Emily Alden Hennessy, PhD

Research Interests: Adolescent health behavior; evaluation of prevention and intervention programs; social determinants of health; substance use treatment and recovery; systematic reviewing and meta-analysis
Degrees:
  • PhD, Community Research and Action, Vanderbilt University (2017); Quantitative Methods Minor, Psychological Sciences Department
  • MPhil, Health Promotion, University of Bergen (2010)
  • BA, Psychology, Gordon College (2005)
Positions:
  • Current: Research Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut (since 2020)
    • Former, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Connecticut (2017-2020)
  • Associate Editor, Social Science & Medicine (since 2017)
  • Associate Methods Editor, International Development Coordinating Group, Campbell Collaboration (since 2018)
Adolescent Recovery and Recovery Capital publications:
  • Hennessy, E. A., & Finch, A. J. An exploratory data mining approach to understand adolescent access to recovery high schools. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, In Press.
  • Nash, A., Hennessy, E. A., & Collier, C. (2019). Recovery capital among adolescents in alternative peer groups: A qualitative exploration. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, In press. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.02.025
  • Hennessy, E. A., Cristello, J. V., & Kelly J. F. (2019). RCAM: A proposed model of recovery capital for adolescents. Addiction Research & Theory, 27, 429-436. doi: 10.1080/16066359.2018.1540694
  • Hennessy, E. A., Tanner-Smith, E. E., Finch, A. J., Sathe, N. A., & Potter, S. A. (2018). Recovery schools for improving well-being among students in recovery from substance use disorders: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, http://campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/382/. The Campbell Library.
  • Tanner-Smith, E. E., Finch, A. J., Hennessy, E. A., & Moberg, D. P. (2018). Who attends recovery high schools after substance use treatment? A descriptive analysis of school aged youth. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 89, 20-27.
  • Hennessy, E. A. (2018). A latent class exploration of adolescent recovery capital. Journal of Community Psychology, 46, 442-456. doi: 10.1002/jcop.21950
  • Tanner-Smith, E. E., Finch, A. J., Hennessy, E. A., & Moberg, D. P. (2018). Effects of recovery high school attendance on students’ mental health symptoms. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 44, 175-184.
  • Finch, A. J., Tanner-Smith, E. E., Hennessy, E. A., & Moberg, D. P. (2017). Recovery High Schools: Effect of schools supporting recovery from substance use disorders. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44, 175-184. doi: 10.1080/00952990.2017.1354378
  • Hennessy, E. A. (2017). Recovery Capital: A systematic review of the literature. Addiction Research and Theory, 25, 349-360. doi: 10.1080/16066359.2017.1297990
  • Hennessy, E. A., Glaude, M. W., & Finch, A. J. (2017). “Pickle or a cucumber?” Practitioner views of successful adolescent recovery. Addiction Research and Theory, 25, 208-215. doi: 10.1080/16066359.2016.1242723
  • Oser, R., Karakos, H. L., & Hennessy, E. A. (2016). Disparities in youth access to substance abuse treatment and recovery services: How one recovery school initiative is helping students “Change Tracks”. Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery, 11, 267-281. doi:10.1080/1556035X.2016.1211056
  • Hennessy, E. A., & Fisher, B. W. (2015). A meta-analysis exploring the relationship between 12-Step attendance and adolescent substance use relapse. Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery, 10, 79-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1556035X.2015.999621
  • Fisher, E. A. (2014). Recovery supports for young people: What do existing supports reveal about the recovery environment? Peabody Journal of Education, 89(2): 258-270.
Health Behavior Change publications:
  • Hennessy, E. A., Johnson, B. T., Acabchuk, R. L., McCloskey, K., & Stewart-James, J. Mechanisms of health behaviour change: A systematic meta-review of meta-analyses, 2006-2017. Health Psychology Review, In Press.
  • Hennessy, E. A., Tanner-Smith, E. E., Mavridis, D., & Grant, S. (2019). Comparative effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions for college students: Results from a network meta-analysis. Prevention Science, 20, 715-740. doi: 10.1007/s11121-018-0960-z
  • Fisher, B. W., & Hennessy, E. A. (2016). The relationship between school resource officers and school-based disciplinary incidents: A meta-analysis. Adolescent Research Review, 1, 217–233. doi:10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8
  • Hennessy, E. A., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Steinka-Fry, K. T. (2015). Do brief alcohol interventions reduce tobacco use among youth? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 38(6), 899-911. doi:10.1007/s10865-015-9653-2
  • Steinka-Fry, K. T., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Hennessy, E. A. (2015). Effects of brief alcohol interventions on drinking and driving among underage youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Addiction and Prevention, 3, 11.
  • Tanner-Smith, E. E., Steinka-Fry, K. T., Hennessy, E. A., Lipsey, M.W., & Winters, K. C. (2015). Secondary effects of brief alcohol interventions on substance use among youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44, 1011-1023. doi:10.1007/s10964-015-0252-x
  • Hennessy, E. A. & Tanner-Smith E. E. (2014). Effectiveness of brief school-based alcohol interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Prevention Science, 16(3), 463-474. doi:10.1007/s11121-014-0512-0
Evidence Synthesis Methods publications:
  • Johnson, B. T., & Hennessy, E. A. (2019). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the health sciences: Best practice methods for research syntheses. Social Science & Medicine, In press. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.035
  • Hennessy, E. A., Johnson, B. T., Keenan, C. (2019). Guidelines for best practice in the synthesis of synthesis literature. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, In press. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12169
  • Polanin, J., Hennessy, E., & Tanner-Smith, E. E. (2016). A review of meta-analysis packages in R. Journal of Behavioral and Educational Statistics, 42, 206-242. doi: 10.3102/1076998616674315
  • Polanin, J. R., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Hennessy, E. A. (2015). Estimating the difference between published and unpublished effect sizes: A meta-review. Reviews of Educational Research, epub. doi:10.3102/0034654315582067
Selected awards and fellowships:
  • Evidence Synthesis Hackathon travel award (2019)
  • Joint First-Place, Postdoc Seed Grant Award, University of Connecticut (2018)
  • Founder’s Medal, Graduate School, Vanderbilt University (2017)
  • Newbrough Graduate Award (Dissertation), Vanderbilt University (2017)
  • Honorable Mention, Graduate Student & Early Career Researcher Competition, West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders (2016)
  • SEARCH workshop travel award, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan (2015)
  • Top 3 Poster award, Society for Prevention Research (2015)
  • Harold Stirling graduate scholarship, Vanderbilt University (2012-2016)
  • Peabody graduate honor scholarship, Vanderbilt University (2012-2016)
  • Fulbright Scholar to Norway, University of Bergen (2008-2009)
Other Certifications and training:
  • Certificate in College Teaching, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University (2017)
  • Treatment effects analysis, Statistical Horizons (2016)
  • Exploratory data mining via search strategies, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan (2015)
Research grants and external funding:
  • 2016 – 2017    Project Director, Contract from Campbell Collaboration ($39,842), Project title: Recovery schools for improving well-being among students in recovery from substance use: A systematic review. Principal Investigator: Emily E. Tanner-Smith
  • 2015 – 2017    Principal Investigator, Institute for Social Research, James N Morgan Fund for New Directions in the Analysis of Complex Interactions ($15,000). Project title: Adolescent recovery capital and RHS attendance: Comparing exploratory approaches.
  • 2015 – 2016    Co-Author, Graduate Assistant, Vanderbilt University research grant ($9725). Project title: The rise and fall of the Phoenix school: Understanding a recovery high school in context. Principal Investigator: Andrew Finch