Research Interests

Aging and dementia • end-of-life care • caregiver identity • social policy • mental health • resilience • intervention development • systems design • dissemination and implementation science • community-based support

Current Framework

Caregiving is not a static role. It is a relationship that continually reshapes identity, meaning, and our capacity to become. My research asks what caregivers need in order to remain values-directed, creatively engaged, and connected to themselves while caring for another.

Identity, Values & Becoming

Caregiving can reorganize the stories people tell about who they are and who they may become. I am developing a framework connecting values, behavior, identity, uncertainty, courage, and avoidant disengagement—with particular attention to moments when an identity no longer fits the life being lived.

Sustainable Caregiving

I study caregiver sustainability beyond burden and burnout. This work centers resilience, skill development, meaning-making, quality of life, help-seeking, uncertainty tolerance, and the systems that make sustainable care possible.

Dissemination & Implementation Science

Good ideas matter only when they can reach the people who need them. My work uses implementation science to translate research into emotionally safe, relational, and practical supports for caregivers in homes and communities.

Current Research Program

Central Question

How do caregiving, identity, values, uncertainty, and social systems shape our capacity to continue becoming?

My work explores sustainable caregiving through theory development, qualitative inquiry, intervention design, dissemination, and implementation science. While each project stands on its own, together they contribute to a broader research program centered on helping individuals and organizations sustain care without losing themselves in the process.

Current Projects

Why Should I Care? – Conversations with Caregivers

A public scholarship initiative collecting stories from formal and informal caregivers through interviews, essays, and multimedia conversations. The project explores caregiving through narrative while contributing to theory development, research dissemination, and community engagement.

Caregiver Sustainability Theory Development

An evolving conceptual research program examining how values, identity, uncertainty, meaning-making, resilience, and help-seeking interact to shape sustainable caregiving. Current work includes qualitative theory building, conceptual writing, and preparation for future mixed-methods studies.

Narrative-Based Resilience Intervention

Development of an eight-session tabletop role-playing intervention designed to help caregivers rehearse resilience, connection, values-directed action, and help-seeking through shared narrative experiences.

Research Journal

A monthly long-form essay series documenting the development of my research questions, conceptual models, and evolving theoretical perspective throughout my PhD. Rather than presenting finished conclusions, these essays explore how ideas emerge, change, and mature over time.

Public Scholarship & Research Communication

Ongoing dissemination of research through LinkedIn essays, educational TikTok videos, public writing, podcast appearances, and invited presentations. This work focuses on translating complex research into accessible ideas for caregivers, clinicians, nonprofit leaders, and the broader public.

Implementation & Consultation

Partnership with nonprofit organizations to translate research into practice through consultation, workforce development, systems design, leadership coaching, and values-centered learning experiences. These collaborations both inform and are informed by my research program.