MICHIGAN PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER

The Michigan Prevention Research Center (MPRC) is dedicated to a program of prevention research on the problems of employment, economic stress, and well-being throughout the life course. MPRC seeks to extend scientific understanding of the links between conditions of employment and mental and physical health, while at the same time, expanding the policy and practice options available to both the public and private sector.

A list of publications, working papers, instruments and manuals by the research faculty, staff and students of the Michigan Prevention Research Center are available in PDF format or available upon request if not linked here as PDF.

Based at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, and funded by the National Institute for Mental Health, MPRC researchers are currently engaged in the following projects:

The JOBS Program for the Unemployed

The JOBS program is designed to help unemployed people reenter the labor market. JOBS has been shown in large scale randomized experiments to produce higher rates of reemployment, better paying jobs, and lower rates of mental health problems. Dissemination programs are planned in Michigan, Maryland and California as well as in Poland, Israel, Russia and Finland.

Winning New Jobs

Under the sponsorship of the California Wellness Foundation, the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) has teamed with the Michigan Prevention Research Center (MPRC) to launch the Winning New Jobs project in three communities in California. In Winning New Jobs, MDRC and MPRC will implement a highly acclaimed job search program for 6,500 Californians who are displaced or recently unemployed. This five-year project utilizes the JOBS intervention program, a program developed over the past ten years by MPRC, to help workers find reemployment and inoculate themselves against the adverse mental and physical health effects of unemployment.

 

The Couples Employment Project

Carried out jointly with investigators at George Washington University, the Couples program is aimed at helping couples cope more effectively with the multiple strains of job loss, job search and economic stress. The Couples program will be tested simultaneously in Michigan and Maryland.

Coping with Economic Hardship

This program is being designed to aid individuals and families cope more effectively with the multiple stresses associated with economic adversity. While initially aimed at families experiencing the economic hardship of job loss, the program has potential application to other vulnerable groups who may experience economic hardship, such as elderly or retired persons.

The Welfare to Work Program

The Welfare to Work Program is being developed in collaboration with investigators in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan, and will be designed to aid young welfare mothers make the transition from welfare to work.

MPRC capitalizes on the rich resources of the Institute for Social Research and the University of Michigan as well as scientific partnerships with researchers at other universities, both nationally and internationally. MPRC scientists and staff represent a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, economics, sociology, social work and public health.

MPRC research activities are focused on four sets of core Center functions:

1. Intervention development - MPRC continues to build a repository of theory driven principles and best practices for the design and development of preventive interventions.
2. Methodology - MPRC is a central resource for the maintenance of samples, development of measurement, data management, research design and analysis techniques for survey and epidemiologically based prevention research.
3. Training and New Project Development - MPRC convenes a set of focused research planning workshops bringing together senior scientists and predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in the collaborative development and design of new projects.
4. Implementation and Dissemination - MPRC conducts a program of research on the factors essential to the effective implementation and dissemination of scientifically tested prevention programs.

For more information, please contact:

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Updated Wed 11-Feb-2004.