About

Marisa E. Marraccini, Ph.D., NCSP, is an Associate Professor at the UNC School of Education, holding the Donald & Justeen Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education title. She specializes in promoting the mental health and well-being of students and preventing health risk behaviors. Trained as a school psychologist, her interest in supporting high-risk adolescents to prevent suicide and other health risks was sparked during her internship at a rural high school. To better support these students, she pursued advanced training in suicide assessment research through a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Her passion for teaching and mentoring school psychology students stems from her commitment to social justice in school systems, aiming to develop future school psychologists as agents of change who utilize evidence-based practices to promote student success and equity. Her research focuses on promoting child and adolescent mental health within school settings. She aims to prevent suicide and support adolescents with mental health challenges by identifying modifiable protective and risk factors related to school experiences and developing interventions informed by the school context. Marraccini is particularly interested in characterizing adolescent school experiences following psychiatric hospitalization, applying school (academic and social) context to inform hospital interventions and school supports, and leveraging technology to enhance prevention and intervention efforts. She partners with individuals with lived experiences to co-design solutions to the everyday challenges facing youth. Currently, she is developing a virtual reality intervention to supplement inpatient treatment for adolescents hospitalized for suicide-related crises and leading research that partners with youth to develop and disseminate therapeutic skills via social media.

Research topics

• Psychiatry
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Developmental psychology
• Neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• Environmental health
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Genetics

Selected publications

• Partnering With Teens With Past Suicide‐Related Crises: Development, Application and Refinement of Safety Procedures for Co‐Design

  Health Expectations · 2026-02-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Growing interest in participatory co-design approaches for digital mental health interventions necessitates attention to the development of safety protocols for safely partnering with individuals with suicide-related risk. Historically, adolescents with suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STB) have been excluded from such approaches, discounting the importance of youth voice. METHODS: This case study provides an overview of the development and use of safety protocols for participatory co-design with adolescents with histories of suicide-related crises who identify as ethnic-racial minoritised or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+). We also explored teen co-designer perspectives on the safety protocols employed, using applied thematic analysis to identify themes informing co-design safety for adolescents with suicide-related risk. RESULTS: No safety issues emerged during co-design sessions, with the majority of adolescent distress levels remaining the same before and after meetings. Adolescent co-designers endorsed many components of the safety protocol, with recommendations for improvements mainly addressing the need to adapt the protocol based on the unique needs of each teen. CONCLUSION: Future work can draw from lessons learned in this case study to enact participatory co-design approaches that acknowledge and leverage the strengths and resilience of young people with STB. PATIENT AND PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Adolescents with histories of suicide-related crises who identify as ethnic-racial minoritised or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) were involved as partners in this study, which followed principles of participatory co-design to improve a virtual reality intervention to enhance suicide prevention for hospitalised youth.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• School Re-Entry Guidelines: Recommendations for Hospitals, Schools, and Families in Supporting Youth Following Psychiatric Hospitalization for Suicide-Related Crises

  UNC Libraries · 2026-04-07

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  When a student returns to school following a suicide-related crisis, reintegration can be complex and emotionally challenging. Although coordinated communication between schools, families, and hospitals, along with tailored modifications and interventions addressing student concerns, can ease this transition, there are numerous barriers preventing this continuum of care. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide a structured framework to support schools, families, and hospitals navigate school reintegration.

  PublisherDOI

• Practice Experiences for School Reintegration (PrESR): A Pilot Multiphase Optimization Trial of a Virtual Reality Intervention for Adolescents Hospitalized for Suicide-Related Thoughts and Behaviors

  Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health · 2025-06-03 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Background: , a virtual reality (VR) intervention designed to teach therapeutic skills to hospitalized adolescents and allowing them to practice using these skills in stressful situations set in school settings that they would be expected to experience following discharge. Objective: This pilot optimization trial examined the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of PrESR for augmenting standard inpatient care with adolescents hospitalized for suicide-related crises. Method: =42) to be randomized into one of eight conditions testing three different VR-enhanced skill lessons and practice sessions: affect regulation, cognitive restructuring, and problem-solving. Results: Research clinicians delivered individual sessions of PrESR with a high degree of fidelity (93-100%), but patients were often discharged before completing more than one skill. Of the participants who participated in the intervention, the majority agreed or strongly agreed with statements endorsing PrESR and its components as important, appropriate, and easy to use, largely supporting acceptability. Participants also provided feedback for improvement, informing slight changes to the next version of the intervention. More generally, PrESR did not appear to result in significant safety concerns based self-reported ratings of subjective distress and pre/post measures of physical symptoms related to cybersickness. Conclusion: Findings support the feasibility of delivering a brief version of PrESR and preliminary acceptability for the intervention. VR technology and content show promising potential for adolescent suicide prevention and mental health support. Future research should examine PrESR for improving patient outcomes and preventing suicide.

