Areas of Research

Faculty in the Department of Family and Community Health performs research in six general areas.  The following is a listing of currently funded research studies that our faculty are involved in:

History of Nursing

History of children and pharmaceuticals in the United States
Principal Investigator: Cynthia Connolly

History of children and pharmaceuticals in the United States
Principal Investigator: Cynthia Connolly

A historical analysis of nursing as an identity as well as a form of work
Principal Investigator: Patricia D'Antonio

The history of knowledge development
Principal Investigator: Patricia D'Antonio

The history of nursing's day-to-day work in hospitals
Principal Investigator: Patricia D'Antonio

History of nursing in Africa
Principal Investigator: Barbra Mann Wall

A Comparative History of 20th Century Catholic Hospitals, the importance of religious institutions for American secular society and the inevitable awkwardness when those institutions attempt to directly shape social policies in a diverse milieu
Principal Investigator: Barbra Mann Wall

Please also refer to the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing

Biobehavioral Aspects of Health

Please also refer to the Center for Biobehavioral Research

Aging Science

The efficacy of a nursing intervention, Individualized-Sensory Enhancement of the Elderly, in improving vision and hearing in long-term care residents
Co-Investigator: Pamela Cacchione

Please also refer to the Center for Integrative Science in Aging

Health Disparities

Nurse Practice Environment Influences on reducing disparities in hospital outcomes 
Principal Investigator: Margo Brooks Carthon

The use of behavioral economic principles (including financial incentives and intrinsic rewards) to encourage behavior change and takeup of preventive care services in the area of maternal-child health
Principal Investigator: Alison Buttenheim

Data analysis of findings from the HIV risk factor study, Neuroendocrine mediators and quality of life study, HIV risk factors among homeless adults; grant pending
Principal Investigator: Christopher Coleman

CAM instrument development (brief, low-literacy, self-administered); provider surveys
Principal Investigator: Maureen George

Epidemiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children, racial disparities in diabetes in children, survey of the role of specialty APN's, obesity as a trigger of type 1 diabetes
Principal Investigator: Terri Lipman

Focus groups with women residing in shelters in West Philadelphia
Principal Investigator: Marilyn Stringer

Please also refer to the Center for Health Equity Research

Health Outcomes and Policies

Policy analysis of PA Advanced Practice Nurse Legislation
Principal Investigator: Margo Brooks Carthon

Burnout and job satisfaction among inpatient psychiatric nurses
Principal Investigator: Nancy Hanrahan

Please also refer to the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research

Sedation Management in Pediatric Patients Supported on Mechanical Ventilation for Acute Respiratory Failure
Principal Investigator: Martha A. Q. Curley

Parent Presence during a Child's Invasive Procedure and/or Resuscitation
Principal Investigator: Martha A. Q. Curley

Caregiving and family management: survivors of childhood brain tumors
Principal Investigator: Janet Deatrick

Assessing the impact of lead exposure and nutrition deficiency on children’s behavior
Principal Investigator: Jianghong Liu

Birth complications and children’s behavior problems
Principal Investigator: Jianghong Liu

Feeding behaviors and energy expenditure in infants with congenital heart defects
Principal Investigator: Barbara Medoff-Cooper

Evaluation of Primary Care Breastfeeding Interventions 
Principal Investigator: Diane Spatz

The Use of Human Milk in Surgical Infants 
Principal Investigator: Diane Spatz

Breastfeeding Education Evaluation in PNP programs 
Principal Investigator: Diane Spatz

CQI Human Milk Data Collection 
Principal Investigator: Diane Spatz

Evaluation of an intervention to prevent HIV/STI and partner violence in adolescent relationships
Principal Investigator: Anne Teitelman

Community based research project on teen dating violence prevention – in low resource urban settings. Also assessing economic abuse in adolescent relationships 
Principal Investigator: Anne Teitelman