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Our Current Research

Cancer

Breast Cancer Research

In collaboration with the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee Cancer Institute, and the College of Nursing at UTK, our research team partners closely with breast cancer surgical oncologist Dr. Jillian Lloyd. Our work centers on breast cancer outcomes, with a particular focus on how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), defined as traumatic events occurring before age 18, and treatment-related stressors shape patient and caregiver experiences. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between ACEs and breast cancer outcomes, including tumor characteristics, financial toxicity, and patient-reported symptoms at baseline and following surgery, with a focus on populations in rural Appalachia.

Lung Cancer Research

Our team, in collaboration with the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee Cancer Institute, and the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, investigates outcomes among patients with lung cancer. In partnership with thoracic surgeons Dr. Sean Jordan, Dr. Christina Glenn, and Dr. Christian Probst, we examine how the timing of treatment influences patient outcomes. Additionally, we evaluate patient demographic characteristics and social determinants of health, such as distance from treatment facilities, for their potential impact on outcomes. This cross-sectional study focuses on individuals with lung cancer residing in the rural Appalachian region of East Tennessee.

Cardiometabolic

Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Quality of Life

In collaboration with the University of Tennessee College of Nursing and the University of Tennessee Medical Center, our team researches health disparities in medicine with a focus on diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). Our current project, Healing Together Development: Patient & Family Interviews, examines individual, family, and community factors that influence DFU healing and overall quality of life. This project also addresses contextual factors affecting outcomes among DFU patients, who are at increased risk for complications such as amputation and other serious comorbidities. Emphasizing the importance of wound care adherence and both clinical and social support, this cross-sectional study explores how sociodemographic factors impact readmission rates, wound healing, and quality of life, as well as how familial and social support interact with biopsychosocial changes from diagnosis through six months post-discharge.

Past projects include Healing Together Development: Professional Interviews, Outcomes of Patients Consulted on by Inpatient Wound Care Consult Service, and the Diabetic Foot Ulcer Retrospective Study, all of which further examine barriers to care and patient outcomes in this population.

Evaluation of the Impact of Intra-Operative Resuscitation on Outcomes in Open Abdominal Vascular

In collaboration with the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, our team investigates health disparities in medicine with a focus on cardiovascular outcomes. Our current project examines follow-up patterns among patients in Appalachia undergoing prolonged vascular procedures (≥4 hours). In partnership with vascular surgeon Dr. Lauren B. Grimsley, we analyze how contextual and clinical factors influence patient outcomes. Key variables include comorbidities, frequency of anesthesia provider transitions, and the extent of preoperative care in the six months preceding surgery. This cross-sectional study centers on individuals with vascular complications residing in the rural Appalachian region of East Tennessee. 

Women’s Health

Planning Together Education Program

Our Planning Together study is a paid research study focused on family planning and birth control education for pregnant couples in East Tennessee. This study is designed to support couples as they navigate important decisions about their reproductive health and future family goals during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Participants receive evidence-based information about a wide range of birth control options, including effectiveness, side effects, and how each method may fit into their lifestyle and long-term plans. In addition to educational resources, the study offers guided communication support to help couples openly discuss their preferences, concerns, and shared goals. By fostering collaborative decision-making, the program aims to help couples develop a family planning approach that reflects both partners’ needs and values. Through this work, the Planning Together study seeks to promote informed choices, strengthen partner communication, and improve reproductive health outcomes for families across the region.

Published Research

  1. Roberson, P.N.E., Lenger, K., Tasman, J., Cortez, G., Regenar, R., Lloyd, J. (2025). Breast Cancer Patients and Caregiver Inter- and Intrapersonal Spillover Effects on Anxiety, Depression, Pain, and Fatigue during the First Year of Treatment. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.
  2. Roberson, P.N.E., Tasman, J., Woods, S.B. Cortez, G., Somers, T., Lloyd, J. (2024). Overcoming Patient Pain Together: Examining the impact of breast cancer patients and caregivers’ pre-treatment psychosocial factors on patient pain during the first year of treatment. The Journal of Pain. | PDF
  3. Tasman, J., Roberson, P.N.E., Clegg, D., Boukovalas, S., Lloyd, J. (2023). The Impact of Rural Structural and Community Health Factors on the Number and Severity of Post-Mastectomy Complications Among Appalachian Breast Cancer Patients. Journal of Rural Health.
  4. Roberson, P.N.E., Tasman, J., Cortez, G.,  Lenger, K. A., & Lloyd, J. (2023). I am feeling stressed, are you?: Breast cancer patients and caregivers’ inter-psychophysiological symptoms during the first year of breast cancer treatment. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.
  5. Clegg DJ, Whiteaker EN, Salomon BJ, Brooks AJ, Bell JL, Boukovalas S, Roberson, P.N.E., Lloyd JM. (2023). The Development of Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema After Mastectomy in a Rural Population. American Surgeon.
  6. Tasman, J., McAdams, C., Lloyd, J., Brooks, A., Roberson, P.N.E. (2022). Differences Between Rural and Non-Rural Appalachian Breast Cancer Patients and Caregivers Distress during the First Year of Treatment. Journal of Appalachian Health.
  7. Roberson, P.N.E., Cortez, G., Freeman, T., Lloyd, J. Tasman, J., Woods, S B. (2022). Relationship Quality and Psychophysiological Distress for Breast Cancer Patients and Their Caregiver Before Treatment. Journal of Psycho-Oncology. | PDF
  8. Roberson, P.N.E., Cortez, G., Lenger, K., M., Bell, C., Heidel, R. E., Freeman, T., Lloyd, J. (2021). Quality of life fluctuations before and after breast surgery for estrogen-positive breast cancer patients living in South-central Appalachia: A prospective pilot study. The Breast Journal.
  9. Roberson, P.N.E., Miller, M., Lloyd, J., Bell, C., Heidel, R. E., Bell, J. (2019). Economic Disparities in Appalachia linked to Risk Factors for Long-term Health for Estrogen Positive Breast Cancer Patients. Cancer Treatment and Research Communications.
  10. Roberson, P.N.E., Southerland, A., Mitchel, H., Lloyd, J., Heidel, RE., Bell, J., (2019). Factors predicting medication prescription adherence in Appalachian breast cancer patients. The Breast Journal.

