Sarah B. Hunter

Photo of Sarah Hunter
Behavioral Scientist; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Santa Monica Office

Education

M.A., Ph.D. in social psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; B.A. in psychology, New York University

Overview

Biography

Sarah Hunter is a behavioral scientist at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Hunter has worked on improving the care for co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, building community capacity for substance abuse prevention and treatment, examining the impact of the media on adolescent sexual behavior, and performing program evaluations for various public health initiatives. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

  • Improving Care for Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
  • Brief Substance Use Intervention for Youth in Teen Court
  • Case-Mix Adjustment for Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment
  • National Demonstration to Improve the Recruitment and Retention of the Direct Service Community Workforce
  • Enhancing Prevention Capacity with Developmental Assets and Getting To Outcomes

Selected Publications

Hunter, S.B., Paddock, S., Ebener, P., Burkhart, A.K., & Chinman, M., "Promoting evidence based practices: The adoption of a prevention support system in community settings," Journal of Community Psychology, 37(5):579-593, 2009

Hunter, S.B., Chinman, M. Ebener, P., Imm, P., Wandersman, A., & Ryan, G., "Technical Assistance as a prevention capacity-building tool: A demonstration using the Getting To Outcomes framework," Health Education and Behavior, 36(5):810-828, 2009

Shelley Wiseman, Matthew Chinman, Patricia A. Ebener, Sarah Hunter, Pamela Imm, Abraham Wandersman, "Getting To Outcomes: 10 steps for achieving results-based accountability," RAND/Technical Report-101.2, 2007

Mendes, W.B., Blascovich, J., Hunter, S.B., Lickel, B., Jost, J.T, "Threatened by the unexpected: Physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners.," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(4):698-716, 2007

Hunter, S.B., Wong, E., Beighley, C.M., Morral, A.R., "Acculturation and driving under the influence: A study of repeat offenders.," Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67(3):458-464, 2006

Hunter, S.B., Watkins, K.E., Wenzel, S., Gilmore, J., Sheehe, J., & Griffin, B., "Training substance abuse treatment staff to care for co-occurring disorders.," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 28(3):239-245, 2005

Honors & Awards

  • Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, Best Paper 2007, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
  • Outstanding Publication Award, American Evaluation Association

Publications

A Fidelity Coding Guide for a Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression - 2011

An Effectiveness Trial of Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Patients with Persistent Depressive Symptoms in Substance Abuse Treatment - 2011

Group Alcohol and Drug Treatment - 2011

The Effectiveness of Community-Based Delivery of an Evidence-Based Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use - 2011

Training Addiction Counselors to Implement CBT for Depression - 2011

Analysis of Rolling Group Therapy Data Using Conditionally Autoregressive Priors - 2010

Developing a Group Motivational Interviewing Intervention for First-Time Adolescent Offenders At-Risk for an Alcohol or Drug Use Disorder - 2010

A Comparison of Two Depressive Symptomatology Measures in Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Clients - 2009

National Evaluation of the Demonstration to Improve the Recruitment and Retention of the Direct Service Community Workforce - 2009

Promoting Evidence-Based Practices: The Adoption of a Prevention Support System in Community Settings - 2009

Technical Assistance as a Prevention Capacity-Building Tool: A Demonstration Using the Getting to Outcomes Framework - 2009

The Getting to Outcomes Demonstration and Evaluation: an Illustration of the Prevention Support System - 2008

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Progress During 2004 and 2005 - 2007

Getting To Outcomes™: 10 Steps for Achieving Results-Based Accountability - 2007

Threatened By the Unexpected: Physiological Responses During Social Interactions with Expectancy-Violating Partners - 2007

A Collaboration Between Researchers and Practitioners to Improve Care for Co-Occurring Mental Health Disorders in Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment - 2006

Acculturation and Driving Under the Influence: A Study of Repeat Offenders - 2006

Acculturation and Driving Under the Influence: A Study of Repeat Offenders - 2006

Getting To Outcomes™: Improving Community-Based Substance-Use Prevention - 2006

Sexual Readiness, Household Policies, and Other Predictors of Adolescents' Exposure to Sexual Content in Mainstream Entertainment Television - 2006

Developing a Community Science Research Agenda for Building Community Capacity for Effective Preventive Interventions - 2005

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Program Advancement in 2005 - 2005

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Program Advancement in 2005 - 2005

Improving Contracting at the City of Los Angeles Airports, Port, and Department of Water and Power - 2005

Research-practice Partners Assess Their First Joint Project - 2005

Review of Treatment Recommendations for Persons with a Co-Occurring Affective or Anxiety and Substance Use Disorder - 2005

Training Substance Abuse Treatment Staff to Care for Co-Occurring Disorders - 2005

Applying Performance-Based Practices to Installation Support Contracts - 2004

Defining Needs and Managing Performance of Installation Support Contracts: Perspectives from the Commercial Sector - 2004

Does Watching Sex on Television Influence Teens’ Sexual Activity? - 2004

Evaluation of the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Program: Progress from Program Inception to 2004 - 2004

Getting to Outcomes: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Preventive Interventions - 2004

Organizational Policy Levers Can Affect Acquisition Reform Implementation in Air Force Repair Contracts - 2004

Prevalence and Characteristics of Clients with Co-Occurring Disorders in Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment - 2004

Speeding Acquisition Reform in the U.S. Air Force - 2004

Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior - 2004

Entertainment Television as a Healthy Sex Educator: The Impact of Condom-Efficacy Information in an Episode of Friends - 2003

Challenge and Threat During Social Interactions with White and Black Men - 2002

Implementing Performance-Based Services Acquisition (PBSA): Perspectives from an Air Logistics Center and a Product Center - 2002