Research & Creative Work
Research is an important part of the academic life at CHHS!
Many of our faculty members are active researchers, and their research and scholarly activities make a significant contribution to their health and human services disciplines and to their teaching. We are proud of our research accomplishments, and we are actively seeking ways to expand the research capabilities and scholarly productivity of college faculty. A few examples of our research activities, ongoing or planned, follow:
Blindness and Low Vision Studies
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Ph.D.
Interdisciplinary Health Services (BS-IHS)
Nursing
Occupational Therapy
Physician Assistant
Social Work
SPADA - Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Speech Pathology and Audiology
Blindness and Low Vision Studies
Dr. Robert Wall Emerson, an associate professor in the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, continues to run studies investigating the specifics of how hybrid and quieter vehicles affect the mobility of pedestrians with visual impairments. He was recently cited in an article in Scientific American regarding this work. He will also be conducting studies to determine what actions or procedures a blind pedestrian can perform to achieve the highest rate of vehicle yielding under a wide range of circumstances. These efforts are supported by a Bioengineering Research Partnership grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute (PI is Richard Long). Dr. Wall Emerson is also collaborating with Touch Graphics in the development of a biofeedback device for long cane users based on the Wii videogame. Along with the Wii project, Dr. Wall Emerson continues to investigate the biomechanics of long cane use in people with visual impairments.
Dr. David Guth, professor in the Department of Blindness and Low Vision, and Dr. Wall Emerson continue to work on the measurement issues associated with assessing heading and veering studies with people who are blind. They are conducting studies looking at factors that influence veering and alignment and are also investigating the complexities of trying to measure heading and alignment.
Drs. Richard Long and David Guth, professors in the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, co-direct a Bioengineering Research Partnership that is funded by the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. The partnership was initially funded in 2000 and is scheduled to receive support until 2012. The interdisciplinary partnership involves transportation engineers, psychologists, rehabilitation professionals, and computer scientists from Boston College, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, and North Carolina State University. Its goal is to determine the problems that people with blindness have in complex travel situations, with a focus on access to complex intersections and challenging street crossings. As problems are identified, the partnership works to develop and evaluate solutions to the problems that are identified, including the development of new technologies to assist individuals in crossing streets safely and efficiently at locations where crossings are challenging. Current research focus areas include: challenges in crossing streets at roundabout intersections and other crosswalks without stop signs or signals; the design and operation of accessible pedestrian signals at complex signalized intersections; and challenges in hearing quieter vehicles when crossing streets, and solutions to this problem.
Dr. Paul Ponchillia, professor emeritus in the Department Blindness and Low Vision Studies, has partnered with Dr. Steve LaGrow of Massey University in New Zealand to conduct as survey of usage of GPS-based navigation devices by individuals who are blind. The survey will reveal the extent to which individuals are using their GPS devices, the situations where the devices are most helpful, and the ways that the devices could be improved.
Dr. Susan Ponchillia (October 4, 1954 – October 12, 2009), professor in the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, had a grant from the Macular Disease Foundation and collaborated with CHHS doctoral student Amy Freeland to establish national professional standards for vision rehabilitation therapists. Dr. Ponchillia also received a grant to collaborate with filmmaker Frank Jamison to create a documentary about the T’licho people who live on Great Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories and the high incidence of congenital blindness among them. She also completed work with husband and colleague, Dr. Paul Ponchillia and Dr. Lauren Lieberman on a book about teaching sports, physical and recreation activities to persons with blindness, deaf-blindness, or low vision.
Dr. Jennipher Wiebold, CRC, is an associate professor with a joint appointment in the Departments of Blindness and Low Vision Studies and Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology. She is researching rehabilitation counseling personnel preparation experiential methodologies through a study investigating the role of Immersion in Blindness Training changing attitudes toward blindness held by pre-training rehabilitation counselors. This study is supported by an Experiential and Innovative Training Grant, Rehabilitation Services Administration, U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Wiebold is also collaborating with the authors (Ehmer & Needham, 1979) of the Beliefs About Blindness Scale (BABS) to assess validity of the instrument 30 years post development. She is also engaged in research assessing Compassion Fatigue among Blindness and Low Vision Service Providers.
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Ph.D.
Dr. Amy Curtis is an associate professor in the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and the Physican Assistant Department. She is an epidemiologist, and her current research focuses on diabetes, obesity and developing and evaluating community participatory public health initiatives. This fall, she was awarded a grant to implement and evaluate a culturally-sensitive diabetes education and support group program in low income racial/ethnic minority communities in southwest Michigan.