  PublisherDOI

• Digital Detox Strategies and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Why, Where, and How

  Cureus · 2025-01-30 · 14 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Excessive use of social media (SM) platforms and digital technology (DT), often driven by habitual scrolling due to adaptive feed experiences, has been linked to anxiety, sleep disturbances, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors while also exacerbating mental health concerns. Yet, the role of "digital detox", defined as a voluntary reduction or temporary cessation of device use, remains only partially understood as both a clinical and lifestyle intervention. This comprehensive scoping review was conducted to consolidate existing research on digital detox interventions and evaluate contextual factors that may influence their effectiveness for mental health and well-being. A targeted keyword search for "digital detox" was conducted in the PubMed database on December 12, 2024, yielding 34 initial results. This review followed the approach recommended by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) to identify, screen, and extract evidence from relevant studies as per pre-specified inclusion criteria. A total of 14 studies were found eligible, and data from these studies and their relevant references (totaling 640 citations) were extracted and synthesized. Our findings suggest that digital detox interventions may alleviate depression and problematic internet use, and individuals with higher baseline symptom severity appear to derive higher benefits. However, the impact on broader outcomes such as life satisfaction and overall well-being remains variable. Divergent intervention approaches, ranging from short-term SM abstinence to sustained, moderate device restrictions and individual differences in baseline severity of symptoms, coping styles, environmental pressures, and support systems, may contribute to different outcomes across various studies and systematic reviews. Overall, age, gender, baseline mental health, and range and duration of DT usage prior to detox are the key variables that may determine the effectiveness of digital detox interventions. Tailored DT usage in moderation, aligned with each individual's age, developmental stage, and academic needs, has greater benefits among younger populations, particularly adolescents and young adults, while mindful and regulated SM use is especially advantageous for female populations. However, other populations could also benefit, provided interventions address self-regulation challenges specific to adult lifestyles. Given the growing global prevalence of problematic smartphone use (PSU) and its documented comorbidity with psychiatric disorders, digital detox strategies have the potential to be integrated into clinical recommendations and policy initiatives. However, a framework for assessing intervention quality and long-term outcomes is essential.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Aligning State Discipline and Mental Health Policies with Trauma and Jedi-Informed Suicide Prevention for Black Youth

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Trajectories of Suicidal Ideation among Chinese High School Students: Predictive Effects of Family Risk and School Connectedness

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2025-10-15

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Emotional abuse and victimization: Associations with adolescent suicidal ideation

  The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter · 2025-11-26

  article

  Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a well‐established risk factor for a wide range of adverse psychological and psychosocial outcomes. Hundreds of thousands of children have reported being abused within recent years, leading to negative physical and psychological effects, in some cases including death. CM can be defined as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. Both physical and psychological forms of abuse can be damaging to a child's well‐being, and can have significant effects on the child's mental health later in life. Compared to neglect, maltreatment in the form of abuse is more likely to lead to mental health problems and risky behaviors, like suicidality.

  PublisherDOI

• Aligning state discipline and mental health policies with trauma and JEDI-Informed suicide prevention for Black youth

  Children and Youth Services Review · 2025-09-10

  articleOpen access

  Addressing the alarming rates of suicide among Black youth requires a comprehensive understanding of state-level discipline and mental health policies through a trauma- and justice-informed lens. This review investigates the current state landscape by analyzing a federal database of state laws and policies related to school discipline and mental health access. The analysis is guided by a trauma- and JEDI-informed (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) suicide prevention model, evaluating the extent to which these policies align with the model’s recommendations to address the unique needs of Black youth. The purpose of this review is to assess United States state and territory policies and procedures across four dimensions of the JEDI-informed framework: race and ethnicity, trauma, mental health access, and community/family partnerships. By assessing these constructs, the review aims to provide actionable insights for developing effective, equity-centered suicide prevention models tailored to Black youth. Results indicate that more than half of the states address these issues in their policies regarding discipline and prevention/intervention. We suggest that this has important implications for preventing suicide in Black youth.

  PublisherDOI

• The roles of school in supporting LGBTQ+ youth: A systematic review and ecological framework for understanding risk for suicide-related thoughts and behaviors

  UNC Libraries · 2025-06-05

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• “This Is Not Online Education. It’s Disaster Education”: A Qualitative Study of Remote and Hybrid School Climates During COVID-19

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-29

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In evaluating the experiences of students and educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, considerable attention has been given to teaching and learning. Less research examines school climate, an important predictor of academic outcomes. This study explores school climate in fully remote and hybrid learning environments between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Leveraging the expertise of K–12 student services professionals (school counselors, psychologists, and social workers), we qualitatively compared perceptions of aspects of school climate (i.e., relationships, well-being, and self-efficacy) for students and educators. While we expected hybrid schools to have some advantages over fully remote schools for school climate, we found that both types of schools were grappling with disaster educators. Similar issues, such as concerns about student isolation and the demands placed on educators, emerged across participant descriptions of school climate in both settings. The findings can inform planning for future disruptions and crisis events in schools.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Leslie A. Brick

  32 shared

• Nicole R. Nugent

  Providence College

  29 shared

• Lisa L. Weyandt

  University of Rhode Island

  21 shared

• Cari Pittleman

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  12 shared

• Bergljót Gyða Guðmundsdóttir

  University of Iceland

  10 shared

• Juliana L. Vanderburg

  The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

  9 shared

• Kaitlin Bountress

  8 shared

• Mackenzie J. Lind

  7 shared

Labs

• UNC School of EducationPI

Awards & honors

• Donald & Justeen Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education