Education
- University of Nebraska Lincoln
- University of Nebraska Lincoln
Awards & Honors
- 1997 Honors Program, American Sociological Association, Toronto, Ontario
- 1998 Who’s Who among America’s Teachers, 5th Ed.
- 2003 Superior Agency Achievement Award-AHRQ
- 2005 Superior Achievement Project Officer Training-SAMHSA/DHHS
- 2012 Administrator’s Leading Change Award from SAMHSA
- 2014 Administrator’s Award from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- 2016 Bronze Medal from Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) poster
Research Description
Dr. Larson serves as a professor and the executive director of the Main Line Health Center for Population Health Research at LIMR. Population Health aims to improve the health of entire populations. It is concerned with understanding health and health care from the perspective of patients, providers, payer systems, and communities in order to identify strategies for promoting health and well-being.
Dr. Larson’s research focus encompasses behavioral health (substance abuse and psychiatric conditions), epidemiology, policy, access to care, care delivery models, conditions that co-occur with depression, and survey research, the latter of which includes design, implementation, and analysis.
During her career, her research has focused on the use of extensive, national surveys to help answer questions that relate to patients’ access to health care, rural-urban differences in health and care utilization, as well as behavioral health. She is particularly interested in the use of item-response analysis to understand differential item functioning and response biases to behavioral health measures. Her research also focuses on evaluation design, which includes the use of well-constructed strategies that link interventions directly to measurable outcomes. She uses mixed-methods approaches, including the integration of focus groups, qualitative interviews, and population-level quantitative analysis of surveys and administrative data to more completely answer pertinent and timely questions.
In summary, Dr. Larson works with clinical partners to conduct research aimed at improving the health care delivery system and patient outcomes. She is particularly interested in research that spans traditional health services research models, clinical research and public health.
Publications
- Using a deliberative forum for engaging health system and health plan leaders to prioritize research topics. McTigue KM, Hartelius EJ, Anderson TS, … Larson SL, et al. European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare. 2018; 6(2).
- Cervical Cancer Patients’ Willingness and Ability to Serve as Health Care Educators to Advocate for Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Uptake. Ladd IG, Gogoi RP, Bogaczyk TL, Larson SL. Journal of Cancer Education. 2018. Mar 25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-018-1348-2.
- Burden of Multiple Chronic Conditions Among Urologic Cancer Patients. Garg T, Young AJ, Kost KA, Danella JF, Larson S, Nielsen ME, Kirchner HL The Journal of Urology. 2017. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2017.08.005
- An Empirical Approach to Assessing Pediatric Residents' Attitudes, Knowledge and Skills in Primary Care Behavioral Health. Shahidullah JD, Kettlewell PW, DeHart K, Rooney K, Ladd I, Larson SL. Intl J Health Sciences Ed. 2017;4(2):1-14.
- Reducing Breast Cancer Risk: Why Aren't Providers Screening and Prescribing? Larson SL, Kirchner HK, Wang H. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Vol. 25. 2016.
- Breast Cancer Chemoprevention in Primary Care-Assessing Readiness for Change. Wang H, Snyder CF, Larson S, Vogel V, Kirchner HL, Sun H, Yan X. Quality in Primary Care 24, no. 6 (2016): 283-288.
- Introduction to special section: Behavioral health and disasters-planning for the next time. Larson S, Gould DW. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2015 Jan:42(1) 3-5.
- Behavioral health in the Gulf Coast region following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: findings from two federal surveys. Gould DW, Teich JL, Pemberton MR, Pierannunzi C, Larson S. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2015 Jan:42(1) 3-5.
- Religiosity and behavioral health outcomes of adolescents living in disaster-vulnerable areas. Rose T, Shields J, Tueller S, Larson S. J Relig Health. 2014 Apr:54(2): 480-94.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Health in the Gulf Coast Region Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 13-4737, Rockville, MD; Atlanta, GA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Larson SL, Teich J, Hughes A. 2013.