2025 SFBTA Research Award Winners
Dr. Arnoud Huibers accepting SFBTA Research Award 2025 on behalf of his team from Research Committee Chairperson Dr. Mo Yee Lee at the Awards Banquet of the SFBTA Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, on November 8, 2025. Co-researchers Dr. Vasundharaa Santhosh Nair and Dr. Jeff Chang were unable to attend.
Winning proposal: “Psychometric Validation of the Solution-Focused Alliance Dynamic Scale (SFADS): Capturing the Core Dynamics of Solution-Focused Collaboration: A Cross-Cultural Study”
Recipients:
Arnoud Huibers – Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Director of the Solutions Centre, Soesterberg, the Netherlands
Dr. Vasundharaa Santhosh Nair – Assistant Professor of Psychiatric Social Work, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India
Dr. Jeff Chang – Psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Athabasca University, Calgary, Canada
Arnoud Huibers – Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Director of the Solutions Centre, Soesterberg, the Netherlands
Dr. Vasundharaa Santhosh Nair – Assistant Professor of Psychiatric Social Work, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India
Dr. Jeff Chang – Psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Athabasca University, Calgary, Canada
2024 SFBTA Research Award Winners
Xiao Ding, MSSA, LMSW, PhD Candidate
University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work
1925 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78712-0358
(216)-502-9410
xiaoding@utexas.edu
“Stretch the World” to Thrive amid COVID-19: The Next Generation of Solution-Focused Practice with Alternative High School Youth
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the demand for school-based crisis prevention and early intervention, especially for students exposed to multiple life adversities and schools that lack resources to prevent more severe and acute problems. Therefore, to help students get timely support, the school-based interdisciplinary team, including teachers, social workers, school psychologists, counselors, and administrators, can benefit from having more brief, adaptive, and efficient approaches to addressing students’ crises. SFBT is a culturally sensitive, evidence-based practice that has been applied in trauma work and crisis intervention in the past. SFBT showed specific advantages in working with students in groups in school settings. This grant will be used to fund a pilot study testing the effectiveness of a 4-week structured, manualized solution-focused crisis group in reducing perceived stress, increasing hope, and promoting solution-focused coping and problem-solving skills in a high school setting working with high-needs youth and adolescents. The findings of this study can add to the evidence base of solution-focused crisis group intervention and help schools confronting similar challenges improve their students’ mental health and academic outcomes.
Zach Cooper, LCSW, CADC-II, PhD Student
University of Georgia School of Social Work
279 Williams Street, Athens, GA 30602
706-414-6278
zach.cooper@uga.edu
Addressing Depression through Solution Focused Brief Therapy in Integrated Care Settings
Integrated behavioral healthcare (IBH) emerged to address the high prevalence of psychosocial issues endemic to primary care settings by expanding the traditional healthcare team through the inclusion of a behavioral health provider (clinical social worker, licensed psychologist, etc.). Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) provides a promising treatment approach within IBH settings due to the high productivity standards within primary care and the efficient style foundational to SFBT. Despite the natural fit, there is a paucity of research regarding SFBT within integrated care settings in general, and for specific disease states. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of SFBT within an IBH setting in the treatment of depression while assessing for commensurate improvement with traditional healthcare markers such as A1C, blood pressure, pulse, and weight. In addition, scaling questions will be utilized to assess for increase in core SFBT constructs to include self-awareness of strengths, future hope, and increased ability to problem solve. A pre-posttest experimental design will assess the differences between those receiving SFBT and treatment as usual across symptoms of depression, SFBT core attributes, and health outcomes.
