Steven Ondersma, PhD

Asst. Professor Psychiatry/OB-GYN

Wayne State University School of Medicine

L2 a) THE E-PARENTING PROGRAM: COMPUTER-BASED SUPPLEMENTATION OF HEALTHY FAMILIES AMERICA

Dr. Steven Ondersma received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Calvin College, and a Master’s and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University. He completed an internship and fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and subsequently stayed on for three years as an Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Services at the OUHSC Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.

He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology of Wayne State University. His primary interest is in the intersection between substance abuse and parenting. He has served as Director of a demonstration program for parents of drug-exposed infants, and is presently serving as Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Child Maltreatment.

He specializes in motivational interventions, is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, and was a protocol supervisor for a national multi-site study of Motivation Enhancement Therapy (under the NIDA Clinical Trials Network). 

His current program of research is in the area of brief motivational interventions in the perinatal period, and focuses on parents at risk of child maltreatment, especially those with substance use disorders. Ongoing major projects include a large Phase II clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy of a computer-based brief motivational intervention for substance abuse among post-partum women, a randomized trial designed to evaluate a computer-based intervention supplement for new mothers receiving early home visitation services, and the development of an indirect, computer-based screening and intervention model for perinatal drug use.