Sarah C. Narendorf

Sarah Narendorf is an Associate Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She previously served for twelve years on faculty at the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. She was Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development for five years during her time at the University of Houston.

Dr. Narendorf’s research focuses on ensuring successful transitions to adulthood for young adults who face this transition while navigating intersecting structural barriers. She has conducted research in partnership with collaborators across the United States to understand risk and resilience characteristics for young adults experiencing homelessness and has examined the intersections of housing instability and mental health crises. This work has resulted in publications in leading social work and mental health journals, including Journal of Adolescent Health, Community Mental Health Journal, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, and Children and Youth Services Review. She is currently conducting an intervention development study for a new intervention, Charge Up!, which adapts Critical Time Intervention and Cornerstone Coordinated Community Care to support mental health for young adults transitioning from homelessness to supported housing. She is also conducting research to understand the impact of Youth Advisory Boards on housing practices at the community level and exploring how artificial intelligence can be used to support better prioritization of community housing resources.

Dr. Narendorf has been an invited expert reviewer for grants submitted to the National Institutes of Health and the William T. Grant Foundation.  She is one of the lead conveners for the Youth and Young Adult Homelessness Special Interest Group through the Society for Social Work and Research. In this role, she has supported convenings to bring policy makers, researchers and young adult experts together to identify research priorities relevant to policy makers to end youth homelessness. She has long been affiliated with the NYU Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Group and is actively engaged in the work of the lab to develop new interventions to support young adult mental health. She has been a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research since 2019 and was recognized as an outstanding faculty member in 2018 by the women and gender resource center at the University of Houston.

While at the University of Houston, Dr. Narendorf co-founded a public impact lab called the Hub for Engaged Action Research which pioneered infrastructure to disseminate research findings in more accessible channels. She continues this commitment to sharing her scholarship both in peer reviewed publications and infographics and research briefs. In addition to disseminating her work through podcasts and infographics, she has authored approximately 80 peer-reviewed articles and is currently principal investigator on an R34 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

She earned her PhD in Social Work from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, her MSW from the University of Houston, and her BA in Sociology and English from Rice University in Houston. 

Park, I. Y., Barman-Adhikari, A., Shelton, J., Santa Maria, D., Hsu, H. T., Narendorf, S. C., ... & Petering, R. (2024). Information and communication technologies use among youth experiencing homelessness: associations with online health information seeking behavior. Information, Communication & Society, 1-18.

Brown, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., Garcia, K., Chassman, S., Hsu, H., Santa Maria, D., Narendorf, S., Shelton,J., Bender, K. & Ferguson, K. (2024). Substance use typologies among young people experiencing homelessness in seven cities across the United States: A latent class analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 150, 107929.

Um, M. Y., Manikonda, L., Eapen, D. J., Ferguson, K. M., Maria, D. M. S., Narendorf, S. C., ... & Hsu, H. T. (2024). Predicting Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness in Seven US Cities Using Interpretable Machine Learning. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 08862605241263588.

Roy, S., Brown III, H. S., Blinn, L. S., Narendorf, S. C., & Hamilton, J. E. (2024). A microcosting approach for planning and implementing community-based mental health prevention program: what does it cost?. Health Economics Review, 14(1), 35.

Wu, S., Law, L. E., Ferguson, K. M., Narendorf, S. C., Prock, K. A., Hsu, H. T., ... & Petering, R. (2024). Exploring the Relationship between Public Assistance Use and Depressive Symptoms among Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 15(2), 000-000.

Eapen, D. J., Bergh, R., Lucas, S., Narendorf, S. C., Begun, S., & Santa Maria, D. (2023). Experiences of pregnancy prevention among youth experiencing homelessness. Children and Youth Services Review, 153, 107115.

Giraldo-Santiago, N., Gearing, R. E., Carr, C., Orengo-Aguayo, R., & Narendorf, S. C. (2023). Needs and attitudes related to the adoption of evidence-based practices among Latinx mental health professionals. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 50(5), 781-791.

Narendorf, S. C., Arora, A., Santa Maria, D., Bender, K., Shelton, J., Hsu, H. T., ... & Barman-Adhikari, A. (2023). Self-identification of mental health problems among young adults experiencing homelessness. Community Mental Health Journal, 59(5), 844-854.

Narendorf, S. C., Ali, S., Lea III, C. H., & Pritzker, S. (2023). Striving toward community-engaged and participatory methods: Considerations for researchers in academic settings. Social Work Research, 47(1), 62-74.

