About

Lawrence Palinkas is a Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego. He is a medical anthropologist with expertise in preventive medicine, cross-cultural medicine, and health services research. His research interests include behavioral health, global health, health disparities, implementation science, and community-based participatory research. His work encompasses studies of psychosocial adaptation to extreme environments and disasters, mental health needs of older adults, cultural explanatory models of mental illness and service utilization, HIV and substance-abuse prevention in Mexico, evaluation of academic-community research practice partnerships, and the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices for mental health services delivery to children, adolescents, and underserved populations. His current research focuses on implementing child and adolescent primary care and mental health services and examining the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations. Palinkas has received numerous awards and honors, including the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professorship at USC, the Mellon Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring, and recognition as a top scholar in qualitative research. He has served in leadership roles such as deputy chief officer of the Life Sciences Standing Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, chair of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute’s External Advisory Council, and membership on committees of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. He is an elected fellow of several professional societies and has authored more than 530 publications.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Environmental health
• Environmental protection
• Nursing
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Environmental science
• Medical education
• Cognitive psychology

Selected publications

• Dynamics of stress and recovery and relationships with perceived environmental mastery in extreme environments

  Journal of Environmental Psychology · 2022 · 22 citations

  • Psychology
  • Social psychology
  • Environmental science
  DOI

• The tougher the environment, the harder the adaptation? A psychological point of view in extreme situations

  Acta Astronautica · 2021 · 14 citations

  • Psychology
  • Social psychology
  • Cognitive psychology
  DOI

• Protocol for Comparing Two Training Approaches for Primary Care Professionals Implementing the Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) Model

  Research Square (Research Square) · 2020 · 1 citations

  • Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Medicine
  DOI

• Measurement of sustainment of prevention programs and initiatives: the sustainment measurement system scale

  Implementation Science · 2020 · 82 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Psychology
  • Applied psychology

  BACKGROUND: Enhancing the sustainability of evidence-based prevention programs for mental and behavioral health requires tools for measuring both sustainability determinants and sustainment outcomes. The aim of this study was to develop the Sustainment Measurement System Scale (SMSS) and to assess its reliability and construct validity for measuring both determinants and outcomes of efforts to sustain prevention programs and initiatives. METHODS: A 42-item scale comprised of items identified from qualitative data collected from 45 representatives of 10 programs and 8 SAMHSA program officers was administered to 186 representatives of 145 programs funded by 7 SAMHSA prevention grant initiatives. Cronbach's alphas were used to determine inter-item reliability. Convergent validity was assessed by comparisons of a global measure of sustainment with current SAMHSA-funding status and continued operation in the same form. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparisons of sustainability determinants with whether or not the program had undergone adaptations. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a 35-item model fit to the data. Cronbach's alpha was .84 for the sustainment outcome construct and ranged from .70 to .93 for the sustainability determinant constructs. All of the determinant constructs were significantly associated with sustainment outcome individual and global measures for the entire sample (p < 0.01 to 0.001) and for community-based programs and programs with a substance abuse focus (p < 0.05 to 0.001). Convergent validity was supported by significant associations between the global sustainment measure and current SAMHSA funding status and continued operation in the same form (p < 0.001). Four of the sustainability determinant constructs (responsive to community needs; coalitions, partnerships, and networks; organizational staff capability; and evaluation, feedback, and program outcomes) were also significantly associated with current SAMHSA funding status (p < 0.5 to 0.01). With the exception of organizational staff capability, all sustainability determinants were unrelated to program adaptation as predicted. CONCLUSIONS: The SMSS demonstrated good reliability and convergent and discriminant validity in assessing likelihood of sustainment of SAMHSA funded prevention programs and initiatives. The measure demonstrates potential in identifying predictors of program sustainment and as a tool for enhancing the likelihood of successful sustainment through ongoing evaluation and feedback.

  DOI

• Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2020 · 21 citations

  • Political Science
  • Environmental health
  • Environmental resource management

  The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) region is prone to disasters, including recurrent oil spills, hurricanes, floods, industrial accidents, harmful algal blooms, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. The GoM and other regions of the U.S. lack sufficient baseline health information to identify, attribute, mitigate, and facilitate prevention of major health effects of disasters. Developing capacity to assess adverse human health consequences of future disasters requires establishment of a comprehensive, sustained community health observing system, similar to the extensive and well-established environmental observing systems. We propose a system that combines six levels of health data domains, beginning with three existing, national surveys and studies plus three new nested, longitudinal cohort studies. The latter are the unique and most important parts of the system and are focused on the coastal regions of the five GoM States. A statistically representative sample of participants is proposed for the new cohort studies, stratified to ensure proportional inclusion of urban and rural populations and with additional recruitment as necessary to enroll participants from particularly vulnerable or under-represented groups. Secondary data sources such as syndromic surveillance systems, electronic health records, national community surveys, environmental exposure databases, social media, and remote sensing will inform and augment the collection of primary data. Primary data sources will include participant-provided information via questionnaires, clinical measures of mental and physical health, acquisition of biological specimens, and wearable health monitoring devices. A suite of biomarkers may be derived from biological specimens for use in health assessments, including calculation of allostatic load, a measure of cumulative stress. The framework also addresses data management and sharing, participant retention, and system governance. The observing system is designed to continue indefinitely to ensure that essential pre-, during-, and post-disaster health data are collected and maintained. It could also provide a model/vehicle for effective health observation related to infectious disease pandemics such as COVID-19. To our knowledge, there is no comprehensive, disaster-focused health observing system such as the one proposed here currently in existence or planned elsewhere. Significant strengths of the GoM Community Health Observing System (CHOS) are its longitudinal cohorts and ability to adapt rapidly as needs arise and new technologies develop.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Mark P. McGovern

  Stanford University

  9 shared

• Lauren Caton

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  8 shared

• Carlos Gallo

  Northwestern University

  7 shared

• Mina Yuan

  Columbia University

  7 shared

• Karen M. Abram

  Northwestern University

  7 shared

• Clayton H. Brown

  University of Maryland, Baltimore

  6 shared

• Michel Nicolas

  Université de Bourgogne

  4 shared

• Jill Johnston

  University of Southern California

  4 shared

Education

• M.A., Anthropology

  University of California, San Diego

  1995

• Ph.D., Anthropology

  University of California, San Diego

  1981

Awards & honors

• Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Poli…
• Mellon Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Graduate St…
• Elsevier Atlas Award (2020)
• Sterling Franklin Award (2010)
• School of Social Work Excellence in Leadership and Creativit…

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