Research

My research focuses on how community, social, and cultural systems shape mental health risk, promotion, and intervention. I am especially focused on using clinical evidence to develop multilevel interventions that support individual mental health by strengthening families, institutions, and communities.

As a part of Dr. Eve Puffer’s Global Mental Health Lab, I have worked on implementing a multilevel intervention in Eldoret, Kenya targeting family-level processes key to child mental health outcomes. Working with mental health professionals and students at Moi University (pictured above) as well as local community leaders, I co-led a combined community-level prevention and in-home family therapy intervention program provided by non-professionals. My dissertation research describes how lay counselors fit within and change families’ existing supportive relationships. I hope to provide a framework for further research that recognizes the contextual embeddedness and skill these counselors bring to increasingly popular community mental health interventions.

Before coming to Duke, I worked with Alex Tsai’s research team at Massachusetts General Hospital for two and a half years as an on-site project coordinator for a longitudinal microenterprise, water security, health, and social network study in Mbarara, Uganda. I continue to contribute to that work as well as projects in South Africa, Liberia, and the US.

Recent Work

Rasmussen, J. M., Johnson, S. L., Ochieng, Y. A., Jaguga, F., Green, E. P., & Puffer, E. S. (2024). “Congregation leader and member discussions in a church-based family strengthening, mental health promotion and HIV prevention trial: Intervention” Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health.

In this paper, I showed how inter-household conversations work as a community-level intervention process that might amplify mental and sexual health information shared during workshops held in Kenyan religious congregations. I discuss how tracking this type of process may be important to understand how interventions might create durable shifts in social context around key health issues like mental health. I also outline future directions for studying congregational settings as unique contexts for mental health and family health intervention, particularly in African countries where these are ubiquitous community institutions.

Coming Soon

Some papers I’m working on now…

1.   Rasmussen, J. M., Johnson, S. L., Ochieng, Y. A., Jaguga, F., Kwobah, E., Green, E. P., & Puffer, E. S. (in preparation). “A scoping review of psychosocial interventions in African religious congregations.”

2.   Rasmussen, J. M., Satinsky, E. N., Perkins, J. M., Comfort, A., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Ashaba, S., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Bangsberg, D. R., Puffer, E. S., Tsai, A. C. (in preparation). “Social network name generators and question-order effects: A randomized experiment in rural Uganda.”

3.   Chitneni, P., Musinguzi, N., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. M., Satinsky, E. N., Kananura, J., Ayebare, P., Gumisiriza, P., Masette, G., Siedner, M. J., Haberer J. E., Matthews, L. T., Kakuhikire, B., Tsai, A. C. (in preparation). Population prevalence and correlates of syphilis in rural, southwestern Uganda.

4.   Chase, R., Green, E., Finnegan, A., Rasmussen, J. M.,Puffer, E. (in preparation). An Observational Measure of Parent-Child Interactions for Global Low-Resource Settings: Development and Evaluation in Liberia.

All Publications

1.    Johnson, S. L., Rieder, A. D., Rasmussen, J. M., Mansoor, M., Quick, K. N., Coping Together Team, Proeschold-Bell, R. J., & Puffer, E. S. (2024). “A pilot study of the Coping Together virtual family intervention: Exploring changes in family functioning and individual well-being.” Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01183-z

2.    Johnson, S. L., Quick, K. N., Rieder, A. D., Rasmussen, J. M., Sanyal, A., Green, E. P., Duerr, E, Nagy, G. A., & Puffer, E. S. (2023). “Social vulnerability, COVID-19, racial violence, and depressive symptoms: A cross-sectional study in the Southern United States.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

3.    Perkins, J. M., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Evans, C. Q., Rasmussen, J. D., Satinsky, E. N., … & Tsai, A. C. (2021). Cigarette smoking and misperceived norms among adults in rural Uganda: a population-based study. Tobacco Control. http://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056470

4.    Kim, A. W., Rieder, A. D., Cooper‐Vince, C. E., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Satinsky, E. N., Kiconco, A., Namara, E. B., Rasmussen, J. D., … & Puffer, E. S. (2023). Maternal adverse childhood experiences, child mental health, and the mediating effect of maternal depression: A cross‐sectional, population‐based study in rural, southwestern Uganda. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. http://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24758

5.    Giusto, A., Vander Missen, M. R., Kosgei, G., Njiriri, F., Puffer, E., Kamaru Kwobah, E., Barasa, J., Turissini, M., Rasmussen, J., … & Jaguga, F. (2023). Peer-delivered Problem-solving Therapy for Adolescent Mental Health in Kenya: Adaptation for Context and Training of Peer-counselors. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 1-14. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-023-01075-8

6.    Johnson, S. L., Rasmussen, J. M., Mansoor, M., Ibrahim, H., Rono, W., Goel, P., … & Puffer, E. S. (2023). Correlates of intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration in adolescents and young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 15248380231173428. http://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231173428

7.    Satinsky, E. N., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Rasmussen, J. D., Ashaba, S., … & Tsai, A. C. (2023). Caregiver preferences for physically harsh discipline of children in rural Uganda. Journal of Family Violence, 1-14. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00536-4

