Wenjing Huang

Behavioral and Social Scientist

Santa Monica Office

Education

Ph.D. in quantitative psychology, University of California, Los Angeles; M.A. in quantitative psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; B.A. in education, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Overview

Wenjing Huang is a psychometrician at the RAND Corporation. She specializes in developing standardized assessment tools for measuring mental health, substance use, skills, knowledge and aptitudes related issues in health, education, and workplace settings.

Huang's work at RAND covers a diverse range from health research funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to Worker Well-Being funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC NIOSH). More recently, Huang worked on creating standard measures for evaluating national and international policies in the COVID-19 pandemic for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Huang co-led a high-profile report on Asia Drug Policy and also works in mental health issues of youth in the Middle East experiencing war trauma and civil unrest.

Before joining RAND, Huang interned at the World Health Organization (WHO). She started her quantitative psychology training with Patrick Curran in the Ph.D. program at L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory (UNC, Chapel Hill). She received her Ph.D. at UCLA working with Peter Bentler on estimation algorithms for Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

Research Focus

Recent Projects

A Comparison of National and International Approaches to COVID-19-Related Measures
Development of the NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ).
Contemporary Asian drug policy: insights and opportunities for change
Development and Maintenance of Post-Acute Care Cross-Setting Standardized Patient Assessment Data
Health Risk Behaviors Among Palestinian Youth

Selected Publications

Towe, V., May, L.W., Huang, W., Martin, L.T., Carman, K., Miller, C.E. & Chandra, A, "Drivers of differential views of health equity in the U.S.: Is the U.S. ready to make progress? Results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes. ," BMC Public Health, 2021 (forthcoming)

Pardo, B.A., Kilmer, B. & Huang, W. , Contemporary Asian drug policy: insights and opportunities for change, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA (RR-RR-2733-RC), 2019 (forthcoming)

Acosta, Joie D., Wenjing Huang, Maria Orlando Edelen, Jennifer L. Cerully, Sarah Lovell, and Anita Chandra, Measuring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the Military: The RAND Barriers and Facilitators to Care Item Banks, RAND Corporation (RR-1762-OSD), 2018

Harrington, L. M., Lee, C., Evans, S.K., Mann, S., Acheson-Field, H.J., Bennett, B., Huang, W. & Barlow, K. , Success in a Joint Environment Identifying Attributes for Air Force Accessions, RAND Project AIR FORCE/Manpower, Personnel, and Training, 2019 (forthcoming)

Bentler, P., & Huang, W., "On components, latent variables, PLS and simple methods: reactions to Ridgon’s rethinking of PLS.," Long Range Planning, 47(3), 2014

Huang, W., Stucky, B.D., Edelen, M.O., Tucker, J. S., Shadel, W.G., Hansen, M., & Cai, L., "Calibration of the Spanish PROMIS® smoking item banks," Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 18(7), 2016

Huang, W., Hunter, S. B., Ayer, L., Han, B., Slaughter, M. E., Garner, B. R. & Godley, S. H. , "Measuring Sustainment of an Evidence Based Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 83, 2017

Huang, W., Rose, A.J., Bayliss, E., Baseman, L., Butcher, E., Garcia, R.E. & Edelen, M.O. , "Adapting summary scores for the PROMIS-29 v2.0 for use among older adults with multiple chronic conditions," Quality of Life Research, 28(1), 2019