  1. Woods, S. B., Roberson, P.N.E., Pryor, J. B., Obregon, S. D., Pryor, J., Nesbitt, S., & Udezi, V. (in press). A community-based participatory approach to evaluating and adapting an innovative family-based hypertension self-management intervention for African American primary care patients. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
  2. Ahn, S.; Cobb, S.J.; Butler, R.; Abdullah, S. E.; Boltz, M. P.; Chung, M.; Roberson, P.N.E.; Lee, J. A.; Zhao, X.; Anderson, J. G. (2025). Effects of Physical Activity on Health Among Informal Caregivers of People with Cognitive Decline: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Western Journal of Nursing Research.
  3. Roberson, P.N.E., Woods, S., Mitchell, E. & Tasman, J (2025). I Just Need a Little Support: Marital Support and Strain link to A1C for People with Diabetes. Personal Relationships. | PDF
  4. Roberson, P.N.E., Woods, S., Tasman, J., & Hiefner, A. (2025). Relationship Quality and Educational Attainment links to Cardiometabolic Onsets across Middle Adulthood. Family Process. | PDF
  5. Sargsyan, A., Beebe, L., Ng, Z., Roberson, P.N.E., Thomas, S. (2025). Quacking for Noggin: Farm Animal Assisted Therapy for The Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors. People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice. | PDF
  6. Stansbury, T., Myers, C. R., Tran, L., Roberson, P.N.E., Ahn, S.(2025). Impacts of Access to Hospital and Emergency Care on Rural Mortality in Tennessee, 2010-2019: A GIS-Informed Study. The Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. | PDF
  7. Woods, S. B., Roberson, P.N.E., Booker, Q., Wood, B., Booker, S. Q. (2024). Longitudinal Associations of Family Relationship Quality with Chronic Pain Incidence & Persistence Among Aging African Americans. The Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Science and Social Sciences. | PDF
  8. Zhu, C., Tran, P., Leifeit, E. C., Spatz, E., Dreyer, R., Nyhan, K., Wang, S. Y., Roberson, P.N.E., Goldstein, L. B., Luchtman, J. H. (2025). Association Between Marital/Partner Status and Patient-reported Outcomes in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review. Cerebrovascular Diseases.
  9. Deek, A. J., Clegg, D. J., Blackburn, C., Roberson, P.N.E., Holley, T. , Gotcher, J. E. (2024). Do Changes in Orthognathic Surgery Reimbursement Affect the Volume of Procedures Performed at an Academic Medical Center? Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology.
  10. Tasman J, Clegg DJ, Carver C, Adalaba S, Buckley RM, Goldman MH, Roberson P.N.E (2024). Assessing the Influence of Rural Residence and Economic Distress on Lower Extremity Risk Stratification among Diabetic Foot Ulcer Patients utilizing the Wound, Ischemia, Infection (WIfI) Classification System. Diabetes and Its Complications.
  11. Woods, S.B., Udezi, V., Roberson, P.N.E., Arnold, E.M., Nesbitt, S., & Hiefner, A. (2023). “A cuff is not enough”: A community-based participatory research approach to soliciting perspectives of African Americans with hypertension and their family members on self-management intervention features. Family Process. | PDF
  12. Clegg, D. J., Tasman, J. G., Witeaker, E. N., Mazonas, T. W., Salomon, B. J., Dupuy, S., D., Goldman, M. H., Roberson, P.N.E. (2023). The Association of Ambulatory Status Prior to Diagnosis of Diabetic Foot Ulcers With Amputations and One-Year Outcomes. | PDF
  13. Jarvandi S, Roberson P.N.E., Greig J, Giron J. (2023). Effectiveness of Diabetes Education Interventions in Rural America: A Systematic Review. Health Education Research. | PDF
  14. Roberson, P.N.E., Tasman, J., Lenger, K. A., & Cortez, G. (2023). Examining contextual influences affecting health-related quality of life among under-resourced Appalachian patients attending pop-up medical clinics. The Journal of Community Health, 48, 38-39. | PDF
  15. Stansberry, T. T., Roberson, P.N.E., & Myers, C. R. (2023). US rural hospital care quality and the effects of hospital closures on the health status of rural vulnerable populations: An integrative literature review. Nursing Forum. 
  16. Woods, S. B., Hiefner, A., Roberson, P.N.E., Zahra, N., Arnold, E. M., & Udezi, V. (2022). Depressed mood and environmental mastery as potential pathways linking family relationship quality and disease self-management for African Americans with hypertension. Family Process.
  17. Roberson, P.N.E., Cortez, G., Trull, L. H., Lenger, K. A., (2020). In Their Own Words: How Opioids have Impacted the Lives of “Everyday” People Living in Appalachia. Journal of Appalachian Health.
  18. Roberson, P.N.E. & Fincham, F. (2018). Is marital quality linked to diabetes risk and management?: It depends on what you look at. Families, Systems, and Health. | PDF

