CURRENT RESEARCH AGENDA

• Fathers and Families
• Men’s Mental and Physical Health
• Outreach and Community Interventions

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY

Through research, I seek to give a voice to traditionally underrepresented populations, to examine "positive" psychological processes that cause individuals to excel in life, and to integrate science with my clinical practice.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH

Fathers and Healthcare is a research project, under the direction of Dr. Craig Garfield at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, which examines how fathers are involved in their child’s healthcare. The research participants are primarily non-married, urban, low socio-economic status, and racially diverse fathers.

These fathers have been stereotyped as "deadbeat dads", because of assumed absence from their child’s life. My research focused on the positive ways that these fathers are involved in their child’s healthcare, how fathers supported the child’s mother in the postpartum period when depression may be a concern, paternal identities that may enhance father involvement, and the positive changes that fathers made to their health behaviors as a result of having children.

Community Action for Child Health Equity is a research partnership directed by Dr. Madeleine Shalowitz of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute and Kim Wagneer of the community health department in Lake County, IL. This project relies on a research model that promotes community members to be engaged in all phases of the research process. The research findings will be applied to assist ethnic minority groups of low socio-economic status identify health challenges in their community, to better access appropriate healthcare services, and to improve health outcomes.

RESEARCH PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

A review of men’s health and masculinity (in press, 2008). American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Scheduled to be published in December 2008 issue.

Examining the role of paternal depression in coparenting (2008). Poster presentation at annual American Psychological Association convention, Boston, MA.

Examining coparental support among married and non-married fathers: Implications for counseling interventions. Doctoral Dissertation, defended April 18, 2008. View

How children affect fathers’ health and health behaviors: A qualitative study (2008). Poster presented at annual Pediatric Academic Society conference, Honolulu, Hawaii. View

Utilizing help-seeking research to inform clinical practice (2008). Roundtable presentation at International Counseling Psychology Conference, Chicago, IL. View

Paternal reports of healthcare decision-making: A qualitative study (2007). Poster presented at American Psychological Association convention, San Francisco, CA. See presentation

Father healthcare involvement (2007). Poster presented at Pediatric Academic Society conference, Toronto Canada. See presentation

Fathers and the Well-Child Visit, published article in journal of Pediatrics. or download here. *A link to a featured story written about our article, Fathers and the Well-Child Visit, on the WebMD website.

Fathers and child healthcare decision-making: A qualitative study of "paternal identity conjointness" (2006). Poster presented at American Psychological Association convention, New Orleans, LA. See presentation

Fathers identification of maternal postpartum mood changes and provision of social support (2006). Poster presented at Pediatric Academic Society conference, San Francisco, CA. See presentation

Applying a community-based participatory research model to an academic-community partnership: Implications for psychologists working with diverse populations (2006). Presented at the National Latino Psychologists convention. Milwaukee, WI.View