# Practice Experiences for School Reintegration: An Immersive Virtual Reality Program to Enhance Skill Development of Adolescents Hospitalized for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2022 · $155,873

## Abstract

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a primary reason for psychiatric hospitalization for nearly 50% of
hospitalized adolescents. Schools are one of the primary environments adolescents return to following
hospitalization, making them a critical context for adolescent recovery from suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
School stressors serve as important risk factors for both suicide and re-hospitalization, but, until now, have
been overlooked by treatment interventions for suicidal adolescents. The primary goal of this K23 Career
Development Award is to support the applicant to become an independent investigator advancing suicide
prevention interventions that bridge two systems otherwise isolated – psychiatric settings and schools. The
specific training goals are tailored to support the applicant’s development as an intervention scientist: (1) build
expertise in intelligent use of technology and instructional design to enhance interventions for high risk
adolescents; (2) develop research skills to learn innovative designs and approaches for developing, optimizing,
and evaluating interventions for suicidal adolescents; (3) gain knowledge of modifiable school variables and
the affective and cognitive markers serving as mechanisms of change in adolescents with suicidal thoughts
and behaviors and incorporate measures of these variables in intervention research; and (4) develop
competency in ethical considerations for conducting research with high risk adolescent populations. The
applicant will achieve these goals through applied experiences; mentor-based supervised training; formal
graduate level coursework and short courses; and participation in research seminars, colloquia and scientific
meetings. To ensure the attainment of these goals, the mentorship team includes senior level intervention
researchers with expertise in novel methodologies applicable to suicide prevention: Drs. David Goldston,
Dorothy Espelage, Robert Hubal, and David Wyrick. The proposed study aims to develop and refine a novel
Virtual Reality (VR) supplement for inpatient treatment: the Practice Experiences for School Reintegration
(PrESR) program. The PrESR will provide immersive school experiences for inpatient adolescents to practice
skills in real-world settings with the guidance of a trained clinician within the confines of a hospital. The specific
aims of the study, guided by a multiphasic optimization strategy (MOST) research design, include: (1) refine
the PrESR model; (2) iteratively develop the PrESR to enhance cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skill
practice during hospital stay; and (3) conduct a pilot optimization trial of the PrESR with CBT skills used during
inpatient interventions to demonstrate (A) the potential of the PrESR to increase CBT skill acquisition and
utilization and (B) the feasibility of training clinicians, recruiting participants, and managing experimental
conditions. Consistent with NIMH’s priorities for suicide prevention, and for tailoring existing...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10456729
- **Project number:** 5K23MH122775-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Marisa Ellen Marraccini
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $155,873
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-09 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10456729

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10456729, Practice Experiences for School Reintegration: An Immersive Virtual Reality Program to Enhance Skill Development of Adolescents Hospitalized for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors (5K23MH122775-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10456729. Licensed CC0.

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