Req #: 222193 Department: DEPT. OF PSYCHIATRY AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Job Location: Harborview Medical Center Posting Date: 05/11/2023 Closing Info: Open Until Filled Salary: $5,218 - $11,051 per month Other Compensation: Shift: First Shift Benefits: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.
As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (PBSCI) within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department with 285 full-time faculty members, 280 clinical faculty members, and over 300 staff. Department faculty provide clinical services in 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest. The Department’s robust research portfolio totals $35 million in grants and contracts per year for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development.
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is recruiting for a full time Research Scientist/Engineer.
POSITION PURPOSE
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist 3 in the area of Human Centered Design. This position will play a key role in the University of Washington Suicide Care Research Center (SCRC) whose goal is to improve the design and delivery of suicide specific care for adolescents and young adults in outpatient medical settings. We are at a crucial point in the development of care for adolescents and young adults who struggle with thoughts of suicide. It is all hands on deck to care for our patients who are thinking of suicide. Stepped up mandates for suicide care have come from the Joint Commission and system change recommendations from the national Zero Suicide programs. Substantial expansion of suicide screening and assessment as well as safety planning has resulted from these efforts, but treatment has lagged behind. Meanwhile, too many adolescent and young adults disclose they are suicidal to health care providers who aren’t prepared to offer them treatment. Patients and families are typically referred to the emergency department (ED) even when an outpatient intervention is better suited to their immediate needs. This approach results in overwhelmed systems and negative experiences for patients and providers. To make these the most feasible, acceptable, and useable as well as effective interventions, the SCRC will co-design its interventions with patients, families, and providers using Human Centered Design (HCD) methods conducted by this Research Scientist position along with the study investigators. The HCD Research Scientist will conduct research across patient, family, and workforce experience - applying mixed methods research to design and execute research plans that support the SCRC’s co-design of interventions for suicide prevention in outpatient medical settings. This position will work closely with SCRC researchers, HCD experts, and data scientists to plan and execute research, test concepts, explore target audiences, and transform data into meaningful insights about perceptions, sentiment, and care experiences. This position will create persuasive reports and visualizations to demonstrate opportunities to improve experience or organizational strategies. Each SCRC study includes an HCD co-design phase and the Research Scientist will conduct these co-design methods and integrate results across the center through the Methods Core. As SCRC will tackle a broad range of questions, the HCD Research Scientist will need a flexible mindset and the ability to tap into diverse research methods to deliver insights. The HCD Research Scientist will plan and conduct a range of design research methods, such as: interviews, observations, diary studies, literature reviews, surveys, statistical analyses, and usability studies. The position will require strong quantitative and data visualization skills, in addition to qualitative skills. It will also require advanced storytelling to influence project timelines, scoping, and stakeholder decision-making approaches. Projects include designing equitable experiences for adolescents and young adults experiencing suicidal thoughts or after a suicide attempt, equitable care experiences for suicidal patients and their families who speak a language other than English, and the integration of technology into clinical care.
Position Complexities:
Position involves administering and coding complex semi-structured gold-standard interview measures according to existing protocols.
Position Dimensions and Impact to the University:
This role falls under the University of Washington School of Medicine’s mission to improve healthcare and advance knowledge in medicine through contributing to a research study aimed at improving the prediction of suicide risk.
The HCD Research Scientist will conduct research across patient, family, and workforce experience - applying mixed methods research to design and execute research plans that support the SCRC’s co-design of interventions for suicide prevention in outpatient medical settings.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The HCD Research Scientist will conduct research across patient, family, and workforce experience - applying mixed methods research to design and execute research plans that support the SCRC’s co-design of interventions for suicide prevention in outpatient medical settings.
The Human Centered Design Research Scientist 3 will:

Conduct contextual inquiry, co-design, and usability for SCRC’s exploratory projects (25%)

Lead study design including development of study materials, data collection tools, analysis plan, and scholarly dissemination (25%)

Describe barriers, delineate clinical needs, and design solutions to improve usability, adoption, and implementation of SCRC interventions at scale (15%)

Collaborate with SCRC Methods Core co-directors to analyze center wide data (10%)

Train and provide consultation to SCRC staff and scholars as needed (10%)

Attend center meetings (5%)

Contribute to manuscript submissions (5%)

Provide mentorship to graduate students (5%).
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences or design-related field and minimum of 3 years of relevant design research experience or equivalent in experience and education.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

A strong case study portfolio demonstrating excellent command of research process and insights development.

Proficiency using business/technical software.

Experience leading design research projects independently, with impact to business operations or strategies, in a large-scale setting
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Advanced degree in human centered design or related field- 5 years of relevant design research experience.

Experience in healthcare setting or other relevant industry.

Strategic consulting experience using innovative ethnographic and mixed methods research approaches.

Demonstrated ability to project manage research efforts.

Experience working with vulnerable populations, maintaining confidentiality, and facilitating cultural brokerage.

Experience with IRB protocol and planning.

Published and/or presented results from research projects.
Application Process:The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.