Printer FriendlyFaculty of the department are involved in a variety of interdisciplinary research projects. Descriptions include links to faculty contact information.
- Promoting Healthy and Safe Employment in Healthcare
- Chemical Policy Initiative,
- Ethics of Pharmaceutical Companies
- Collaboration for Better Work Environment for Brazilians in
- Center for Health Promotion and Researh
- Worker Education and Training Program, The
- Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
Promoting Healthy and Safe Employment in Healthcare (PHASE)
Dr. Craig Slatin is the principal investigator of the PHASE in Healthcare research project, a six-year study funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. The PHASE project sought to understand health disparities among healthcare workers, studying, among other aspects, how healthcare system restructuring has shaped facility decision-making about employee health and safety and diversity support. Analysis is nearly complete and multiple publications have resulted from the project. Departmental collaborators on this multidisciplinary project included Dr. Michael O’Sullivan, Dr. Patrick Scollin, Dr. Nicole Champagne, and Dr. Eduardo Siqueira.
Chemical Policy Initiative,
Dr. Joel Tickner has led the
Ethics of Pharmaceutical Companies
Dr. Michael O’Sullivan has been carrying out research on the Ethics of Pharmaceutical companies and the tactics they use in advertising for new drugs. He was invited to St. Anne’s College at Oxford University where he made a presentation on "Maladies, Medicines, Management and Money: The Ethical Behavior of the Pharmaceutical Industry and the Social Construction of Reality” and has had a juried abstract accepted for the Philosophy of Management Conference 08 at St. Anne’s Oxford entitled “Dr. Jekyll Meets Mr. Hyde: Schumaker’s Assertions and the Moral and Legal Dilemmas of Pharmaceutical Companies.” Dr. OSullivan and his colleagues at UMass and the PHASE in Health Care team have just had a chapter entitled “It’s Part of the Job: Health Care Restructuring and the Health and Safety of Nursing Aides” published in “Organizing and Reorganizing” by Palgrave Press. Currently he is working on an abstract “The Best of Both Worlds: Blended Education for Health Care Management” to be presented at the
Collaboration for Better Work Environment for Brazilians in
Dr. Eduardo Siqueira has been the Principal Investigator for Project COBWEB (Collaboration for Better Work Environment for Brazilians in Massachusetts) to educate and engage members of a growing Brazilian immigrant community in Massachusetts in identifying, recognizing, analyzing, and designing a research agenda to prevent work environment hazards that affect Brazilian immigrant workers and their families. This project has brought Brazilian immigrant workers together to participate in the investigation of the numerous hazards they faced at work and the development of feasible and viable solutions to the health and safety problems generated by daily exposure to those hazards. The partners of the project were the
Health Behavior and Lifestyle in Brazilian Immigrants
Dr. Mansoureh Tajik has been engaged in a study to explore health promoting behaviors and lifestyle in Brazilian immigrant populations. She just completed a study in which she, in partnership with the Brazilian Women's Group, developed and pilot tested a Brazilian Portuguese-language translation of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) instrument with sixty bilingual Brazilian immigrant adults. The study evaluated the psychometric properties of equivalency, reliability, and score distribution of the instrument in this cross-cultural health study. It began in May 2007 and the analyses were completed in February 2008. The data from this pilot project is being used to develop a grant proposal explore the health issues of Brazilian immigrants in
Medicare Lifestyle Modification Demonstration
Dr. A. James Lee has been working for some time with
Personal Digital Devices (PDDS) at the Point-of-Care
Dr. Patrick Scollin currently conducts research on the use of Personal Digital Devices (PDDs) at the point-of-care. Evaluation of the role of PDDs such as, Personal Digital Assistants, Ultra Mobile Personal Computers, and Tablet Computers containing medical and nursing databases as a source of up-to-date information to be used at the bedside. Research projects have included: Evaluating Students’ attitudes to using PDAs in Nursing Clinicals at two schools, Bridging the gap between the PDA and Tablet in Healthcare: The Ultra Mobile Portable Computer at the bedside, and Tablets at the Bedside: Accuracy Testing of Secure Wireless-Based Data Entry in a Nursing Education Laboratory.
Health Promotion and Occupational Health and Safety Integration
Dr. Nicole Champagne is the Principal Investigator of a project being done through the Center for the Promotion of Health of the New England Workforce (CPH-NEW). The Center is under the direction of Laura Punnett from the Department of Work Environment and is a collaboration of UMass Lowell and the
UMass Lowell Student Health Surveys
Dr. Beverly Volicer received funding from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and UMass Lowell to survey health behaviors and health status of UMass Lowell students as part of the annual National College Health Assessment conducted by the American College Health Association. Collaborators in this research included Nancy Quattrocchi, Alexander Pavoll, and Robert Nicolosi. Findings for UMass Lowell students were found to be remarkably similar to those reported by students at other campuses. Results are being used in courses, in grant applications, for education projects conducted through the Student Health Services as service learning projects for Community Health Education students, for evaluation of the Counseling Service, and for campus Health Fairs.
New Solutions, A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy
Dr. Slatin, along with Dr. Siqueira and Dr. Beth Rosenberg of the
Center for Health Promotion and Research
Dr. Craig Slatin and Dr. Barbara Mawn (Department of Nursing) co-direct the Center for Public Health Research and Health Promotion, one of the five research centers in the
Worker Education and Training Program, The
Dr. Craig Slatin is the principal investigator of The New England Consortium (TNEC), a hazardous waste worker/emergency responder health and safety training program funded though the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Worker Education and Training Program. TNEC is a partnership with five coalitions for occupational safety and health (COSH groups) in
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
Dr. Joel Tickner is a Program Director for the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, researches and promotes more sustainable forms of production and consumption. The Lowell Center is one of the world's leading academic centers in research, training, and outreach on safer chemicals and products; sustainable hospitals, cleaner production, and environmental health research. The Lowell Center's sister institute, the Toxic Use Production Institute (TURI), is an international leader in assisting firms in reducing their reliance on toxic substances. In collaboration with the Department of Community Health and Sustainability and the Department of Work Environment, the Lowell Center's faculty and research staff have a range of expertise from public policy, to industrial hygiene, chemistry, and epidemiology.