welfare Services After Exiting Foster Care Became Homeless
• Brief Alcohol and HIV Prevention for Older Adolescents Who Have Exited Foster Care (R21)

Select Publications:

Thompson, R. & Auslander, W.F. (under review). Substance use and mental health problems as predictors of HIV risk behaviors among adolescents in foster care. Health & Social Work. 

Lizardi, D., Thompson, R., Keyes, K., & Hasin, D. (under review). Parental divorce, parental depression, and gender differences in adult suicide attempt in offspring. Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Thompson, R., Lizardi, D., & Auslander, W.F. (under review). Factors related to nonparticipation and dropout in a longitudinal HIV prevention program for adolescents in foster care. Health Promotion Practice.

Lizardi, D., Thompson, R., & Hasin, D. (under review). The effect of parental remarriage following parental divorce on offspring suicide attempt. Families in Society.

Lizardi, D., Thompson, R., Keyes, K., & Hasin, D. (under review). The relationship of past treatment for depression to current functioning: Individuals in the US general population with a history of major depression. Depression and Anxiety.

Thompson, R., Lizardi, D., Keyes, K., & Hasin, D. (2008). Childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation, parental history of alcohol problems, and offspring lifetime alcohol dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 98, 264-269.

Thompson, R. & Auslander, W.F. (2007). Risk factors for alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents in foster care. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 32, 61-69.

McMillen, C., Auslander, W., Elze, D., White, T., & Thompson, R. (2003, July/August). Educational experiences and aspirations of older youth in the foster care system. 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.

Select 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.

Last updated July 01, 2009.