Phillip N. Smith, Ph.D.

Phillip N. Smith, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Psychology

Dr. Smith will be accepting a new graduate student for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Education

  • National Institute of Mental Health, National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York

  • APA Accredited Clinical Psychology Internship, Southwest Consortium Pre-doctoral Psychology Internship, Albuquerque, New Mexico

  • Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

  • M.A. Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

  • M.S. Psychology, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania

  • B.A. Psychology, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania


Current Projects

  • SOAR (Strengthening Opportunities for Achievement & Resilience):  SOAR is a community-based intervention study that aims to reduce interpersonal violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among middle school youth.  The intervention addresses systems-level practices and supports for teachers and law enforcement officers to assist in working with youth exhibiting problematic behaviors.  SOAR is grounded in the socioecological framework and posits that interpersonal violence and suicide share many root causes and that preventing such outcomes is most effectively started "upstream". 
  • Project GRIP (Gun-Related Injury Prevention): Firearms are used in over half of all suicides and three quarters of all homicides in the US. Yet, prevention strategies that focus on firearms are limited due to a cultural disconnect between prevention specialists and the very communities they wish to serve. This project will collaborate with those who own and use guns and those living in areas with high rates of violence to better understand their perspective, improve public health strategies, and save lives. 


Current Research Funding

  • Preventing Youth Violence through building Equitable Communities: An Evaluation of a Multisystemic Intervention. National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. Role: Co-Principal Investigator. Amount: $3,500,000.

  • Participatory Action Research to Inform a Social-Ecological Model of Gun-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Practices. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Role: Co-Principal Investigator. Amount: $1,868,915.


Recent Publications

  • Currier, J.M., McDermott, R.C., *Fernandez, P., *Salcone, S., *Hinkel H.M., *Schuler, K., Fadoir, N., & Smith, P.N. (in press). Examining the outcomes and acceptability of a peer-led spiritual intervention for moral injury in a veteran service organization. Psychological Services. 

  • *Basu, N., *Barinas, J., Williams, K., Clanton, C., & Smith, P.N. (in press). Understanding nurse suicide using an ideation-to-action framework: An integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 

  • Silva, C., Smith, P.N., Rogers, M., Joiner, T.E., Foote, B., & Van Orden, K.A. (in press). Clinically significant scores for thwarted belonging and perceived burden. Crisis.

  • Fadoir, N., Marie, L., Basu, N., Schuler, K., Granato, S., & Smith, P.N. (in press). Exploring interpersonal theory of suicide typologies in patients with cancer: A latent profile analysis. Death Studies. 

  • Boone, S.D., Schuler, K.R., Basu, N., Smith, P.N. (in press). College extracurricular involvement as a suicide prevention and wellness promotion strategy: Exploring the roles of social support and meaning. Journal of American College Health.

  • Smith, P.N., Kuhlman, S.T.W., & Wolford-Clevenger, C. (2022). Examining the interpersonal theory of suicide in acutely suicidal psychiatric inpatients. Death Studies, 46, 1785-1791. DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1852337