The training faculty strongly believe that the primary focus of internship training is on clinical work.  We also believe that science underlies our practice of psychology.  The Department of Pediatric Psychology at CHOC does have a number of ongoing research studies which interns are exposed to and may be able to participate in limited ways.  Postdoctoral fellows are more integrally involved in these research projects.

The Center for the Advancement of Pediatric Health (CAPH) is a part of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, at the University of California-Irvine (UCI) and Department of Pediatric Psychology at CHOC Children’s (CHOC). CAPH is a collaborative group from diverse areas in medicine, nursing, and psychology. Under the executive direction of Dr. Zeev Kain, Chair of Anesthesiology, CAPH conducts cutting edge research on children’s health with particular interests in medical anxiety and pain. CAPH relocated from Yale University to UCI/CHOC in July 2008.  The multi-disciplinary research team at CAPH has a number of ongoing federally funded projects examining perioperative pain and anxiety as well as procedural pain and anxiety.

Other research projects include a federally funded project looking at patterns of adherence, mental health and substance use and safer sexual behaviors in adolescents and young adults with HIV infection across multi-sites (15 sites nationally).  The oncology team is examining the long term psychosocial effects of children who are survivors of childhood cancer.  The neuropsychology program is looking at long term outcomes in children who receive epilepsy surgery, as well as examining the cognitive effects of treatment for childhood cancer with a particular emphasis on differing effects for bilingual children.  The feeding program is looking at quality of life outcomes for children who undergo an intensive intervention to move from g-tube feedings to oral feeding.  The young child program is looking at long term effects for children followed through the Early Developmental Assessment Clinic (EDAC).   The Endocrine team is examining the outcomes of a group intervention for adolescents with diabetes and their parents.