Health Division Research Areas
The Health Division offers research training in several substantive areas of Health Psychology. These research opportunities fall under the general headings of cardiovascular disorders, psychoneuroimmunology and HIV/AIDS, psycho-oncology, chronic fatigue, and behavioral neuroscience. This research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through various program project, center, and investigator initiated grants. In addition, the Health division is the recipient of two NIH training grants for the research training of predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows in the areas of cardiovascular behavioral medicine and psychoneuroimmunology and HIV/AIDS.
Cardiovascular Disorders
The Health Division is the recipient of a Program Project, Biobehavioral Bases of CHD Risk and Management, and a research training grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that funds research/training in the area of cardiovascular behavioral medicine. The objective of this research program is to train individuals in the conduct of integrated, multidisciplinary research into the biobehavioral bases of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and management and into the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disorders. Close collaboration exists between the Division of Heath Psychology and the Department of Medicine. Previous research has suggested that insulin metabolism, and activation of the hypothalamic-pituatary-adrenocortical axis and the sympathetic nervous system play central mediating roles in the development of CHD. This research attempts to: 1) assess relationships among the behavioral risk promoting variables, presumed mediating variables, and CHD risk factors; and 2) determine if behavioral interventions can decrease SNS tone and insulin resistance, thereby reducing CHD risk. Ongoing research projects are being conducted: 1) upon adolescents with persistently elevated blood pressure; 2) with post-myocardial infarction patients that have been diagnosed as depressed; and 3) with the Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic rabbit.
Additional faculty investigator initiated research includes the NIDA-funded grant, Drug Abuse, HIV, Selenium Supplementation, & Cardiovascular Disease Risk.
Graduate students have been actively involved in most of our research, they have presented research findings at scientific conferences, and have been authors on resulting publications.
Psychoneuroimmunology and HIV/AIDS
The Health Division is the recipient of a research Training Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that fund research/training in the area of psychoneuroimmunology and AIDS. The objective of this research program is to train individuals in the conduct of integrated, multidisciplinary research into the impact of stress management and exercise interventions on psychological sequelae, immune functioning, and health in HIV seropositive and seronegative individuals. This work examines the efficacy of group-based stress management programs in populations such as HIV-infected men and women including sub-studies focusing on gay and bisexual men, minority women and monolingual Spanish-speaking men and women. Additional research includes the study, Psychoimmunology of Health and Long Term Survival with AIDS.
Psycho-Oncology
The Center for Psycho-Oncology Research (CPOR) conducts behavioral, psychological, social, and biomedical research on the interrelationships among cognition, emotion, biological processes, and physical health in patients and their family members with different forms of cancer including breast cancer, prostate cancer and AIDS-related cervical neoplasia. CPOR is systematically evaluating the efficacy of group-based Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) interventions and a pharmacological hormonal treatment, for improving quality of life and physical health in patients with different types of cancer or carcinogenic processes associated with reproductive health or hormonal functioning.
In addition to the CPOR, another NCI-funded project, "Facilitating Positive Adaption in Breast Cancer" is testing the effects of group-based stress management intervention on positive adjustment to cancer, immune function and health in women enrolled in the weeks following surgery for breast cancer.
Graduate students have had the opportunity to gain clinical experience running the groups, complete research rotations in the immunology and neuroendocrine laboratories, and to become actively involved in associated research which has led to publications and presentations at national conferences. Research training faculty are from the Departments of Psychology, Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Urology, Microbiology/Immunology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The Health Division is collaborating with the Department of Medicine and the Allergy and Infectious Disease Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funded "Center for Multidisciplinary Studies of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Pathogenesis" in a project examining the effects of a cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention (including progressive muscle relaxation training and cognitive restructuring) on physical health status and illness burden in patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The study tests the efficacy of a conceptual model which holds that the interaction of psychological factors (distress and depression associated with either CFS-related symptoms or other stressful life events) and immunologic dysfunction.
Additional faculty investigator initiated research includes the NHLBI-funded grant, RBC Mass, Autonomic Nervous System Integrity & Syncope Susceptibility in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Behavioral Neuroscience
The Behavioral Neuroscience Program emphasizes multidisciplinary research including the fields of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology/chemistry, biomedical engineering, and behavioral analyses. A major research area involves work that is part of the NHLBI cardiovascular program project and training grant, and examines CNS and peripheral mechanisms that mediate behavioral influences on the progression of atherosclerosis in the Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic rabbit. A second area of research examines CNS mechanisms involved in classically conditioned cardiovascular and somatomotor responses to aversive stimuli. A third major area of research focuses on recovery following experimentally-induced ischemia and head trauma. This work, performed in collaboration with faculty in the Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, involves using behavioral, histopathological and electrophysiological measures to assess the neurological consequences ischemic insults or traumatic brain injury, and evaluate therapeutic strategies designed to either protect the brain from these types of insults, or accelerate recovery. Methodology that students are exposed to includes single unit and field potential recording in anesthetized and freely behaving animals, electrical stimulation and antidromic mapping, neuroanatomical tract tracing, electrical/chemical lesioning,pharmacological manipulation, and behavioral assessment of neurological impairment. Research training faculty are from departments of Psychology, Neurology, Neurological Surgery, and the University-wide Neuroscience Program.