{"id":23811,"date":"2024-06-05T11:33:30","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T11:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cehhs.utk.edu\/chdfs\/?page_id=23811"},"modified":"2025-07-28T20:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T00:24:47","slug":"our-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cehhs.utk.edu\/chdfs\/our-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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OUR<\/em><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

RESEARCH<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our faculty and students conduct high-quality scientific research that advances our disciplines and informs practice and policy. Our scholars utilize quantitative, qualitative, and community-engaged methods to address a broad range of individual and contextual topics that impact well-being and development across the lifespan. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Highlights<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Julia<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Julia Yan, Assistant Professor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Engaging the Child Health, Emotions, and Attachment Research Team (Child HEART) <\/strong>to understand children\u2019s physical and emotional development, children\u2019s relationships with their parents, and how parent behaviors and family dynamics foster emotional skills and protect against biological vulnerabilities in young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Julia Yan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Jordan<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jordan Westcott, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Advancing access to equitable mental health services and outcomes through research and advocacy for marginalized people, especially LGBTQIA+ and older adult populations via community-engaged scholarship in the Counseling for Access, Resilience, and Equity (CARE) Lab<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Jordan Westcott<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Counseling Care Lab<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Heidi<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Heidi Stolz, Professor and Undergraduate Programs Director<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Understanding family wellness including parenting practices, father engagement, work-life harmony, and mother-father coparenting while evaluating effectiveness of parenting programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Heidi Stolz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Amy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Amy Rauer, Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cultivating insights into why some individuals thrive in romantic relationships whereas others either have difficulty establishing and maintaining these close ties or choose to forgo romantic relationships entirely; understanding the role of developmental timing in determining the costs and benefits of romantic relationship processes via the Relationships & Development Lab.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Amy Rauer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Spencer<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spencer Olmstead, Professor and Associate Head<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Examining young adults\u2019 romantic and sexual relationships and experiences to inform sexual and relational education and empower young adults to make informed decisions about their relationships and promote their sexual health and wellness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Spencer Olmstead<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Elizabeth Johnson, Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Understanding risk and resilience among adolescents who have experienced parental incarceration to recognize the strengths and resources families mobilize in contexts of accumulated adversity while drawing attention to the ways in which demands for such resilience are inequitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Elizabeth Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Megan<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Megan Haselschwerdt, Associate Professor and HDFS Graduate Program Director<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Examining intimate partner violence and developing trauma-informed interventions from an interdisciplinary, community-engaged, biopsychosocial perspective via the Family Violence Across the Lifespan<\/strong> research team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Megan Haselschwerdt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Melinda<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Melinda Gibbons, Professor and Counselor Education Unit Director<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Enhancing career and educational development for underserved populations, prospective and current first-generation college students, and students with intellectual disabilities through community engaged programs including PiPES\/Imagining Possibilities<\/a>, ASPIRE, and RAMHP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Melinda Gibbons<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Jamian<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jamian Coleman, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Promoting wellness and enhancing the lives of individuals facing co-occurring disorders, substance use disorders, HIV, and psychiatric disabilities in diverse communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Jamian Coleman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alexandria Onuoha, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Facilitating thriving of Black youth through strengths-based, community-engaged research that centers joy, challenges misogynoir, and amplifies Black antifascist values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Alexandria Onuoha<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Matthew Ogan, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the functioning and stability of romantic relationships by examining how couples cope with everyday and long-term stressors, such as financial strain, and how individual behaviors, family dynamics, and broader social and economic contexts shape relationship and family health.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Matthew Ogan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Menglin Wei, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Advancing culturally responsive, systems-informed interventions that promote relational and individual well-being, with a focus on sexual and gender minority communities and the dynamics of queer couples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn More About the Research of Menglin Wei<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I definitely think students find their place here at UT because there are so many opportunities. There\u2019s a place for everyone. Our faculty are engaged in research that speaks to the current moment. Although we all have different populations of focus or clinical issues that we address, our work goes beyond curiosity\u2014we want to make a real change in the world. Our work moves us toward a world where all people have access to culturally responsive and effective mental health services.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jordan B. Westcott, PhD, NCC (she\/her)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Professor of Counselor Education<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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