Dr. Witt is broadly interested in the social, behavioral, and psychological
factors that contribute to healthy aging across the lifespan. Specifically her
research focuses the impact of acute, chronic and terminal illness on the family
system and aims to determine how familial relationships influence the health
behaviors, health and mental health status, and healthcare services use of
individuals over time. Moreover, the goal of her research is to understand the
physiological, behavioral, and social pathways by which health perceptions
affect the health and healthcare use of family caregivers and individuals living
with illness. Dr. Witt is building a research program to examine caregiver
mind-body interactions and how such interactions may help explain health
disparities within and between families. Together, this information will help in
constructing effective interventions for these families to improve patient
health outcomes, reduce health disparities, and address family burden.
She is the Principal Investigator of a five-year career development grant from
the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to examine
the impact of childhood chronic illness on the family. As part of this work she
will assess and compare the level of psychological stress, both self-reported
and biologically measured, between parents of children with chronic illness and
parents of children without chronic illness. Moreover, this study will examine
the feasibility, performance, and comparability of stress biomarkers and
perceived psychological stress among parental caregivers and how such measures
are related to child health outcomes.
Starfield, B, Riley AW, Witt, WP, Robertson, J.
Social Class Gradients in Health During Adolescence. Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health. 2002; 56: 354-361.
Witt, WP, Riley, AW, Coiro, MJ.
Childhood Functional Status, Family Stressors, and Psychosocial Adjustment Among
School-Aged Children with Disabilities in the U.S. Archives of Pediatric
& Adolescent Medicine. 2003; 157 (7): 687-695.
Witt, WP, Kasper, JD, and Riley, AW. Mental Health Services Use Among
School-Aged Children with Disabilities:
The Role of Socio-demographics, Functional Limitations, Family Burdens and Care
Coordination. Health Services Research. 2003; 38(6), Part 1:
1441-1466.
Witt, WP, Fortuna, L, Wu, E, Kahn, R, Winickoff, J, Pirraglia, PA, Ferris, TG,
and Kuhlthau, K.
Children's Use of Motor Vehicle Restraints: Maternal Psychological Distress,
Maternal Motor Vehicle Restraint Practices, and Sociodemographics.
Ambulatory Pediatrics. 2006. May-June 6(3): 145-151.
Witt, WP, Gibbs, J, Wang, J, Giobbie-Hurder, A, Edelman, P, McCarthy, Jr., M,
and Neumayer, L.
The Impact of Inguinal Hernia Repair on Family and Other Informal Caregivers.
Archives of Surgery. 2006. Sep; 141(9):925-30.
Hung, S, Pickard, S, Witt, WP, and Lambert, BL. Pain and Depression in
Caregivers Affected Their Perception of Pain in Stroke Patients. 2007 (in
press).
Witt, WP, Riley, AW, Kasper, JD. "The Impact of Missing Linkage Data in Family
Health Research: Results from the 1994-1995 National Health Interview Survey
Disability Supplement." In: Altman, B.M., Barnartt, S.N., Hendershot, G. and
Larson, S., eds. Research in Social Science and Disability, Using Survey Data
to Study Disability: Results from the National Health Interview Survey on
Disability. Elsevier Publishing, London, England; 2003; Volume 3, 73-86.
Lyons, J and Witt, W. "Understanding the impact of mental health research on
policy in the United States: Past, Present, and Future." In Choosing methods
in mental health research. Slade M, Priebe S, (eds), Hove: Routledge. 2006.
202-211.
