Bobbi Jo Yarborough, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and health services researcher who works to improve care and health outcomes among individuals with serious mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders. Dr. Yarborough has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on more than a dozen research contracts or grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and FDA.
Her research has included studies of adolescent and adult depression treatment, suicide prevention, eating disorders treatment, lifestyle change among people with serious mental illnesses, first-episode psychosis, recovery from serious mental illnesses, dual recovery among people with mental illnesses and substance problems, opioid use and associated risks, and preferences for opioid agonist treatment. These include large observational studies, multisite randomized controlled trials, qualitative and mixed methods studies, and implementation and process evaluations.
In the wake of what has been called our nation’s opioid crisis, Dr. Yarborough has dedicated her research to better understanding who is at risk for opioid-related harms. Current research projects include a large study that will estimate the incidence of opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction among individuals prescribed opioids for chronic pain, along with the risk factors associated with these outcomes; another study focuses on the incidence and predictors of opioid-related overdose and death. Dr. Yarborough is also conducting a large, mixed-methods, multisite study that focuses on quantifying the magnitude of post-deprescribing overdoses, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths, and which patients are most vulnerable. In one additional study, she is focusing on how to improve health systems’ detection and treatment of suicide risk among patients who present to the emergency department for opioid-related overdose.
Dr. Yarborough is the Site Principal Investigator for the National Institute of Health’s All of Us research study, an ambitious effort to gather health data from at least one million people across the U.S. to accelerate research to improve personalized health care.
Dr. Yarborough is a member of the Mental Health Research Network, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, a consortium of research centers within 13 large health systems across the United States, including Kaiser Permanente Northwest. She is also the site principal investigator for the Health Systems Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.
Dr. Yarborough received her PsyD in clinical psychology from Pacific University. She joined the Center for Health Research in 2000.
Selected Current Studies
- A Prospective Investigation of the Risks of Opioid Misuse, Abuse, and Addiction among Patients Treated with Opioids for Chronic Pain (Opioid Post-Marketing Requirement Consortium)
- Predictive Modeling: The Role of Opioid Use in Suicide Risk (NIDA)
- Overdose- and Suicide-Related Risks Associated with Prescription Opioid Deprescribing (FDA)
Selected Publications
- Rossom RC, Richards JE, Sterling S, Ahmedani B, Boggs JM, Yarborough BJH, Beck A, Lloyd K, Frank C, Liu V, Clinch SB, Patke LD, Simon GE. Connecting Research and Practice: Implementation of Suicide Prevention Strategies in Learning Health Care Systems. Psychiatr Serv. 2022 Feb 1;73(2):219-222. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.202000596. Epub 2021 Jun 30. PubMed PMID: 34189931; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8716665.
- Yarborough BJH, Stumbo SP. Patient perspectives on acceptability of, and implementation preferences for, use of electronic health records and machine learning to identify suicide risk. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2021 May-Jun;70:31-37. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2021.02.008. Epub 2021 Mar 4. PubMed PMID: 33711562; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8127350.
- Yarborough BJH, Stumbo SP, Ahmedani B, Rossom R, Coleman K, Boggs JM, Simon GE. Suicide Behavior Following PHQ-9 Screening Among Individuals With Substance Use Disorders. J Addict Med. 2021 Jan-Feb 01;15(1):55-60. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000696. PubMed PMID: 32657957.
- Yarborough BJ, Yarborough MT, Cavese JC. Factors that hindered care seeking among people with a first diagnosis of psychosis. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2019 Oct;13(5):1220-1226. doi: 10.1111/eip.12758. Epub 2018 Nov 28. PubMed PMID: 30485673; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6538479.
- Penfold RB, Thompson EE, Hilt RJ, Schwartz N, Robb AS, Correll CU, Newton D, Rogalski K, Earls MF, Kowatch RA, Beck A, Yarborough BJH, Crystal S, Vitiello B, Kelleher KJ, Simon GE. Development of a Symptom-Focused Model to Guide the Prescribing of Antipsychotics in Children and Adolescents: Results of the First Phase of the Safer Use of Antipsychotics in Youth (SUAY) Clinical Trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2022 Jan;61(1):93-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2021.04.010. Epub 2021 May 4. PubMed PMID: 34256967; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8566327.
- Yarborough BJH, Ahmedani BK, Boggs JM, Beck A, Coleman KJ, Sterling S, Schoenbaum M, Goldstein-Grumet J, Simon GE. Challenges of Population-based Measurement of Suicide Prevention Activities Across Multiple Health Systems. EGEMS (Wash DC). 2019 Apr 12;7(1):13. doi: 10.5334/egems.277. PubMed PMID: 30993146; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6460503.
- Simon GE, Stewart C, Yarborough BJ, Lynch F, Coleman KJ, Beck A, Operskalski BH, Penfold RB, Hunkeler EM. Mortality rates after the first diagnosis of psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018 Mar 1;75(3):254-260. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.4437. PMID: 29387876 [PubMed - in process]
- Yarborough BJH, Perrin NA, Stumbo SP, Muench J, Green CA. Preventive service use among people with and without serious mental illnesses. Am J Prev Med. 2018 Jan;54(1):1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.08.020. Epub 2017 Oct 19. PMID: 29056371 [PubMed - in process]
- Yarborough BJ, Stumbo SP, Janoff SL, Yarborough MT, McCarty D, Chilcoat HD, Coplan PM, Green CA. Understanding opioid overdose characteristics involving prescription and illicit opioids: A mixed methods analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Oct 1;167:49-56. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.07.024. Epub 2016 Aug 1. PMID: 27520885 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Yarborough BJ, Yarborough MT, Janoff SL, Green CA. Getting by, getting back, and getting on: Matching mental health services to consumers' recovery goals. Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2016 Jun;39(2):97-104. doi: 10.1037/prj0000160. Epub 2015 Sep 28. PMID: 26414748 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Green CA, Yarborough BJ, Leo MC, Yarborough MT, Stumbo SP, Janoff SL, Perrin NA, Nichols GA, Stevens VJ. The STRIDE weight loss and lifestyle intervention for individuals taking antipsychotic medications: a randomized trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2015 Jan;172(1):71-81. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14020173. Epub 2014 Oct 31. PMID: 25219423 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]