Joie Acosta

Joie Acosta (Ph.D.,University of Hawai'i) is a Behavioral Scientist at RAND and a community and cultural psychologist. Dr. Acosta specializes in community-based participatory research and evaluation of issues related to the behavioral health consequences of disaster, community resilience, and long-term recovery. She has worked with the Red Cross and local service providers to develop recommendations for involving NGOs in disaster response and recovery and has co-authored reports on the role of NGOs in long-term human recovery, lessons learned regarding disaster case management, and community resilience. She has experience developing and conducting community-based participatory research across multiple sites and providing technical assistance to build evaluation and program capacity for a variety of clients, including national and local organizations; community partnerships and coalitions; state and federal agencies; and academic institutions. Addressing disaster and its resulting complex social problems has required Dr. Acosta to develop expertise in the conceptualization and design of high quality and objective research projects that use multiple methods, including focus groups, individual interviews, case studies, and on-line and paper surveys; with a variety of adolescent populations including low-income, low literacy, culturally diverse, and non-English speakers. For example, Dr. Acosta led an assessment of the Disaster Case Management Program in Louisiana. Utilizing case management data, Dr. Acosta developed an index of vulnerability that was correlated significantly with increased difficulties meeting case management goals (e.g., getting families to permanent housing).