Associate Professor
Contact Information
Office: Little Hall 3027
Email: ccarlson5@ua.edu
Phone: 205-348-0204
Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Implementation Science
- International Social Work
- Mental Health
- Violence Against Women and Children
Education
- BA, Emory University
- MSW, University of Georgia
- PhD, Columbia University
Bio
Dr. Catherine Carlson’s research focuses on the intersection of violence and mental health, and the implementation of evidence-based interventions in low-resource settings. She was awarded a Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01) from the National Institute of Mental Health to implement mental health services within a school-based violence prevention program in Uganda. Dr. Carlson has translated her global research to implementing evidence-based mental health interventions to under-served youth populations in Alabama. She also leads research on mental health interventions for survivors of human trafficking in Uganda and the Philippines. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, she is currently PI of a cluster randomized-controlled trial to evaluate trauma-informed yoga for survivors of human trafficking in Uganda. Before joining the faculty at the University of Alabama, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Mental Health Implementation Science at Columbia University. As a social worker, she has practice experience with international NGOs and UN agencies in the areas of gender-based violence, child protection, and humanitarian response. She teaches courses on program evaluation and international social work.
Selected Publications
Carlson, C., White, S.W., Hudnall, M., Lochman, J., & Laird, R. (2023). Leveraging data science to advance implementation science: The case of school mental health. Journal of School Health.
Cordisco Tsai, L., Carlson, C., Baylosis, R., Nicholson, T., Benitez, C. & Wainberg, M. Suicide prevention training in the anti-human trafficking sector: An evaluation study. (2023). Journal of Human Trafficking.
Cordisco Tsai, L., Carlson, C., Baylosis, R., Hentschel, E., Nicholson, T., Eleccion, J., Ubaldo, J., Stanley, B., Brown, G.K., & Wainberg, M. (2022). Practitioner experiences responding to suicide risk for survivors of human trafficking in the Philippines. Qualitative Health Research, 32(3), 556-570.
Berryhill, B., Carlson, C., Hopson, L. Culmer, N. & Williams, N. (2022). Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Treatment in Rural Schools: A Systematic Review. Journal of Rural Mental Health. 46(1), 13–27.
Carlson, C., Namy, S., Nakuti, J., Mufson, L., Ikenberg, C., Musoni, O., Hopson, L., Anton-Erxleben, K., Naker, D. & Wainberg, M. (2021). Student, teacher, and caregiver perceptions on implementing mental health interventions in Ugandan primary schools. Implementation Research and Practice, 2, 1-10.
Namy, S., Carlson, C., Morgan, K., Nkwanzi, V., Nesse, J. (2021). Healing and resilience after trauma (HaRT) Yoga: Programming with survivors of human trafficking in Uganda. Journal of Social Work Practice, 36(1), 87-100.
Marti, Y., Akilova, M., Carlson, C., Zantaria, A. & Luo, Y. (2021). Application of social work in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals for children: A case study from Abkhazia. International Social Work, 1-7.
Maternowska, C., Shackel, R.L., Carlson, C., & Levtov, R.G. (2020). The global politics of the age-gender divide in responding to sexual, physical, and emotional violence. Global Public Health. Online first. 10.1080/17441692.2020.1805783.
Mootz, J., Stabb, S., Carlson, C., Helpman, L., Onyango Mangen, P., & Wainberg, M., (2020). Why place and space matter for intimate partner violence survivors’ mental wellbeing and communities in Northeastern Uganda. Women and Health. 60(9), 975-986
Carlson, C., Namy, S., Norcini Pala, A., Wainberg, M., Michau, L., Nakuti, J., Knight, L., Allen, E., Ikenberg, C., Naker, D. & Devries, K. (2020). Violence against children and intimate partner violence against women: Overlap and common contributing factors among caregiver-adolescent dyads. BMC Public Health. Online first. 10.1186/s12889-019-8115-0.
Lovero, K., Lammie, S., van Zyl, A., Paul, S.N., Ngwepe, P., Mootz, J., Carlson, C., Sweetland, A.C., Shelton, R.C., Wainberg, M., Medina-Mariano, A. (2019). Mixed-methods evaluation of mental healthcare integration into tuberculosis and maternal-child healthcare services of four South African districts. BMC Health Services Research, 19:83.
Scorza, P., Duarte, C., Lovero, K., Carlson, C., Mootz, J., Johnson, K., & Wainberg, M. (2019). Reaching beyond the clinic: Leveraging implementation science to improve access to child and adolescent mental health services. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(6), 707-710.
Carlson, C., Sweetland, A., & Wainberg, M. (2018). Ethical challenges in global mental health clinical trials. Lancet Psychiatry. 5(11), 866-867.
Sweetland, A.C., Norcini Pala, A., Mootz, J., Chien-Wen Kao, J., Carlson, C., Oquendo, M. A., Cheng, B., Belkin, G., Wainberg, M. (2018). Food insecurity, mental distress, and suicidal ideation in rural Africa: Evidence from Nigeria, Uganda, and Ghana. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 65(1), 20-27.
Namy, S., Carlson, C., Norcini Pala, A., Faris, D., Knight, L., Allen, E., Devries, K., & Naker, D. (2017). Gender, violence and resilience among Ugandan adolescents. Child Abuse & Neglect, (70), 303-314.
Namy, S., Carlson, C., O’Hara, K, Nakuti, J., Bukuluki, P., Lwanyaaga, J., Namakula, S., Nanyunja, B., Wainberg, M., Naker, D., & Michau, L. (2017). Towards a Feminist Understanding of Intersecting Violence against Women and Children in the Family. Social Science & Medicine, 184, 40-48.
Carlson, C., Witte, S. S., Norcini Pala, A., Tsai, L. C., Wainberg, M., & Aira, T. (2017). The impact of violence, perceived stigma, and other work-related stressors on depressive symptoms among women engaged in sex work. Global Social Welfare, 4, 51-57.
Carlson, C., Chen, J., Chang, M., Batsukh, A., Aira, T., Riedel, M. & Witte, S. S., (2012). Reducing recent intimate and paying partner violence among female sex workers in Mongolia: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(10), 1911-31.