Current Research and Scholarly Interests
My interests include the applications of behavioral theory and social ecological approaches to achieve large scale change in chronic disease prevention and health promotion areas of relevance, in particular, to mid-life and older adults as well as underserved communities; studying influences of the built and social environments on health behaviors and outcomes; expanding the reach and translation of evidence-based interventions through the use of state-of-the-art communication technologies; applying community-based participatory research perspectives to address health disparities among disadvantaged populations; and evaluating policy-level approaches to health promotion/disease prevention in the US and internationally.
In the physical activity and aging field, I am interested in the study of physical activity as a link to other health-promoting behaviors; and the relationship of physical activity and other health-related behaviors to day-to-day functioning, stress and coping, and sleep quality, particularly in chronically stressed as well as underserved populations.
In pursuing the development of behavioral interventions for chronic disease prevention with broad applicability to the population at large, I have investigated channels of delivery (e.g., mediated approaches and interactive technologies) that do not require ongoing face-to-face contact. We have found that mediated interventions can provide a useful alternative to more intensive face-to-face approaches to health behavior change and, in some cases, such as in the physical activity field, may actually produce better long term (i.e., up to two years) adherence than class- or group-based approaches.
Finally, we are applying "citizen science" perspectives in harnessing the power of residents to change their local environments to improve their health. The goal of this applied community-based research is to provide all residents, regardless of language, culture, or sociodemographic circumstances, with a means of identifying and working with other residents, community organizations, governments, and other decision makers to improve their local environments to promote health and wellbeing.