Palmer, A. N., Patel, M., Narendorf, S. C., Sledge, S., & Sanchez, K. (2023). Changes in flourishing from adolescence to young adulthood: An 8‐year follow‐up. Child & Family Social Work, 28(1), 194-209.

Gallardo, K. R., Narendorf, S. C., Markham, C. M., Swartz, M. D., & Santa Maria, D. (2023). Hidden champions: Exploring supportive family relationships of youth experiencing homelessness. Child & Family Social Work, 28(1), 248-257.

Munson, M.R., Jaccard, J., Moore, K.L., Rodwin, A.H., Shimizu, R., Cole, A.R., Scott Jr, L.D., Narendorf, S.C., Davis, M., Gilmer, T. & Stanhope, V. (2022). Impact of a brief intervention to improve engagement in a recovery program for young adults with serious mental illness. Schizophrenia Research, 250, 104-111.

Gibbs, K. D., Jones, J. T., LaMark, W., Abdulmooti, S., Bretz, L., Kearney, K. D., Narendorf, S.C. & Santa Maria, D. M. (2023). Coping during the COVID‐19 pandemic among young adults experiencing homelessness and unstable housing: A qualitative study. Public Health Nursing, 40(1), 17-27.

Narendorf, S. C., Palmer, A., Minott, K., Santa Maria, D., Bender, K., Shelton, J., ... & Petering, R. (2022). Experiences of discrimination among young adults experiencing homelessness: Relationship to mental health outcomes. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 92(1), 58.

Mauldin, R. L., Barros-Lane, L., Tarbet, Z., Fujimoto, K., & Narendorf, S. C. (2022). Cohort-based education and other factors related to student peer relationships: A mixed methods social network analysis. Education Sciences, 12(3), 205.

Canfield, S. M., Hsu, H. T., Begun, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., Shelton, J., Ferguson, K. M., ... & Narendorf, S. C. (2022). Examining sources of social support and depression prevention among pregnant youth experiencing homelessness: outcomes of a seven-city study. Journal of Prevention, 43(3), 317-325.

Chassman, S., Barman-Adhikari, A., Hsu, H. T., Ferguson, K. M., Narendorf, S. C., Maria, D. S., ... & Bender, K. (2022). Prevalence and correlates of illicit substance use among young adults experiencing homelessness in seven cities across the United States. Journal of Drug Issues, 52(4), 488-508.

Barker, S. L., Maguire, N., Gearing, R. E., Cheung, M., Price, D., Narendorf, S. C., & Buck, D. S. (2021). Community-engaged healthcare model for currently under-served individuals involved in the healthcare system. SSM-Population Health, 15, 100905.

Palmer, A. N., Narendorf, S. C., & Graaf, G. (2021). The workforce innovation and opportunity act: Supporting “successful” transitions into adulthood. Journal of Policy Practice and Research, 2(3), 194-212.

Munson, M. R., Jaccard, J., Scott Jr, L. D., Moore, K. L., Narendorf, S. C., Cole, A. R., ... & Gilmer, T. (2021). Outcomes of a metaintervention to improve treatment engagement among young adults with serious mental illnesses: Application of a pilot randomized explanatory design. Journal of Adolescent Health, 69(5), 790-796.

Mercado, M., Marroquin, J.M., Ferguson, K.M., Bender, K., Shelton, J., Prock, K.A., Santa Maria, D., Hsu, H., Narendorf, S.C., Petering, R., & Barman-Adhikari, A. (2021). The intersection of housing and mental well-being: Examining the needs of formerly homeless young adults transitioning to stable housing. SSM-Population Health, 14, 100775.

Park, I. Y., Barman-Adhikari, A., Hsu, H. T., Narendorf, S. C., Maria, D. S., Shelton, J., ... & Petering, R. (2022). The relationship between discrimination and perceived stress: Buffering effect of online health information seeking among young adults experiencing homelessness. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 40(2), 97-121.

Hsu, H. T., Fulginiti, A., Petering, R., Barman-Adhikari, A., Bedell, K., Santa Maria, D., Shelton, J., Narendorf, S., Ferguson, K. M., Bender, K. (2021). Understanding the correlates of firearm violence involvement among young adults experiencing homelessness: a 7-city study. American journal of preventive medicine, 61(4), 585-590.

Narendorf, S.C., Glaude, M., Munson, M.R., Minott, K., & Young, B. (2021). Adaptation of a mental health treatment engagement intervention for older foster youth. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 38(1), 27-41.