Dr. Kieran J. Fogarty is an associate professor in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Doctoral program. Dr. Fogarty’s area of expertise is in interdisciplinary approaches to developing new applied research methods based on the concepts that reflect the fundamental changes that are occurring in our health care delivery systems in the United States. Dr. Fogarty is currently participating in numerous collaborations with various agencies to develop data-driven information systems to track outcomes associated with the delivery of evidence-based practices in applied settings.
Dr. Nickola W. Nelson, director of the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, is conducting research leading to the development of a standardized “Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills” (TILLS). Other members of the research team include coauthors of this test and a related “Pediatric Test of Brain Injury” (PTBI). They are Drs. Nancy Helm-Estabrooks, who holds a research appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillian Hotz at the University of Miami Medical Center, and Elena Plante at the University of Arizona. The current beta research trial is designed to investigate the TILLS' sensitivity and specificity for differential diagnosis of school-age students (ages 6;0 to 18;11) with reference to the current “gold standard” measure of spoken language development and disorders and a group of literacy development assessment measures. A companion “Language and Literacy Questionnaire” is under development to be completed by students, parents, and teachers.
Doctoral students who have played a major role in test design and evaluation for these related tools include Michele Anderson, Barbara Howes (also faculty in the School of Social Work), and Patricia Tattersall. Master’s level students who have completed master’s thesis studies contributing evidence that has influenced the research are Andrea Brennan and Sally Andersen. Master’s thesis students in speech-language pathology who expect to complete their degrees in 2010 who are working on this project are Michelle Magalski and Joyce Irvine. Dr. Nelson is also working with undergraduate honors student Paula Vergunst on a study of methods for supporting emergent literacy and language development among children who are dual language (Spanish and English) learners, and with WMU alum, Dr. Lena Caesar (Andrews University) on a study funded by a Multicultural Grant from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, entitled “Supporting Acquisition of Language and Literacy through School-Home Activities (SALSA): A Bilingual Journaling Approach.”
Interdisciplinary Health Services (BS-IHS)
Dr. Doris Ravotas is the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Health Services program and an assistant professor in Blindness and Low Vision Studies. Her research interests are in health practitioner-client communications particularly in the intersection between oral and written (or electronic) communication and health literacy. She has initiated a collaboration with Bronson Methodist Hospital to add a research element to health literacy initiatives in the hospital setting.
Dr. Kelly Ackerson is an assistant professor with the WMU Bronson School of Nursing. Her research interests are in the behavior of health promotion and health prevention focusing on cervical cancer screening. In November 2008, she presented her research findings at the Oncology Nursing Society Advanced Practice conference. The presentation focused on the comparison of 24 face-to-face interviews of African American women with low resources, who do and do not obtain routine Pap smear tests, and their personal influencing factors that affect their screening behavior.
Dr. Yvonne Ford is an assistant professor with the WMU Bronson School of Nursing. Her research interests are peri-operative nursing, nursing administration, and patient safety, focusing on nurses’ hand-offs. In October 2009, she presented her research findings at the International Nursing Administration Research Conference. The presentation described the linguistic structure of 43 end-of-shift hand-offs between nurses in acute care hospitals.
Dr. Mary Ann Stark is an associate professor of nursing with the WMU Bronson School of Nursing. Her research interest focuses on non-pharmacologic pain management during labor. In June 2009, she presented the findings of a survey of 401 labor and delivery nurses to determine the barriers they encounter in providing hydrotherapy to laboring women at the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) annual conference. Dr Stark completed a pilot study that examined the physiological and psychological effects of therapeutic showering. While on sabbatical in 2009, she is conducting a study with laboring women to determine the physiological and psychological effects of showering during labor. Dr. Stark received the Celeste Phillips Maternity Care Award from AWHONN to conduct this study.
Dr. Ben Atchison, professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and a founding member of the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC), has been involved in research (2003-2008 SAMHSA funded grant in collaboration with the National Childrens Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) ) related to school based intervention models for children (SIP: School Intervention Project). A specific focus on sensory processing disorders led to the inclusion of sensory based approaches to classroom learning and behavioral management of children exposed to trauma. With the recent award of a second NIH-SAMHSA grant, he will be working with the CTAC team to develop a mix of online and on-campus education and training programs designed for interdisciplinary professional teams in Michigan to implement comprehensive trauma assessments and then to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Additionally, he is working with Michelle Suarez, a new OT faculty member, along with three graduate students, to develop a pilot study to determine whether physiologic coherence measurements, as developed by HeartMath technologies, can be effectively used to measure sensory processing disorders among trauma exposed children with trauma.
Dr. Ann Chapleau, is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Her research interests involve mental illness, particularly as it relates to homelessness. Dr. Chapleau is also interested in service learning in community-based practice. She recently completed a two-year study of the effects of occupational therapy consultation in a homeless shelter, funded by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA).
