Leyla Ismayilova is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Professor Ismayilova specializes in the development and adaptation of family-based interventions to improve child well-being in the international context and has been involved in inter...
Leyla Ismayilova is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Professor Ismayilova specializes in the development and adaptation of family-based interventions to improve child well-being in the international context and has been involved in international research projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and the former Soviet Union.
Her research agenda focuses on developing culturally congruent interventions to improve mental health functioning and reduce risk behaviors (sexual risk behaviors and substance use) and exposure to violence among at-risk children and youth. She is incorporating computerized multi-media technologies in the delivery of preventive interventions to engage youth and assure intervention fidelity and cost-effectiveness of interventions. Professor Ismayilova is the Principal Investigator on the NIDA-funded study testing a multi-media family-based intervention designed to reduce sexual and drug-related risks among at-risk adolescents living in communities highly affected by heroin trade and use in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Professor Ismayilova is also interested in integrating economic empowerment strategies in health and mental health preventive interventions with at-risk children and their families. She is developing a mental health prevention intervention with a family-based economic empowerment component for children from orphanages in Azerbaijan. She is also evaluating a combined economic empowerment and child rights intervention to prevent violence against children and exploitation of children in ultra-poor communities in Burkina Faso.