Clinical Child Psychology Program
MICHAEL C. ROBERTS
Director, Clinical Child Psychology Program
Ph.D. from Purdue University and completed internship at Oklahoma Children's Hospital, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
Research Interests
Dr. Roberts has published close to 200 journal articles and book chapters revolving around the application of psychology to understanding and influencing children’s physical and mental health. He frequently co-authors with students and graduates. He has authored or co-edited 19 books, including Handbook of Pediatric Psychology (4th edition), Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology, Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology, Handbook of Mental Health Services for Children, Adolescents, and Families, and most recently, the Handbook of Evidence-Based Treatments for Children and Adolescents, Prevention of Problems in Childhood, Helping Children Cope with Disasters and Terrorism.
Currently the Editor of the APA journal, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Dr. Roberts has served as the Editor for Journal of Pediatric Psychology; Children’s Health Care; and Children’s Services: Social Policy, Research, and Practice, and as Associate Editor for Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He is the editor of the book series, Issues in Clinical Child Psychology, with Springer (formerly Plenum/Kluwer).
His research interests have been focused on general issues in clinical child and pediatric psychology, psychotherapeutic outcomes, program evaluation, and professional issues, including ethics and training. Previously and with some continuing projects, Roberts’ work has focused on prevention, especially injury control.
Specifically, current interests and activities on the research team include:
1. children's and parents' perceptions of pediatric and psychological conditions and treatments; treatment adherence issues;
2. program evaluation and mental health service delivery (psychotherapeutic outcomes);
3. positive psychology and children's development, especially hope and benefit finding;
4. consulting with the World Health Organization on the revision of the International Classification of Diseases-10 focusing on the chapter for mental and behavioural codes; conducting literature searches; designing and conducting formative research projects on the architecture, organization, and content of the ICD classification system (Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO).
Dr. Roberts has been president of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, the APA Section on Clinical Child Psychology, and chair of the APA Committee on Children, Youth, and Families and on the APA Board of Professional Affairs. He has served two terms as chair of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology, and he served as the Society of Pediatric Psychology representative to the APA Council of Representatives. He is Chair-elect of the APA Council of Editors. He has served on grant review panels, most recently on a study section for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roberts chairs the Interdivisional Task Force for Children’s Mental Health.
Dr. Roberts is a 2006 recipient of the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training, the 2008 Levin Award for Mentoring from the Society of Pediatric Psychology, the 2009 Beverly Thorn Award for Outstanding DCT Service, and the 2008 APA Education Advocacy Distinguished Service Award.
Projects of Current Graduate Students
Discussion of Psychosocial Issues in Family Practice: This project is the result of a partnership between graduate students in my team and an undergraduate completing an honors thesis. We evaluated parent satisfaction with services received at a family medicine practice and examined whether and how family physicians addressed parents’ psychosocial concerns about their children.
Children with Cancer and their Siblings Attending a Summer Camp: This project is a program evaluation of a summer camp for children with cancer and their siblings. In addition, we are examining how children's perceived social support, children's attitudes towards illness, the family environment, and children's and parent's posttraumatic stress symptoms relate to outcomes such as quality of life.
Benefit Finding: The primary goal of this study is to determine whether children with leukemia and/or their parents perceive any positive outcomes (e.g., closer family relationships, different life priorities) following a diagnosis of childhood cancer and whether the perception of benefits is related to quality of life. This study is being conducted in collaboration with several hospitals across the country.
AileyCamp Evaluation: This project is an annual program evaluation of AileyCamp, a six-week summer camp for at-risk youth from Kansas City public middle schools. The project assessed campers' exposure to community violence, stressful life events, risk behaviors, drug awareness, depression, family conflict, social support, emotional intelligence, psychological adjustment, and satisfaction with AileyCamp. Parents' experiences of social support, economic strain, parenting stress, and satisfaction with AileyCamp were also evaluated.
Projects with manuscripts under review co-authored with students and colleagues
Acceptability of Weight Loss Interventions Among Adolescents Who are Overweight and Their Caregivers
Peanut Allergy in Children: Relationships to Health-Related Quality of Life, Anxiety, and Parental Stress
Volitional Non-adherence in Pediatric Asthma: Its Occurrence and Relation to Disease Severity and Self-Efficacy
Knowledge of Household Safety Hazards and Parental Precautionary Behaviors
Evaluating Family Medicine Practices: Overall Consumer Satisfaction and Discussion of Children’s Psychosocial Problems
Service Coordination and Children’s Functioning in a School-Based Intensive Mental Health Program
Program Evaluation of Multisystemic Treatment in a Community Mental Health Center
Children's Mental Health Services: A Program Evaluation Assessing the Impact of Policy Changes Over Time
Clinical Child Psychology: A Practice Specialty Serving Children, Adolescents, and their Families
Recent Publications
Selected Books
Walker, C. E., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of clinical child psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2002). Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Roberts, M. C., & Ilardi, S. S. (Eds.). (2003). Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell.
Steele, R. G., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2005). Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Academic.
Steele, R. G., Elkin, D., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of evidence-based therapies for children and adolescents. New York: Springer.
Roberts, M. C., & Steele, R. C. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of pediatric psychology (4th ed.). New York: Guilford.
Selected Chapters
Vernberg, E. M., Roberts, M. C., & Nyre, J. (2002). School-based intensive mental health treatment. In D. T. Marsh & M. A. Fristad (Eds.), Handbook of serious emotional disturbance in children and adolescents (pp. 412-427). New York: Wiley.
Roberts, M. C., *Brown, K. J., & Smith-Boydston, J. M. (2003). The scientific process and publishing research. In M. C. Roberts & S. S. Ilardi (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp.31-51). London: Blackwell Publishers.