8.    Ashaba, S., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Satinsky, E. N., Perkins, J. M., Rasmussen, J. D., … & Tsai, A. C. (2022). Adverse childhood experiences, alcohol consumption, and the modifying role of social participation: population-based study of adults in southwestern Uganda. SSM-mental health, 2, 100062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100062

9.    Puffer, E. S., Johnson, S. L., Quick, K. N., Rieder, A. D., Mansoor, M., Proeschold-Bell, R. J., Jones, S., Moore-Lawrence S., Rasmussen, J. D.,… & Boone, W. J. (2022). Family Strengthening in the Context of COVID-19: Adapting a Community-Based Intervention from Kenya to the United States. Prevention Science, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-022-01418-9

10.   Perkins, J. M., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Satinsky, E. N., Kiconco, A., … & Tsai, A. C. (2022). Perceptions about local ART adherence norms and personal adherence behavior among adults living with HIV in rural Uganda. AIDS and Behavior, 26(6), 1892-1904. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03540-1

11.   Dawson-Squibb, J. J., Davids, E. L., Chase, R., Puffer, E., Rasmussen, J. D., Franz, L., & de Vries, P. J. (2022). Bringing Parent–Child Interaction Therapy to South Africa: Barriers and Facilitators and Overall Feasibility—First Steps to Implementation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4450. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084450

12.   Perkins, J. M., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Meadows, M., Evans, C. Q., Jurinsky, J., Rasmussen, J. D., … & Tsai, A. C. (2022). Perceived and misperceived norms about khat and/or cannabis use among adults in southwest Uganda. International Journal of Drug Policy, 101, 103527. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103527

13.   Jurinsky, J., Perkins, J. M., Kakuhikire, B., Nyakato, V. N., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Satinsky, E. N., Ahereza, P., Kananura, J., Audet, C. M., Bangsberg, D. R., & Tsai, A. C. (2022). Ease of marital communication and depressive symptom severity among men and women in rural Uganda: Cross-sectional, whole-population study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02135-4

14.   Perkins, J. M., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Jurinsky, J., Rasmussen, J. D., Satinsky, E. N., Namara, E., Ahereza, P., Kyokunda, V., Perkins, H. W., Hahn, J. A., Bangsberg, D. R., & Tsai, A. C. (2022). Overestimation of alcohol consumption norms as a driver of alcohol consumption: A whole-population network study of men across eight villages in rural, southwestern Uganda. Addiction (Abingdon, England). https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15615

15.   Kakuhikire, B., Satinsky, E. N., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Perkins, J. M., Gumisiriza, P., Juliet, M., Ayebare, P., Mushavi, R. C., Burns, B. F. O., Evans, C. Q., Siedner, M. J., Bangsberg, D. R., & Tsai, A. C. (2021). Correlates of attendance at community engagement meetings held in advance of bio-behavioral research studies: A longitudinal, sociocentric social network study in rural Uganda. PLOS Medicine, 18(7), e1003705. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003705

16.   Satinsky, E. N., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Ashaba, S., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Perkins, J. M., Kiconco, A., Namara, E. B., Bangsberg, D. R., & Tsai, A. C. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences, adult depression, and suicidal ideation in rural Uganda: A cross-sectional, population-based study. PLOS Medicine, 18(5), e1003642. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003642

17.   Smith, M. L., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Bangsberg, D. R., & Tsai, A. C. (2020). Do household asset wealth measurements depend on who is surveyed? Asset reporting concordance within multi-adult households in rural Uganda. Journal of global health, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.010412

18.   Mushavi, R. C., Burns, B. F., Kakuhikire, B., Owembabazi, M., Vořechovská, D., McDonough, A. Q., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Bangsberg, D. R., Tsai, A. C. (2020). “When you have no water, it means you have no peace”: A mixed-method, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda. Social Science & Medicine: 112561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112561.

19.   Rasmussen, J. D., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Ashaba, S., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Perkins, J. M., Bangsberg, D. R., Tsai, A. C. (2019). “Portrayals of mental illness, treatment, and relapse and their effects on the stigma of mental illness: Population-based, randomized survey experiment in rural Uganda.” PLOS Medicine 16, no. 9 (2019): e1002908. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002908.

20.   Smith, M. L., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Vořechovská, D., Perkins, J. M., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Venkataramani, A. S., Ashaba, S., Bangsberg, D, R., Tsai, A. C. (2019). “Relative wealth, subjective social status, and their associations with depression: Cross-sectional, population-based study in rural Uganda.” SSM - Population Health 8: 100448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100448.

21.   Puffer, E. S., Mansoor, M., Rieder, A. D., Johnson, S. L., Quick, K. N., Rasmussen, J. M., Salgado, G., Coping Together Team, Boone, W., & Proeschold-Bell, R. J., (in press). “Embedding positive emotions activities in a family strengthening intervention to enhance receptivity and engagement.” Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion.