Michael V
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at Eastern Michigan University
Expertise
clinical psychology, health psychology, geropsychology
Bio
Hello! My name is Michael Vriesman and I have just finished my PhD in Clinical Psychology. I also obtained my master's degree in clinical behavioral analysis, so have a total of 7 years working in graduate school. I have co-authored several published works, generally focused on conceptual ideas related to clinical psychology, quality improvement, and clinical behavior analysis. I also have completed two research projects during my training, including a survey based original data collection study assessing stigma, as well as a combination of retrospective data analysis and linear mixed models to assess clinical encounters at a primary care clinic. Personally, I enjoy sports, movies, video games, and being physically active! I was born and raised in Michigan, though recently spent a year in Richmond, VA, completing my clinical internship. Now that I have finally finished graduate school, I am looking to develop some fun new hobbies, and maybe even start to read for fun!Project ideas
Integrated primary care within a Primary Care Behavioral Health model
Currently, physicians and psychologists can work collaboratively in primary care, in what is called integrated primary care. However, given the current processes, physicians are required to see the patients first before giving a "warm hand off" to the psychologists. My project idea is to create a new process where psychologists can see patients prior to this "warm hand off" when patient need is indicated. This could save time (e.g., psychologists can deliver service while patients would have been waiting anyways), and may improve physician satisfaction with integrated primary care (e.g., psychologists can see patients who would have been waiting otherwise, making them less upset about waiting). This can be conducted through an AB design, collecting initial baseline data on time and physician satisfaction, then implementing the intervention and seeing if that changes the time of the appointment and improves the satisfaction of physicians.
Developing a podcast/YouTube video dispelling myths of aging
Our population demographics are shifting and older adults are making up a larger percentage of the population than ever before. However, stigma towards older adults (ageism) still remains highly prevalent. Creating a form of media that is for the general public that presents actual evidence about aging, what that looks like normatively, and dispels myths of aging, could be an impactful way of reducing stigma towards this population.