Technology, Health, Rehabilitation, Environment and Disability Laboratory
General Laboratory Description
Together with a vibrant research team, Dr. Jaclyn Schwartz leads the Technology, Health, Rehabilitation, Environment and Disability (THREAD) Laboratory. The long-term goal of the lab is to promote health, prevent comorbidities, improve health-related quality of life and reduce health-care spending. We do this by working towards our mission to ensure optimal and equitable health, well-being and quality of life for adults with chronic health conditions. All of our work is guided by our values of integrity; diversity, equity and inclusion; development; and wellness. The following themes are found throughout our work:
- Implementation science: How do we develop interventions that can be successful in real-world environments?
- Health equity: How do we develop interventions that work for all people and populations, particularly populations with health disparities that are under-resourced and underrepresented in current research?
- Assistive technology: How can technology be used to support evaluation and intervention?
- Advocacy: How can we change policy and practice to support chronic disease self-management?
Current research projects include:
- Quantitative and qualitative research exploring factors affecting medication adherence
- Identifying the predictive validity of assessment’s medication adherence
- Testing new behavioral and technological interventions to improve medication adherence across a variety of populations with chronic health conditions
General Description of Student Activities
Our lab welcomes dedicated learners to participate in our work. Two quotes guide our teaching philosophy:
“The one who does the work does the learning.” – Terry Doyle
“Everyone is big enough to do something.” – Daniel Tiger
Our goal is to help learners to develop both research and life skills in the context of implementing a research project. Learners start their experience by developing a mentoring plan, clarifying the expectations of the position and outlining what the learners want to learn and how to best support them. We use a team-based mentoring approach, allowing learners to benefit from the experience of other learners, faculty and staff. Learners will have the opportunity to build their research skills by completing research activities and are expected to participate in all phases of the research process including literature reviews, data collection, quantitative or qualitative data analysis, and presentation of findings. We particularly encourage requests for learning experiences and mentorship from first-generation college students, women, people with disabilities and/or persons from underrepresented minority groups.
For more information about our projects, see our research outputs.
