Current Research Projects
I have all kinds of projects in the works. Some of them are currently recruiting participants, while others are in the Development or Analysis phases. Check it out:
Black Women, ADHD Diagnoses, and Identity
Co-Researcher, October 2023-current. This multi-phase project explores the experiences of Black women who have been diagnosed with ADHD. Research shows that women are under-diagnosed with ADHD, and Black women are particularly susceptible to under- and mis-diagnoses. Using an arts-based approach, we are trying to understand the journey to diagnosis and how it influences these individuals’ mental and relational health. Additionally, we are creating and validating a new scale to measure relational illness identity, or how much your close relationships embrace a chronic illness and how the people around you accommodate your needs, challenges, and triumphs.
Integrating Family Communication into Health Disparities Scholarship:
The family as a site for (de)stigmatization
Co-Writer, July 2023-current. My co-author and I are writing a chapter for the upcoming Handbook of Communication and Health Disparities, which highlights the importance of communication within family systems in the reduction of stigma and, ultimately, health disparities.
Support-Provider Skills Intervention
Co-Researcher, August 2020-current. This is an applied project for people who offer social support to someone with a chronic illness, consisting of research-based online training modules to build skills such as navigating support gaps and employing person-centered messaging. We recently published the results of a Community Needs Assessment that showed a gap between the quality of support people think they are providing, and how that support is actually perceived by chronically ill individuals. We used that data to create and test an online training module to develop emotional support skills. Currently, we are testing our second module, which is all about advice-giving. Stay tuned for the results!
