Posted on November 28, 2021 by Amanda Cerreto
November 29, 2021 - The University of Texas at San Antonio's psychology department continues to gain recognition as Assistant Professor, Dr. Shelby Scott (she/her) , has been awarded the Visionary Grant from the American Psychological Foundation (APF).
Scott, a professor in the
College for Health, Community and Policy
, is now a two-time APF program winner. In 2013, she won an APF Roy Scrivner memorial grant, and now has won an APF Visionary grant for the project “Intimate Partner Violence in Transgender Romantic Relationships: A Dyadic, Longitudinal Investigation of Actor-Partner Associated Risk Factors.”
The Visionary Grant seeks to seed innovation through supporting research, education and intervention projects and programs that use psychology to solve social problems in priority areas such as at-risk, vulnerable populations, preventing violence, human behavior and health and eliminating stigma and prejudice.
"Transgender and nonbinary people face significant barriers to culturally informed healthcare," Scott said. "The goal of this project is to better understand the risk factors that predict intimate partner violence, relationship quality, and mental health outcomes in transgender individuals in romantic relationships."
Scott's research primarily focuses on barriers to healthcare and improving clinical services for LGBTQ+ families. As the director of the PRIDE Family Studies Lab at UTSA, she undertakes this work alongside graduate students and researchers from other institutions.
Scott worked with two other researchers on the project, Dr. Kimberly Balsam (she/they) at Palo Alto University and Lex Pulice-Farrow (he/they) at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. “This project and this grant award would not be possible without these incredible collaborators,” Scott said.
It is Scott's hope that the grant will provide a springboard for more federal funding toward this important research. “Our goal is to continue building the basic science of transgender individuals and their romantic relationships to inform couple and family interventions and practitioner guidelines,” Scott said.
— Amanda Cerreto
