Photo of Michael Pullmann

Michael Pullmann, PhD

Research Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
(206) 685-0408
Box 358015 / Room 021C
  • Biography
  • Projects
  • Publications

Michael Pullmann, Ph.D., leads the SMART Center analytic Data Core. His research has focused on community-based and participatory approaches in cross-system collaborative efforts to serve youth and families with complex needs, with an emphasis on education and mental health. He also conducts research on racial and ethnic disproportionality in discipline, and the commercial sex trafficking of minors. He provides methodological leadership on multiple projects within the SMART center, with a particular interest in illuminating the impact of policy decisions through longitudinal approaches to data analyses of large scale administrative databases, and on smaller scale implementation and dissemination efforts. His latest efforts have focused on identifying the possible unforeseen consequences and outcomes associated with implementation strategies.

 

Google Scholar Dept of Psychiatry Profile

We have developed – and are currently conducting a large-scale randomized trial of – at teacher-focused version of the Beliefs and Attitudes for Successful Implementation in Schools (BASIS) implementation strategy. BASIS-T is being tested in context of Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD) implementation. Details are available in a study protocol published in Implementation Science.
The first year of this project will develop a taxonomy, or list with definitions and examples, of possible ripple effects that might result from common strategies used to implement children’s mental health services. This taxonomy could be used by researchers, implementers, and others in implementation planning and monitoring efforts. The second year of this project will test the feasibility of developing a pragmatic measure of one ripple effect.
The goal of the Minority Engagement and Disproportionality Reduction project (MENDR) is to develop an authentic research partnership between Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and the University of Washington School Mental Health Research, Assessment, and Training (UW SMART) Center, focused on the problem of practice of racial and ethnic disproportionality in discipline. Through MENDR, we will improve SPS’s capacity to use research – to identify schools with disproportionality and causes of disproportionality – and engage in a joint effort to develop, implement, and test an approach for disproportionality prevention and reduction.
The Brief Intervention Strategy for School Clinicians (BRISC) is a 4-session, evidence-based, and flexible “Tier 2” intervention tailored to high school students and designed to fit the school context. This cluster randomized efficacy trial (52 public high schools in three states) will use longitudinal data collection with students and parents; analyses of school records; implementation measures; and clinician and administrator surveys and interviews to evaluate outcomes of BRISC compared to services as usual, as well as moderators and mediators of outcomes and feasibility, acceptability, and costs of BRISC. For more information, click here.
This large scale efficacy study, conducted in 12 high schools in four states (VT, NH, IL, MD), tests whether the RENEW (Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Natural supports, Education and Work) program can improve social-emotional functioning and academic performance for the estimated 5-10% of high school students at risk for school failure due to mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) challenges.
The HELM project will adapt and test an existing leadership-focused implementation strategy (Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13012-014-0192-y) for use with elementary school principals in buildings where universal social, emotional, and behavioral program are being implemented. For more information about this project, click here.
This mixed methods study contributes to the science of intervention adaptation by 1) using an expert consensus Delphi method to create a decision support tool for making EBP adaptations in routine practice settings and 2) examining which modifications were made to school-based EBPs during three recent implementation efforts.
The purpose of this study is to identify which evidence-based practices (EBPs) teachers and paraeducators use to more meaningfully include and retain autistic children in general education settings; and the malleable individual and organizational characteristics that increase EBP use. Click here for more information.
(non-research) The SMART Center Postdoctoral Research Training Program in School Mental Health is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES).The fellowship’s areas of focus align with those of the SMART Center and include research-based school behavioral health strategies and policies, implementation science, educational equity, clinical research methodology, and understanding and reducing ethnic and racial disparities.
Effectiveness of a Brief Engagement, Problem-Solving, and Triage Strategy for High School Students: Results of a Randomized Study(2023)Prevention Science24:701–714.
Longitudinal Effects of a Motivationally Focused Strategy to Increase the Yield of Training and Consultation on Teachers’ Adoption and Fidelity of a Universal Program(2023)School Mental Health15 (1):105-122.
Adapting strategies to promote implementation reach and equity (ASPIRE) in school mental health services(2022)Psychology in the Schools59 (12):2471-2485.
Expect the unexpected: A qualitative study of the ripple effects of children’s mental health services implementation efforts(2022)Implementation Research and Practice3:
Systematic review and meta-analysis: Effectiveness of Wraparound care coordination for children and adolsecents.(2021)Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry60 (11):1353-1366.
Protocol for a hybrid type 2 cluster randomized trial of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and a pragmatic individual-level implementation strategy.(2021)Implementation Science16 (1):
Examining the effects of a brief, group-based motivational implementation strategy on mechanisms of teacher behavior change(2021)Prevention Science22:722-736.
Exploring individual and organizational mechanisms of implementation of evidence-based practices for the inclusion of elementary students with autism: Study protocol(2021)International Journal of Educational Research108:
Implementation determinants and outcomes of a technology-enabled service targeting suicide risk in high schools: Mixed methods study(2020)Journal of Medical Internet Research - Mental Health7(7):e16338.
Race and ethnicity in educational intervention research: A systematic review and recommendations for sampling, reporting, and analysis(2020)Educational Research Review31:100356.
The influence of a blended, theoretically-informed pre-implementation strategy on school-based clinician implementation of an evidence-based trauma intervention.(2019)Implementation Science14(54):1-16.
Pilot test of an engagement, triage, and brief intervention strategy for school mental health(2019)School Mental Health11:148-162.
Measurement-based care in child welfare-involved children and youth: Reliability and validity of the PSC-17(2019)Child Psychiatry and Human Development50(2):332-345.
The role of the outer setting in implementation: Associations between state demographic, fiscal, and policy factors and use of evidence-based treatments in mental healthcare.(2019)Implementation Science14(96):1-13.
Brief teacher training improves student behavior and student–teacher relationships in middle school(2019)School Psychology34(2):212–221.
The influence of a blended, theoretically-informed pre-implementation strategy on school-based clinician implementation of an evidence-based trauma intervention(2019)Implementation Science14:1-16.
A digital feedback system to support implementation of measurement-based care by school-based mental health clinicians(2019)Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology48 (Supp 1):168-179.
Brief training for teachers improves student behavior and student-teacher relationships in middle school.(2018)School Psychology Quarterly34:212-221.
A traumagenic social ecological framework for understanding and intervening with sex trafficked children and youth(2018)Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal36:49-63.
Tracing the pathway from mental health screening to services for children and youth in foster care(2018)Children and Youth Services Review89:340-354.
Implementation climate and time predict intensity of supervision content related to evidence based treatment(2018)Frontiers in Public Health: Public Health Education and Promotion6(280):1-16.
How do school mental health services vary across contexts and provider types? Lessons learned from two efforts to implement a research-based strategy(2018)School Mental Health10(1):134-146.
Predictors of disparities in access and retention in school-based mental health services(2018)School Mental Health10(1):1-11.
Research, Data, and Evidence-Based Treatment Use in State Behavioral Health Systems, 2001-2012(2015)Psychiatric Services
Improving the impact of school-based mental health and other supportive programs on students’ academic outcomes: how do we get there from here?(2014)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion7(1):1-4.
Family voice with informed choice: Coordinating wraparound with research-based treatment for children and adolescents.(2014)Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology43(2):256-269.
Improving the evaluation and impact of mental health and other supportive school-based programmes on students’ academic outcomes(2013)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion6(4):226-230.
Academic outcomes of an elementary school-based family support programme.(2013)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion6(4):231-246.