Dr. Carla Chase, an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, is an occupational therapist and gerontologist whose work centers on meeting the needs of older adults in the community by researching the impact of environmental modifications on participation and safety. Dr. Chase is currently conducting a research study to explore the impact of home modifications on a client's fear of falling and overall activity level in and around the home.
Dr. Diane Dirette is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Her main research interests are focused on acquired brain injuries. Currently, she is developing and researching the effectiveness of an intervention for self-awareness titled Self-awareness Enhancement through Learning and Function (SELF). She is also investigating the availability of evidence for evidence-based practice in the profession of occupational therapy
Dr. Kieran J. Fogarty is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Doctoral program. His area of expertise is in interdiscipli-nary approaches to developing new applied research methods based on concepts that reflect the fundamental changes in U.S. health care delivery systems. For more information, link to the research summary on these pages.
Dr. Debra Lindstrom Hazel is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Her current research interests include office ergonomics and the bio-psychosocial model for addressing back pain, creating livable communities to maximize older adults’ participation/active engagement in the community and examining issues related to people abandoning assistive technology. She is currently managing an assistive device lending library funded by the Kalamazoo Community Mental Health Foundation called Project Assist where local consumers can “try-out” and receive training in how to properly use assistive devices.
Dr. Maureen Mickus, an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and a gerontologist, conducts research focusing on aging policy and supporting community-based care for elders. Along with her colleague George Erickcek, an economist at the Upjohn Institute, she is conducting a study funded by the Area Agency on Aging Association. This research study analyzes the fiscal impact of MiChoice, Michigan's Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver. Dr. Mickus is also working on intervention research designed to alleviate loneliness in high risk elder populations.
Dr. Amy Curtis is an associate professor in the Physican Assistant Department and the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. She is an epidemiologist, and her current research focuses on diabetes, obesity and developing and evaluating community participatory public health initiatives. For more information, link to the research summary on these pages.
Dr. Barbara Barton, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work, continues to expand her research into the varying perceptions of brain injury professionals versus those of brain injury survivors with regards to issues that impact sexuality. It is hoped that the results will lead to improved education and programming for this specialized population. Dr. Barton has been invited to present her findings to the North American Brain Injury Society and the Brain Injury Providers Council conferences, both in October 2009. Her research will be abstracted in the Journal of Head Trauma and Rehabilitation.
Barbara Howes is a Faculty Specialist II in the School of Social Work and a candidate in the Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program. She is conducting research for her dissertation on efforts to promote and maintain the well-being of children in foster care whose biological parents are participating in Family Treatment Courts in Michigan. Portions of this research are funded through grants awarded by the State of Michigan Supreme Court Administrator’s Office, the State of Michigan Department of Human Services Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention, and the U.S. Recovery Act-Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant. Ms. Howes has been one of the doctoral students who have played a major role in test design and evaluation for Dr. Nickola W. Nelson, who is conducting research leading to the development of a standardized “Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills” (TILLS). For more information, link to that research summary on these pages.
Dr. Yvonne Unrau is a professor in the School of Social Work. She currently serves as Interim Director of the Seita Scholars program, part of the Foster Youth & Higher Education Initiative at Western Michigan University. The overall goal of the WMU Foster Youth & Higher Education Initiative is to increase opportunities for young people who have aged out of foster care to pursue higher education and to provide supports that promote success and well-being throughout the undergraduate experience at WMU. The Seita Scholars program aims to create a community of scholars among this segment of WMU's student population. Now in its second year, the Seita Scholars program supports 76 students on campus. More than providing these students with an undergraduate education, we are developing strategies—individual and systemic—to help former foster youth transition into adulthood through the experience of higher education. Program staff are engaged in careful observation, reflection and review of research to develop best practice for supporting college students from foster care in higher education. Grants and gifts awarded to support the Seita Scholars program in the past year total more than $650,000 and include the following foundations: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Harold And Grace Upjohn Foundation, AT&T Foundation, Speckhard-Knight Charitable Foundation, and Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan. The website for the Foster Youth & Higher Education initiative is www.wmich.edu/fyit.
Dr. Ineke Way, an associate professor in the School of Social Work, is leading a team of researchers from WMU (Dr. Yvette Hyter and Ms. Connie Black-Pond of CHHS, Dr. Paul Yelsma, retired CAS, and Dr. Brooks Applegate, COE) and Virginia Commonwealth University (Dr. Leslie Kimball Franck), along with research assistant (Ms. Essence Floyd, CHHS) to develop an instrument to measure a psychological phenomenon-alexithymia-in children who have experienced trauma. Individuals with alexithymia have difficulty identifying, understanding, or expressing their feelings. The preliminary instrument, the Children’s Alexithymia Measure (CAM) was piloted in six sites across the country, and the team is currently completing a manuscript reporting development of the instrument. The research was funded as part of a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded to the Southwest Michigan Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC), PI Dr. Jim Henry). The research team is planning validity studies next.
