Monica S. Webb, Ph.D.
Monica S. Webb
Assistant Professor, Health Division
Ph.D. earned from the University of South Florida, 2005
Research Interests
Clinical health psychology, Biobehavioral oncology, Minority health, Health disparities, Cancer prevention and control, Cancer risk behaviors, Health behavior change, Smoking cessation and relapse prevention, Obesity/weight management, Development of tailored and culturally specific interventions.
Current Research
My research includes theoretical, behavioral, experimental, and applied investigations of health behavior change, specifically behaviors that increase the risk of cancer or worsen the health status of people diagnosed with cancer. My research includes multiple populations, such as adults, college students, African Americans, Hispanics, HIV+ persons, and cancer survivors. Much of this work has emphasized the psychological aspects of tobacco addiction and treatment, including mechanisms that underlie tailored smoking cessation interventions and the influence of expectancies on self-help interventions. I am also interested in examining a range of interventions for tobacco use, from clinical psychology interventions (individual and group-based therapies) to public health approaches (tailored mass communications); and studying the intersection of these approaches to achieve maximal efficacy.
I am also very interested in minority health and cancer health disparities. For example, African Americans suffer disproportionately from smoking-related morbidity and mortality. In addition, the leading causes of death among U.S. Hispanics are smoking-related. A significant portion of my research focuses on understanding how to best approach interventions targeting underserved and ethnic minority groups at high risk for cancer. African American smokers are a focus of this research, as this group tends to initiate tobacco use later in life and smoke fewer cigarettes per day, yet appears to have a more difficult time quitting and experiences a disproportionate number of smoking-related illnesses. Research on tobacco interventions, however, typically does not focus on African Americans or Hispanics living in the U.S., thus the empirically-supported interventions targeting these populations are understudied. I am also interested in the effects of culturally specific interventions in these groups. I recently completed a study funded by the National Cancer Institute to examine the feasibility and efficacy of a traditional cognitive behavioral smoking cessation intervention (plus nicotine patch therapy) among African American smokers. Preliminary results suggest that the traditional intervention was efficacious. Future research will test group-based behavioral therapies in this population, and examine perceived and objective biomarkers of stress as mediators of the relationship between the intervention and smoking abstinence. In addition, my graduate students and I recently completed the first systematic review and meta-analysis of smoking cessation interventions among Hispanics living in the U.S., which will be published later this year. Thus, the overarching goal of this research is to make a significant public health impact on the cancer disparities observed within these populations.
Tobacco Obesity and Oncology Laboratory (TOOL)
The Tobacco, Obesity, and Oncology Laboratory is a part of the Department of Psychology, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (dually aligned with the Biobehavioral Oncology and Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention programs). TOOL is located in the Behavioral Medicine Research Center (BMRC) on the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine campus.
- Lights Out Study -
- Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. Because most smokers prefer to quit on their own, needed are effective ways to reach them using a combination of clinical health psychology and public health approaches. The Lights Out study is a grant funded by the American Cancer Society that is testing the efficacy of a highly personalized, self-guided tobacco cessation intervention plus telephone support among adults in the community. Tailored interventions have been applied to a number of health behaviors, including mammography screening, nutrition, and physical activity; thus this research has important implications for the field of health communications and health behavior change interventions more broadly.
- Smoking among Cancer Survivors -
- The prevalence of smoking among cancer survivors approximates the national average (20%). Evidence suggests that smoking cessation has positive consequences for cancer survivors, with regard to treatment response and quality of life. Few clinical trials have examined the efficacy of smoking cessation interventions in this population, largely because little is known about their unique concerns or how best to tailor interventions to suit their needs. Thus, we are conducting a theory-based qualitative pilot study to examine tobacco use among patients diagnosed with a tobacco-associated cancer. This research will have important implications for the development of a tailored smoking cessation intervention for cancer survivors.
Selected Publications
Webb, M. S., Simmons Nath, V., & Brandon, T. H. (2005). Tailored interventions for motivating smoking cessation: Using placebo-tailoring to examine the influence of expectancies and personalization. Health Psychology, 24, 179-188.
Webb, M. S., Francis, J. D., Hines, B. C., & Quarles, F. B. (2007). Health disparities and culturally-specific treatment: Perspectives and expectancies of African American smokers. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63(12), 1247-1263.
Webb, M. S., Vanable, P., Carey, M. P., & Blair, D. (2007). Cigarette smoking among HIV+ men and women: Examining health, alcohol use, and psychosocial correlates across the smoking spectrum. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 5, 371-383.
Webb, M. S., Hendricks, P. S., & Brandon, T. H. (2007). Expectancy priming of smoking cessation messages enhances the placebo effect of tailored interventions. Health Psychology, 26, 598-609.
Webb, M. S., & Carey, M. P. (2008). Tobacco smoking among low income Black women: Demographic and psychosocial correlates in a community sample. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 10(1), 219-229.
Webb, M. S. (2008). Focus groups as an intervention for low-income African American smokers to promote participation in subsequent intervention studies. Research in Nursing and Health, 31(2), 141-151.
Webb, M. S. (2008). Treating tobacco dependence among African Americans: A meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 27(3) Supplement, S271-S282.
Smyth, J. M., Webb, M .S., & Oikawa, M. (2008). Self-report of Cancer-Related Behaviors. In M. Gerrard and K.D. McCaul, (Eds.), A web-based health lexicon. National Cancer Institute Website. http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/constructs/self-report/index.html
Webb, M. S. (2008). Does one size fit all African American smokers? The moderating role of acculturation in culturally specific interventions. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 592-569
Webb, M. S. (in press). Culturally specific interventions among African American smokers: An efficacy experiment. Journal of the National Medical Association.
Webb, M. S., Seigers, D.,* & Wood, E. A. (2009). Recruiting African American smokers into intervention research: Relationships between recruitment strategies and participant characteristics. Research in Nursing and Health, 32,86-95.
Webb, M. S., Vanable, P. A., Carey, M. P., & Blair, D. (2009). Medication adherence in HIV-infected smokers: The mediating role of depressive symptoms. AIDS Education and Prevention, 21, 94-105.
Webb, M. S., & Carey, M. P. (2009). The early health consequences of smoking: Relationship to psychosocial factors among treatment-seeking African American smokers. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 11, 564-571.
Davila, E. P., Wei, Z., Byrne, M. M., Webb, M. S., Huang, Y., Arheart, K., Dietz, N., Caban-Martinez, A. J., Parker, D.F., & Lee, D. J. (2009). Correlates of smoking quit attempts: Florida Tobacco Callback Survey, 2007. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5, 10.
Webb, M. S. (in press). Culturally specific interventions among African American smokers: An efficacy experiment. Journal of the National Medical Association.
Webb, M. S., & Carey, M. P. (in press). Psychosocial factors associated with weight control expectancies in low-income African American smokers. Journal of the National Medical Association.
Webb, M. S., Rodriguez-Esquivel, D.,*& Baker, E.* (in press). Smoking cessation interventions among Hispanics in the United States: A systematic review and mini meta-analysis. American Journal of Health Promotion.
Links
American Psychological Association - http://apa.org
Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco - http://www.srnt.org
Society of Behavioral Medicine - http://www.sbm.org