Postgraduate Associate in Psychology, Sociology, Public Health, or related field – play2PREVENT Lab, Yale Center for Health and Learning Games

Who We Are: The play2PREVENT Lab at the Yale Center for Health and Learning Games focuses on the use of “play,” in the form of videogame play, for the purposes of health promotion, risk reduction, social good, and educational interventions. We develop and evaluate videogame interventions focused on behavior change, education, health, well-being, and social intelligence, using the most rigorous scientific methods and metrics available.

The Position: The play2PREVENT Lab was recently awarded a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse under their HEAL Initiative (Helping to End Addiction Long Term), to develop a creative way to prevent opioid misuse in adolescents. The new team member will be working with a targeted videogame intervention for opioid misuse prevention in adolescents. The primary focus of this position, is that the new team member will assist with the execution of a large scale randomized controlled trial that will take place across the state of Connecticut and train community partners on the use of our videogames in schools and other settings.

The start this date for this position is negotiable (between October 2021 and January 2022).

The Postgraduate Associate (PGA) will receive education and training through participation in the administrative and research tasks of Yale Center for Health & Learning Games. Under the supervision of project directors/research team, the PGA will participate in research activities involving the development and evaluation of digital health interventions and educational technology that focus on behavior change, health, social impact, and education. Specific education and training opportunities will include:

* working with adolescents to evaluate the effectiveness of a videogame intervention

*data management collection systems such as Salesforce, RedCap, Qualtrics, Oncore

*creating novel ways to implement our games that are available to the general public 

*dissemination strategies for spreading knowledge and information about our games

*interfacing with and presenting to community partners, potential community partners, and other stakeholders 

* training on critical reading of research articles

* learning how to conduct comprehensive reviews of research on health behaviors and research on digital health interventions and educational technology, including videogames

* learning about scientific theoretical frameworks for defining and measuring health behaviors

* gaining familiarity with current literature in educational technology and health behaviors

* opportunities to collaborate with the research team on the development of new digital health interventions and educational technology

* experience with pilot-testing and playtesting videogames and other digital health interventions and educational technology

* experience designing and creating survey instruments for research data collection

* exposure to the process of designing and conducting a school-based or afterschool program research study

* training and experience with research study processes, including institutional review, participant recruitment, data collection, and data management

* training and experience with using statistical software for data processing and analysis

* potential opportunities to present research posters at scientific meetings

* potential opportunities to contribute to manuscripts submitted for publication

* attendance at regularly scheduled lab meetings at the Yale Center for Health and Learning Games, as well as opportunities to attend relevant Grand Rounds and other scientific seminars in the Yale Child Study Center, and Yale School of Medicine

Eligibility: An individual is eligible for the position if they have knowledge and training in psychology, Public Health, biology, chemistry, computer science, software engineering or other STEM related areas.

Responsibilities: The post-graduate associate will participate in research activities involving the development and evaluation of videogame interventions that focus on behavior change, health, social impact, and education. Responsibilities include:  conceptualization and development of video game content material, recruiting research participants for focus groups and playtesting, overseeing gameplay sessions, assisting in focus group discussions, collection of data and data management, data analysis, writing up study results, and presenting findings. May be required to work some evenings or weekends.

Benefits: Health insurance, travel stipend, vacation, sick days

How to Apply: Application materials should be sent electronically to tyra.pendergrass@yale.edu. A complete application will include a:

·       Resume or CV

·       Three reference letters

·       A short letter of interest outlining your suitability for the position

·       Writing Sample

Salary: Negotiable based on experience; minimum $36,000.