Projects

This project focuses on optimizing the assessment of parenting by addressing the current limitations of parenting assessments. The project involves three main aims:

• Aim 1: Conducting qualitative interviews and text mining analyses to identify unmeasured parenting domains, resulting in a self-report version.
• Aim 2: Developing and field-testing coparent and youth versions through cognitive interviews and national surveys, including piloting Spanish versions to ensure reliability and measurement equivalence across diverse samples.
• Aim 3: Using item response theory to develop an optimal ecological momentary assessment (EMA) version of the scale, tested with parent-youth dyads.

This study focuses on developing and validating assessment tools to measure parenting in LGBTQIA+ families, considering intersectionality and the unique challenges faced by these families. The project aims to understand daily parenting practices and their relationships with youth and family well-being through a combination of national surveys, interviews, and daily diaries. The study will involve two samples: one from a national survey and the other from participants who will also complete daily diaries. The ultimate goal is to refine parenting measures such as the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) and the Regulating Emotions in Parenting Scale (REPS), ensuring they are psychometrically robust and culturally sensitive to the needs of LGBTQIA+ families.

This project aims to investigate how parental experiences of discrimination affect their children’s sleep quality, with a focus on modifiable parental processes such as parenting and emotion regulation. The study will employ a 14-day dyadic intensive longitudinal design involving ethnoracially diverse parent-child dyads, collecting daily data on discrimination experiences and sleep quality through both subjective (parent-reported sleep diaries) and objective (actigraphy) measures. The project’s specific aims include evaluating the association between parental discrimination and children’s sleep, investigating the mediating role of parental processes, and assessing the concordance of subjective and objective sleep measures. The study aims to inform interventions that mitigate the negative effects of discrimination on children’s sleep and contribute to the well-being of ethnoracially minoritized families​.

This project develops and tests Carey, an AI-based conversational agent designed to deliver immediate informational and emotional support to family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Through a 6-week deployment, the study evaluates Carey’s feasibility, usability, and potential to reduce stress, anxiety, and loneliness. The project uses specialized small language models tailored to common caregiving challenges and incorporates feedback from caregivers and clinicians to guide future development. The long-term goal is to create an accessible, reliable, and empathetic digital support tool for caregivers in real-world settings.

The project aims to adapt and test a brief form of Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) for pregnant women with HIV (WHIV) in rural South Africa. The project is designed to address the high rates of perinatal depression and low antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence in this population. The intervention seeks to improve maternal mental health and ART adherence, which in turn may enhance the developmental outcomes of HIV-exposed infants (HEI).

Key Aims:

1. Exploration Stage (Aim 1): Identify the determinants for adapting brief IPT for WHIV in rural South Africa through focus groups and interviews. This stage focuses on understanding the cultural, systemic, and logistical factors that will influence the adaptation and implementation of IPT.
2. Preparation Stage (Aim 2): Develop a comprehensive implementation plan for brief IPT, incorporating feedback from the exploration stage. This phase includes feedback sessions and additional interviews to ensure the intervention is culturally congruent and contextually appropriate.

Significance: The SHARP project addresses a critical gap in mental health care for WHIV in rural South Africa, with the potential to improve both maternal and infant health outcomes. The project leverages the EPIS (Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment) framework to guide the systematic adaptation and implementation of IPT, ensuring the intervention is sustainable and scalable in resource-limited settings.

Impact: If successful, this project could provide a scalable model for addressing perinatal depression and improving ART adherence in WHIV, with broader implications for global health interventions in similar settings.