Research & Clinical Interests
As a child psychiatrist and health services researcher, Dr. Kataoka has been investigating methods of delivering evidence-based mental health care in schools. Her research has led to a greater understanding of the role of schools in decreasing disparities in mental health care for ethnic minority children and their families.Dr. Kataoka was one of the original investigators to help develop and evaluate the Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools program (CBITS), an evidence-based treatment program for traumatized youth who have been exposed to a wide variety of violence in their community. She has examined how schools can best implement and disseminate evidence-based interventions such as CBITS. She has also examined the role of school basedhealth centers in delivering mental health services. In addition to her work in schools, she has been lead evaluations of county mental health services delivered through the Mental Health Services Act. As part of her work in the DMH-UCLA Prevention Centerof Excellence, Dr. Kataoka has been part of a team creating online educational materials for teachers and school staff on resilience and trauma-informed schools and educational topics related to COVID.