Collaborating Research Scientist
Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology
Texas Christian University
Email: d.knight@tcu.edu
Dr. Danica Knight is the Rees-Jones Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) and Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University (TCU). Upon completion of her PhD in 1992, Dr. Knight joined the IBR as a Research Scientist until moving into her role as Associate Director of Research at the KPICD in 2019. She now serves as a collaborating scientist with the IBR.
Her research includes large-scale projects designed to improve mental health and substance use outcomes among youth and young adults. She has authored numerous scientific articles on trauma-informed prevention interventions, improving linkages to social support and substance use services, and strategies for supporting successful implementation of new practices.
Dr. Knight’s most recent NIH/NIDA-funded grant, Leveraging Safe Adults (LeSA), examines the effectiveness of Trust-based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) in preventing substance use among justice-involved youth as they transition home after secure residential care. She serves as one of the Multiple PIs for the TCU hub of NIDA’s Justice Community Opioid Innovations Network (JCOIN) and Substance Use and Health Risk Intervention for Justice-Involved Youth (SUHRI), and PI for Family Assessment, Linkage, and Motivation Intervention (FAMLI). In addition, Dr. Knight serves as PI for KPICD’s Center for the Adaptation and Implementation of TBRI (CAIT), funded as part of SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN; https://www.nctsn.org/network-members/anchorage-community-mental-health-services-child-trauma-center?state=All&field_organization_type_value_2=2&field_person_type_value_2=All&page=3).
TCU Endeavors Interview with Danica Kalling Knight
Selected Publications
Knight, D.K., Belenko, S., Dennis, M.L., Wasserman, G. A., Joe, G. W., Aarons, G. A., Bartkowski, J. P., Becan, J. E., Elkington, K. S., Hogue, A., McReynolds, L. S., Robertson, A. A., Yang, Y., & Wiley, T. R. A. (2022). The comparative effectiveness of Core versus Core+Enhanced implementation strategies in a randomized controlled trial to improve substance use treatment receipt among justice-involved youth. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08902-6
Belenko, S., Dembo, R., Knight, D. K., Elkington, K. S., Wasserman, G. A., Robertson, A. A., Welsh, W. N., Schmeidler, J., Joe, G. W., & Wiley, T. (2022). Using structured implementation interventions to improve referral to substance use treatment among justice-involved youth: Findings from a multisite cluster randomized trial. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 140, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2022.108829
Knight, D. K., Becan, J. E., Olson, D., Davis, N. P., Jones, J., Wiese, A., Carey, P., Howell, D., & Knight, K. (2021). Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN): The TCU research hub. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 1
(5). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740547221000167
Knight, D.K., Yang, Y., Joseph, E.D., Tinius, E., Young, S., Shelley, L., Cross, D.R., & Knight, K. (2021). Preventing opioid use among justice involved youth as they transition to adulthood: Leveraging safe adults (LeSA) protocol paper. BMC Public Health. 21(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12127-3
Wasserman, G. A., McReynolds L. S., Taxman, F., Belenko, S., Elkington, K. S., Robertson, A., Dennis, M. L., Knight, D. K., Knudsen, H. K., Dembo, R., Ciarleglio, A., Wiley, T. A. (2021). The missing link(age): Multilevel contributors to service uptake failure in youths on community justice supervision. Psychiatric Services. online. https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/epub/10.1176/appi.ps.202000163
Elkington, K. S., Spaulding, A., Gardner, S., Knight, D., Belenko, S., Becan, J. E., Robertson, A. A., Oser, C., & DiClemente, R. (2020). A system-level intervention to encourage collaboration between juvenile justice and public health agencies to promote HIV/STI testing. AIDS Education Prevention, 32(4), 337-355. doi: 10.1521/aeap.2020.32.4.337
Becan, J. E., Fisher, J. H., Johnson, I. D., Bartkowski, J. P., Seaver, R., Gardner, S. K., Aarons G. A., Renfro, T. L., Muiruri, R., Blackwell, L., Piper, K. N., Wiley, T. A., & Knight, D. K. (2020). Improving substance use services for juvenile justice-involved youth: Complexity of process improvement plans in a large-scale multi-site study. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 47(4), 501-514. doi: 10.1007/s10488-019-01007-z
Dennis, M. L., Smith, C. N., Belenko, S., Knight, D. K., McReynolds, L., Dembo, R., … Wiley, T. (2019). Operationalizing a behavioral health services cascade of care model: Lessons learned from a 33-site implementation in juvenile justice community supervision. Federal Probation Journal, 83(2), 52-64.
Gardner, S. K., Ellington, K. S., Knight, D. K., Huang, S., DiClemente, R. J., Spaulding, A. C., … Baird-Thomas, C. (2019). Juvenile Justice Staff Endorsement of HIV/STI Prevention, Testing, and Treatment Linkage. Health & Justice. doi.org/10.1186/s40352-019-0096-7
Knight, D. K., Blue, T. R., Flynn, P. M., & Knight, K. (2019). The TCU Drug Screen 5: Identifying justice-involved individuals with substance use disorders. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 57(8), 525-537. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2018.1549180
Hogue, A., Henderson, C. E., Becker, S. J., & Knight, D. K. (2018). Evidence Base on Outpatient Behavioral Treatments for Adolescent Substance Use, 2014-2017: Outcomes, Treatment Delivery, and Promising Horizons. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 47(4), 499–526.
Knight, D. K., Joe, G. W., Crawley, R. D., Becan, J. E., Dansereau, D. F., & Flynn, P. M. (2016). The effectiveness of the Treatment Readiness and Induction Program (TRIP) for improving during-treatment outcomes. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 62, 20-27. PMCID: PMC4304896 abstract
Knight, D. K., Dansereau, D. F., Becan, J. E., Rowan, G. A., & Flynn, P. M. (2015). Effectiveness of a theoretically-based judgment and decision making intervention for adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44, 1024-1038. PMCID: PMC4208977 abstract
Joe, G. W., Knight, D. K., Becan, J. E., & Flynn, P. M. (2014). Recovery among adolescents: Models for post-treatment gains in drug abuse treatments. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 46, 362-373. PMCID: PMC3947115 abstract
Knight, D. K., Becan, J. E., Landrum, B., Joe, G. W., & Flynn, P. M. (2014). Screening and assessment tools for measuring adolescent client needs and functioning in substance abuse treatment. Substance Use & Misuse, 49(7), 902-918. PMCID: PMC3998717 abstract