Roberts, M. C., *Kamps, J., & Betan, E. (2003). Investigating professional issues in clinical psychology. In M. C. Roberts & S. S. Ilardi (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 396-417). London: Blackwell Publishers.
Steele, R. G., & Roberts, M. C. (2003). Therapy and interventions research with children and adolescents. In M. C. Roberts & S. S. Ilardi (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 307-326). London: Blackwell Publishers.
Ilardi, S. S., & Roberts, M. C. (2003). Reflections on the future of clinical psychology research. In M. C. Roberts & S. S. Ilardi (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 420-432). London: Blackwell Publishers.
Nyre, J., Vernberg, E. M., & Roberts, M. C. (2003). Serving the most severe of serious emotionally disturbed students in school settings. In M. D. Weist, S. W. Evans, & N. A. Lever (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health: Advancing practice and research (pp. 203-222). New York: Kluwer.
Roberts, M. C., *Brown, K. J., *Boles, R. E., & *Mashunkashey, J. O. (2003). Prevention of injuries: Concepts and interventions for pediatric psychology in the schools. In R. T. Brown (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psychology in school settings (pp. 65-80). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Roberts, M. C., *Mitchell, M. C., & *McNeal, R. (2003). The evolving field of pediatric psychology: Critical issues and future challenges. In M. C. Roberts (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (3rd ed., pp. 3-18). New York: Guilford.
Roberts, M. C., *Brown, K. J., *Boles, R. E., *Mashunkashey, J. O., & *Mayes, S. (2003). Prevention of disease and injury in pediatric psychology. In M. C. Roberts (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (3rd ed., pp. 84-98). New York: Guilford.
Roberts, M. C., Arias, I., Lutzker, J. R., Walker, L.E.A., & Wolfe, D. A. (2004). Injury and violence prevention at home. In R. H. Rozensky, N. G. Johnson, C. D. Goodheart, & W. R. Hammond (Eds.), Psychology builds a healthy world: Opportunities for research and practice (pp. 77-104). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Roberts, M. C., & Steele, R. G. (2005). Program evaluation approaches to service delivery in child and family mental health. In R. G. Steele & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families (pp. 351-369). New York: Kluwer/Plenum Academic.
*Boles, R. E., & Roberts, M. C. (2007). Children’s perceptions of illness and death. In S. Ayers, A. Baum, C. McManus, S. Newman, K. Wallston, & R. West (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of psychology, health, and medicine (2nd ed.; pp. 38-41). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Roberts, M. C., & *James, R. L. (2008). Empirically supported treatments and evidence-based practice for children and adolescents. In R. G. Steele, D. Elkin, & M. C. Roberts (Eds.).Handbook of evidence-based therapies for children and adolescents (pp. 9-24). New York: Springer
*Brown Kirschman, J. K., *Johnson, R. J., *Bender, J. A., & Roberts, M. C. (2009). Positive psychology for children and adolescent: Development, prevention, and promotion. In S. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 133-148). New York: Oxford.
Roy, K. M., Wu, Y. P., & Roberts, M.C. (2009). Allergic reactions in children: Implications for pediatric psychology. In M. C. Roberts & R. G. Steele (Eds.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (4th ed. Pp. 755-762). New York Guilford.
Aylward, B. S., Bender, J. A., Graves, M. M., & Roberts, M. C. (2009). Professional issues: Historical developments and trends in pediatric psychology. In M. C. Roberts & R. G. Steele (Eds.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (4th ed., pp. 3-18). New York: Guilford.
Roberts, M. C., Biggs, B. K., Jackson, Y., & Steele, R. G. (in press). Clinical child psychology: Research and practice applications. In P. Martin, F. Cheung, M. Kyrios, L. Littlefield, M. Knowles, B. Overmeir, & J. M. Prieto (Eds.), The IAAP Handbook of Applied Psychology. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Selected Articles
Roberts, M. C., Carlson, C. I., Erickson, M. T., Friedman, R. M., La Greca, A. M., Lemanek, K. L., Russ, S. W., Schroeder, C. S., Vargas, L. A., & Wohlford, P. F. (1998). A model for training psychologists to provide services for children and adolescents. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29, 293-299.Roberts, M. C. (1998). Innovations in Specialty Training: The Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29, 394-397.
*Buckloh, L. M., & Roberts, M. C. (2001). Managed mental health care: Attitudes and ethical beliefs of child and pediatric psychologists. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26, 193-202.
Roberts, M. C., Borden, K. A., Christiansen, M. D., & Lopez, S. J. (2005). Fostering a culture shift: Assessment of competence in the education and careers of professional psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 36, 355-361.
Jackson, Y., Alberts, F. L., & Roberts, M. C. (in press). Clinical child psychology: A practice specialty serving children, adolescents, and their families. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
*Stewart, P. K., Roberts, M. C., & *Kim, K. L. (in press). The psychometric properties of the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children with African American Adolescent Females. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
*Gould, S. R., Roberts, M. C., & *Beals, S. E. (in press). Do state mental health plans address the New Freedom Commission’s goals for children’s mental health? Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review.
*Graves, M. M., Roberts, M. C., Rapoff, M., & *Boyer, A. (in press). The efficacy of adherence interventions for chronically ill children: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
*denotes student co-author
Dr. Roberts is on the editorial boards of the following journals:
- Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (Editor)
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
- Teaching and Education in Professional Psychology
- Applied and Preventive Psychology: Current Scientific Perspectives
- Journal of Pediatric Psychology
- Children's Health Care
- Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry
- Child Psychiatry and Human Development
- Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
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