5 day forecast
Studies recruit participants
Share with others:
The Autism Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC is recruiting parents and young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder for two studies.
The studies are supported by National Institute of Mental Health grants totaling nearly $1.33 million. Both are being led by Cynthia Johnson, director of the autism center.
One of them is designed to treat sleep disturbances in young children; the other is a structured parent-training program designed to reduce autism-related behavioral issues.
The sleep program is a three-year pilot to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral parent training in improving the sleep disturbances of children ages 2 to 5.
The other pilot, a five-year, five-site study, is to evaluate the effectiveness of structured parent training compared with a psychoeducational program for children ages 3 to 7.
For more information, contact Kelley Sacco in the autism center at 412-692-8404 or at kelley.sacco@chp.edu.
The Center for Integrative Medicine at UPMC is recruiting adults with insomnia between the ages of 18 and 60 for a study to evaluate the benefits of acupuncture for their sleeplessness.
Those interested will be screened for participation by completing a questionnaire and having a brief interview about their insomnia. They also will participate in an overnight sleep observation and, if eligible, a second night of observation that will serve as a baseline assessment.
Once accepted for the study, participants will be randomly assigned to groups receiving up to 12 sessions of acupuncture or placebo acupuncture over a 10-week period. Two more sleep observations and questionnaires will be administered after treatment is over.
For more information, call 412-623-2374.
Western Psychiataric Institute and Clinic of UPMC and Magee-Womens Research Institute are seeking mothers between the ages of 18 and 45 for a study seeking to find if depression during the first three months after childbirth can be treated with the hormone estrogen.
Participation includes contact with the researchers, either by telephone or in person, for eight weeks. After the first visit, they will be randomly assigned to receive their first dose of an estrogen patch, the antidepressant Zoloft or a placebo. Women who respond to treatment will continue in the study for 16 more weeks.
Enrolled women also will receive such free help as a psychiatric assessment and a review of mental health care options, as well as information on arranging childcare for appointments and study medication. Participants who keep all scheduled visits can earn up to $315 in compensation; transportation costs also will be reimbursed.
The study is underwritten by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. For more information, call 1-800-436-2461 or visit womensbehavioralhealth.org.
First Published February 25, 2010 12:00 am