Languages

Chinese

Publications

Research Brief
New Patient-Centered Quality Measures for Office-Based Palliative Care
This research brief describes the development and testing of two patient-centered quality measures of symptom management and communication and provides considerations for palliative care providers that plan to use them.
Sep 13, 2021
Report
MACRA Palliative Care Quality Measure Development—Testing Summary Report: Measure Name: Receiving Desired Help for Pain
The authors describe the results of their national beta field test for a performance measure designed to assess the extent to which patients who used ambulatory palliative care received the help they wanted for their pain.
Sep 3, 2021
Report
MACRA Palliative Care Quality Measure Development—Testing Summary Report: Measure Name: Feeling Heard and Understood
The authors describe the results of their national beta field test for a performance measure designed to assess the extent to which patients who used ambulatory palliative care felt heard and understood by their palliative care provider and team.
Sep 3, 2021
Journal Article
Project SLIP: Implementation of a PrEP Screening and Linkage Intervention in Primary Care
The study developed and pilot-tested a PrEP screener for use in primary care clinics to help facilitate PrEP uptake. Findings suggest that brief HIV risk screening in primary care is acceptable, feasible, and shows preliminary effects in increasing PrEP referral rates.
Mar 5, 2021
Journal Article
Patterns of Substance Use and Associations with Mental, Physical, and Social Functioning: A Latent Class Analysis of a National Sample of U.S. Adults Ages 30–80
This study identifies distinct patterns (classes) of substance use among 30- to 80-year olds, identifies demographic subgroups with the highest probability of class memberships, and compares classes on key indicators of functioning.
Feb 10, 2021
Report
A Comparison of National and International Approaches to COVID-19-Related Measures
The authors evaluate the comparability of commonly used COVID-19 measures within the United States and across countries, and make recommendations for the use and development of measures that would allow for more standardized and valid comparisons.
Jan 29, 2021
Journal Article
Drivers of Differential Views of Health Equity in the U.S. Is the U.S. Ready to Make Progress? Results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes
This study uses data from a nationally representative sample of American adults to examine the factors that people think drive health outcomes and their beliefs about the importance of health equity.
Jan 26, 2021
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 1: Executive Summary)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 3: Sample Description)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 8: Observational Assessments of Cognitive Function, Mental Status, and Pain)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 6: Impairments and Special Services, Treatments, and Interventions)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 7: Global Health, Care Preferences, and Medication Reconciliation)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 2: Background and Methods)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 4: Cognitive Function)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Development and Evaluation of Candidate Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements: Findings from the National Beta Test (Volume 5: Mental Status and Pain)
This report, part of a series, describes patient assessment data elements developed and tested by RAND on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services to comply with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014.
Nov 15, 2019
Report
Contemporary Asian Drug Policy: Insights and Opportunities for Change
Changing patterns in drug use and supply can affect the well-being and development of Asian countries in many ways. RAND researchers discuss the shifting drug policy landscape in Asia, with a special focus on the Philippines, Thailand, and China.
May 15, 2019
Journal Article
Feasibility of Distinguishing Performance Among Provider Groups Using Patient-reported Outcome Measures in Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions
This study determined the minimum sample sizes needed for reliability with two key health-related quality-of-life outcome-based performance measures among older adults. These estimates can guide the design of future patient-reported outcome-based performance measures.
Mar 1, 2019
Journal Article
Sources of Resilience as Mediators of the Effect of Minority Stress on Stimulant Use and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Young Black Men Who Have Sex with Men
Minority Stress Theory proposes that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination facing sexual and racial minorities are stressors that lead to increased risk behaviors. This study examined whether minority stress is associated with stimulant use and sexual risk by depleting resiliencies.
2019
Report
Measuring Barriers to Mental Health Care in the Military: The RAND Barriers and Facilitators to Care Item Banks
This report summarizes the findings of a study to construct item banks of barriers and facilitators to mental health care for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Dec 11, 2018
Journal Article
Development and Maintenance of Standardized Cross Setting Patient Assessment Data for Post-Acute Care: Summary Report of Findings from Alpha 2 Pilot Testing
Results of the Alpha 2 feasibility test, used to help develop standardized assessment-based data elements to meet the requirements of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation(IMPACT) Act of 2014.
Jun 7, 2018
Journal Article
Measuring Sustainment of an Evidence Based Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use
Two composite assessments of quality - one with treatment staffing and delivery elements and the other with clinical supervision elements - can be used to measure the sustainment of evidence-based treatment.
Nov 1, 2017
Journal Article
The Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Scale: Further Examination Using Item Response Theory
The Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana scale identifies strategies that may mitigate the harms related to marijuana use by young people.
Aug 25, 2017
Journal Article
Alcohol Use and Service Utilization Among Veterans in Treatment for Schizophrenia
Veterans with schizophrenia who misuse alcohol are more likely to miss medications and more likely to use illicit drugs.
May 16, 2017
Report
Development and Maintenance of Standardized Cross Setting Patient Assessment Data for Post-Acute Care: Summary Report of Findings from Alpha 1 Pilot Testing
This report presents results of the first Alpha 1 feasibility test of proposed items to include in the post-acute care patient assessment instruments for measuring seven areas of health status for Medicare beneficiaries.
Apr 27, 2017
Report
A Psychometric Study of the Modified Bridges for Newborns Screening Tool
This report describes RAND Corporation work evaluating the psychometric characteristics of the Modified Bridges for Newborns, a screening tool to identify high-risk mothers in Los Angeles Count who are eligible for supportive services.
Feb 6, 2017
Journal Article
Additional Validity Evidence for the PROMIS Smoking Assessment Toolkit
Using data from a follow-up sample (N = 491) and a community sample (N = 369) of adult daily and nondaily smokers, we replicated the findings from Edelen et al. (2014a) and examined the correlations of legacy smoking measures with the new item bank scores.
Jul 1, 2016
Journal Article
Calibration of the Spanish PROMIS Smoking Item Banks
The goal of this study is to evaluate the performance of the Spanish version of the PROMIS smoking item banks as compared to the original banks developed in English.
Feb 12, 2016
Journal Article
Effectiveness of Parent–child Mediation in Improving Family Functioning and Reducing Adolescent Problem Behavior: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
This study examines the effectiveness of parent-child mediation in improving family functioning.
Jan 22, 2016
Report
Development of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Survey of Health Attitudes: Description and Top-Line Summary Data
This report describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's National Survey of Health Attitudes, part of the foundation's Culture of Health strategy. It describes the survey development and provides the survey text and summary statistics of the data.
Jan 21, 2016
Journal Article
The Psychometric Performance of the PROMIS Smoking Assessment Toolkit: Comparisons of Real-Data CATs, Short Forms, and Mode of Administration
The PROMIS® Smoking Initiative has developed six items banks for assessment related to cigarette smoking among adult smokers.
Apr 22, 2015