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Phillip N. Smith, Ph.D.

Phillip N. Smith, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Psychology

Dr. Smith will be accepting a new graduate student for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Education

  • National Institute of Mental Health, NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York

  • APA Accredited Clinical Psychology Internship, Southwest Consortium Pre-doctoral Psychology Internship, Albuquerque, New Mexico

  • Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

  • M.A. Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

  • M.S. Psychology, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania

  • B.A. Psychology, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Current Projects

  • SOAR (Strengthening Opportunities for Achievement & Resilience):  SOAR is a community-based intervention study that aims to reduce interpersonal violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among middle school youth.  The intervention addresses systems-level practices and supports for teachers and law enforcement officers to assist in working with youth exhibiting problematic behaviors.  SOAR is grounded in the socioecological framework and posits that interpersonal violence and suicide share many root causes and that preventing such outcomes is most effectively started "upstream". 

  • Project GRIP (Gun-Related Injury Prevention): Firearms are used in over half of all suicides and three quarters of all homicides in the US. Yet, prevention strategies that focus on firearms are limited due to a cultural disconnect between prevention specialists and the very communities they wish to serve. This project will collaborate with those who own and use guns and those living in areas with high rates of violence to better understand their perspective, improve public health strategies, and save lives. 

Current Research Funding

  • Preventing Youth Violence through building Equitable Communities: An Evaluation of a Multisystemic Intervention. National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. Role: Site-Principal Investigator/Co-Investigator.

  • Participatory Action Research to Inform a Social-Ecological Model of Gun-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Practices. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Role: Co-Principal Investigator.

  • The Impact of Romantic Relationship Dynamics on Suicidal Ideation. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Early Career Researcher Innovation Grant. Role: Mentor (PI: H. Love). 

  • Community-Based Crisis Intervention Training and Support for Primary Responders. Department of Justice. Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Stefurak).

Recent Publications

  • Mehari, K.R., Schuler, K.R., Haiflich, A., Kim, H., Morgan, S.T., Stevens, L.T., Graves, C.L., Smith, P.N., & Simmons, J.D. (in press). Evaluation of hospital implementation of a mandate to report gunshot wounds to law enforcement. Violence and Victims.

  • Love, H., Morgan, P., & Smith, P.N. (in press). Participation in a daily diary study about suicide ideation yields no iatrogenic effects: A mixed method analysis. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior.

  • Smith, P.N., Cordell, C., Stevens, L.T., West, K., Morgan, S.T., Vallas, J., & Mehari, K.R. (in press). Project GRIP: An illustration of participatory action research with communities of people who own and use firearms. Psychological Reports.

  • Coleman, J.N., Smith, P.N., Mehari, K.R., & Farrell, A.D. (in press). Relations between perceptions of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence and adolescents’ physical aggression: Beliefs as mediators. Aggressive Behavior.

  • Mehari, K.R., Smith, P.N., Morton, B.C., Billingsley, J.L., Coleman, J.N., & Farrell, A.D. (2024). Challenges in evaluating a community-level intervention to address root causes of youth violence. Prevention Science, 25, 774-785. DOI: 10.1007/s11121-024-01678-7

  • Currier, J.M., McDermott, R.C., Fernandez, P., Salcone, S., Hinkel H.M., Schuler, K., Fadoir, N., & Smith, P.N. (2024). Examining the outcomes and acceptability of a peer-led spiritual intervention for moral injury in a veteran service organization. Psychological Services, 21, 276-286. DOI: 10.1037/ser0000762

  • Mehari, K.R., Morgan, S., Stevens, L.T., Coleman, J.N., Schuler, K., Graves, C., Lindsey, D.R. B., & Smith, P.N.  (2024). Mixed methods evaluation of a jail diversion program: Impact on arrests and functioning. Journal of Community Psychology, 52, 551-573. doi: 10.1002/jcop.23113

  • Silva, C., Smith, P.N., Rogers, M., Joiner, T.E., Foote, B., & Van Orden, K.A. (2023). Clinically significant scores for thwarted belonging and perceived burden. Crisis, 44, 405-414. DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000898

  • Basu, N., Blanton, M., Gonzales, J., Hendricks, K., Mehari, K., & Smith, P.N. (2023). Upward social comparisons and suicidal ideation on Facebook: Moderating role of thwarted belongingness. Psychology of Popular Media, 13, 513-517. DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000505

  • Basu, N., Barinas, J., Williams, K., Clanton, C., & Smith, P.N. (2023). Understanding nurse suicide using an ideation-to-action framework: An integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 79, 4472-4488. DOI: 10.1111/jan.15681