SPADA - Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Dr. Dennis Simpson director and professor in the Specialty Program in Alcohol and Drug Abuse (SPADA) is conducting research on the effects of mouth alcohol on breath alcohol results and the length of expired blow on breath alcohol results. This research will advance the ability to determine validity of breath alcohol as an appropriate measure of bodily alcohol content.
Speech Pathology and Audiology
Dr. Jan Bedrosian, professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, is conducting the final phases of a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The project has involved the development and testing of a model of conversational choices—for people with severe communication impairments—who use speech-generating computer systems in public settings. The results of the project will be used to drive the design and development of better technology so that the individuals using these systems can communicate more effectively and lead more fulfilling lives.
Dr. Greg Flamme, is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. His primary research interest is in hearing loss prevention and the evaluation and treatment of hearing loss. He has published papers on the prevalence of hearing impairment in the US population, hearing loss prevention, hearing aid use, benefit, and outcome measures.
Dr. Yvette D. Hyter, associate professor in Speech Pathology and Audiology, is involved in several research projects. She is conducting research designed to develop an assessment measure of social communication and pragmatic language skills of preschool children. Second, Dr. Hyter is conducting a research project to compare the social communication and pragmatic language skills of children between the ages of 6 – 15 with histories of maltreatment and prenatal alcohol exposure to age-matched peers with histories of maltreatment only. Since 2000, Dr. Hyter and her collaborator, Dr. W. F. Santiago-Valles (associate professor in Africana Studies, WMU) have been investigating the consequences of economic globalization. As part their second College of Education Fulbright-Hays grant award, Dr. Hyter’s research focuses on explaining language policies, linguistic culture, and literacy practices, as well as the ways popular culture is used to address consequences of globalization in West Africa and in the U. S. Midwest. Other members of the research team are Drs. Joseph Kretovics and Yuanlong Liu (College of Education and Human Development, WMU), and Stephanie Evergreen (doctoral student in the Evaluation Center, WMU). Finally, as a founding member of the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center (CTAC), Dr. Hyter was involved in the development of a school based intervention program for school-age children (2003-2007 - NIH-SAMSHA funded grant). As part of the second NIH-SAMSHA grant awarded to CTAC, Dr. Hyter collaborates with the CTAC team on the development and delivery of assessment training to teams of service providers and educators in Michigan, and serves as the cultural competence consultant responsible for developing and facilitating the implementation of culturally and linguistically appropriate programming.
Dr. Nickola W. Nelson, professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology and director of the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, is conducting research leading to the development of a standardized “Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills” (TILLS). For more information, link to that research summary on these pages.
Dr. Mary Peterson, a faculty specialist with the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, is studying the efficacy of computer based auditory training to alter brainstem level speech processing in second grade children with auditory processing disorders, or attention deficit disorders, or both. The auditory training program being used in the experimental group targets temporal processing deficits of important formant transitions in spoken language, which may have detrimental affects on reading progress
Dr. Helen Sharp is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. Her research focuses on clinical practice patterns and patients’ perceptions of clinical outcomes.
Dr. Stephen Tasko is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. His broad research focus is to gain an improved understanding of the motor processes that underlie normal and disordered speech and voice production. Dr. Tasko is currently engaged in several lines of research. One line of work is aimed at evaluating the hypothesis that stuttering is a speech disorder that arises from faulty speech motor control. Recent studies have focused on investigating coordination strategies of persons who stutter, evaluating speech motor changes following stuttering treatment, and using computational models of speech motor control to simulate stuttering. A second line of research focuses on understanding the relationship between articulatory kinematic behavior and the temporal structure of speech. New work is currently under way to investigate how speakers adjust articulatory behavior as they learn to make alterations in speaking rate. A third line of research is aimed at determining the acoustic factors that contribute to the normal and disordered voice quality. A recent study has focused on determining the acoustic correlates of vocal effort. Dr. Tasko oversees a well-developed speech physiology laboratory that is equipped for recording speech acoustics, chest wall, vocal fold and oral articulatory motion, orofacial muscle activity and speech-related aerodynamic events. Therefore there are a variety of opportunities for those interested in exploring the acoustic and physiological bases of speech production.
Dr. Ann Tyler is professor and chair of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. Her research focuses on treatment efficacy and effectiveness, as well as subgroup characteristics in childhood speech sound disorders.