Family

»Healthy Families Initiative

The Healthy Families Initiative (HFI) at Chapman University fosters family health through research, dissemination of information, training, and community service to families.  HFI strives to expand awareness and understanding of critical factors related to promoting healthy families.  Both health and family are defined broadly and we invite collaboration with colleagues from any discipline who are conductFamiliesing research in these areas using any methodology.

Research topics include health across the family lifespan (from prenatal through later life), child and family processes related to overweight and obesity, substance use prevention, women’s health, and understanding and measuring family resilience.

Training and Service objectives include developing family workshops for not for profit Orange County agencies, linking individuals to the Frances Smith Center for Individual & Family Therapy, collaborating with the Babbie Research Center in building an infrastructure at Chapman to support research on healthy families, hosting visiting scholars, and developing online courses in to enhance existing curricula in health and family studies.

  • Members
  • Research projects
  • Grants/funding
  • Student research
  • L. Edward Day Earl Babbie Research Center
    Michelle Miller-Day Communication Studies
    Fran Dickson Communication Studies
    Jennifer Waldeck Communication Studies
    Jen Bevan Communication Studies
    Lisa Sparks Health and Strategic Communication
    Laura Glynn Psychology
    David Pincus Psychology
    Naveen Jonathan Psychology, and Director, Frances Smith Center for Individual & Family Therapy

  • Current research:

    • R21 proposal to the National Institute on Drug Abuse to (1) examine parent-adolescent conversations about (a) nutrition and exercise, and (b) substance use; and (2) develop an online parent-adolescent communication intervention on the topic of adolescence and healthy choices.
    • Brown Bag presentations over the academic year on topics at the intersection of health and family relationships.
    • Conducting evaluation of current Chapman faculty to identify a working group of statisticians and other methodologists in the area of health and/or family for consultation and inclusion in grant proposals.

    The key areas of research:
    • Health across the Family Lifespan (from prenatal through later life)
    • Child and Family Processes related to Overweight and Obesity
    • Drug Prevention
    • Women’s Health
    • Understanding and Measuring Family Resilience


    • NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse (R21 proposal outlined and ready to be developed)
    • NIH: National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Supplemental grant application to be developed to link with an existing application)
    • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

  • Research:

    • R21 proposal to NIDA. Student research assistants will be recruited to assist with data collection, analyses, and assistance in reviewing the relevant research literature.
    • Supplemental grant application to NIMH/NICHD. Student research assistants will be recruited to assist with data collection, analyses, and assistance in reviewing the relevant research literature.
    • Development of bullying prevention materials for schools through a partnership with the Cartoon Network. Students will sit on the development and production advisory teams for this project.
    • Robert Wood Johnson application for research aimed at studying youth media tobacco and other drug media literacy. Student research assistants will be recruited to assist with data collection, analyses, and assistance in reviewing the relevant research literature.
    • Through the Babbie Center, developing a group of experienced statisticians in social science research to consult with faculty in the development of grant proposals and applications. Students from the Henley Lab to assist this group of statisticians and faculty with the collection and analysis of data.
    • A series of brown-bag research presentations aver the academic year on topics at the intersection of health and family. Students will be recruited to help coordinate these events, will participate as audience members, and there will be a special student brown bag opportunity for the presentation of student research.

    Training:

    • Development of online courses in family and health areas- Graduate students will assist in the development of the courses. Students will take the courses.
    • Through the Babbie Center, the development of certificate program in “research methods for program evaluation.” Students will take these courses toward earning this certificate.
    • Collaboration with the Orange County Health Care Agency and REAL prevention to offer community workshops and outreach in the areas of health education. Students will assist in completing a “needs assessment” for the kinds of workshops needed. Students will assist in outreach efforts.

    Community Service:

    • Develop a website that will provide lists/LINKS of health professional and health services in OC. Students will assist in the design and content of the website.
    • Testimonials on a variety of health topics on the website. Students will participate in the collection and editing of the testimonials.
    • Drug prevention programs for in-school use (through REAL Prevention). Students will be trained, participate directly in offering school assembly presentations and performances for schools, and paid for their services.
    • Research methods and program evaluation consultation (through the Babbie Center). Students in the Henley lab will assist with this consultation.

    Clinical Services:

    • Counselors who will confer with parents. Available on a sliding fee scale basis. Clients will be charged based upon their ability to pay. (Through the Frances Smith Center for Individual & Family Therapy)
    • Counselors in training (students) will provide some of these services, while supervised.