  1. Roberson, P.N.E., Brady, K., Hiefner, A., Alspaugh, A., Wilson, A., Maples, J., & Zite, N. (in press). Beyond the patient: Healthcare providers’ insights on partner engagement in contraceptive decision-making. Family, Systems, & Health.
  2. Woods, S. B., Thakur, B., Booker, S., Wood, B., & Roberson, P.N.E. (in press). Family emotional climate, depressive symptoms, and pain incidence: Testing mediation pathways among aging Black MIDUS participants. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. I PDF
  3. Roberson, P.N.E., Kendall, B. P., Thakur, B., Booker, S., Sola-Odeseye, Z., Wood, B., & Woods, S. B. (2025). Family Support as a Pain Protective Factor for African American Older Adults: Latent Class Analyses across Two National Longitudinal Datasets. PAIN.
  4. Barrett, M., Basting, E. J., Roberson, P.N.E., & Welsh, D. P. (in press). Sexual communication links insecure adult attachment with sexual satisfaction among U.S. college students. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. I PDF
  5. Jasin, L. R., Newnam, K. M., Miller, J., Roberson, P.N.E., & Yohannan, M. D. (in press). The response of the infant to the father’s voice in the neonatal intensive care unit. Advances in Neonatal Care.
  6. Woods, S. B., Roberson, P.N.E., Thakur, B., Sola-Odeseye, Z., Udezi, V., Wood, B., & Booker, S. (2025). Pain phenotype trajectories and links to family relationship quality among Black older adults. The Journal of Pain.
  7. Lenger, K. A., Mitchell, E., Roberson, P.N.E., Schubert, O., Gray, T., Cordova, J. V., & Gordon, K. C. (2024). Comparative efficacy of the Relationship Checkup for same-gender couples. Journal of Family Psychology. 
  8. Mitchell, E. A., Roberson, P.N.E., DiPillo, M., Cordova, J. V., & Gordon, K. C. (2024). Improvements in depressive symptoms following a brief relationship health intervention. Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy. | PDF
  9. Roberson, P.N.E., Tasman, J., Renegar, R., Cortez, G., Lenger, K., (2023). The Importance of Family Relationships for the Health of Underserved Appalachians: An Application and Extension of the Biobehavioral Family Model. Family, Systems, & Health.
  10. Woods, S. B., Roberson, P.N.E., & Abdelkhaleq, H. (2023). Family strain, but not family support, is linked to worse pain interference among midlife adults reporting new chronic pain. Manuscript submitted for publication to Families, Systems, & Health | PDF
  11. Lenger, K. A., Gordon, K. C., Roberson, P.N.E., Johnson, S., Younginer, T., Rosecrance, P., McClain, C., & Schubert, O. (2023). The head, the heart, and the community: Piloting a brief mindfulness intervention for economically-marginalized couples. Behavior Therapy. | PDF
  12. Mitchell, E. A., Roberson, P.N.E., Amer, Z., Garcia, D. J., Cordova, J. V., & Gordon, K. C. (2022). Couple variables predicting retention in a brief intervention and research. Family Process. | PDF
  13. Negash, S., Roberson, PN.E., Tadros, E., & DeHesus, S. (2021). A Brief Relationship Education Pilot Intervention for Men Post-Release. The Prison Journal.
  14. Negash, S., Roberson, P.N.E., Tadros, E. (2022). The Sexual Experiences of Heterosexual Men at Post-Release: Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behaviors. Sexuality and Culture.
  15. Woods, S.B., Roberson, P.N.E., & Priest, J.B. (2020). Family emotional climate and health:  Testing conveyance of effects via psychobiological mediators. Personal Relationships. Special Issue: Mechanisms Linking Close Relationships and Physical Health.
  16. Roberson, P.N.E, Lenger, K., Gray, T., Cordova, J., & Gordon, K.C. (2020). Are marital relationships a barrier to healthcare utilization in Appalachia?: An examination of which aspects of marriage are linked to healthcare utilization for men and women. Family, Systems, and Health. | PDF
  17. Cortez, G. R.*, Lee, S., Roberson, P.N.E. (2020). Get healthy to marry or marry to get healthy? Personal Relationships.
  18. Priest, J.B., Smith, S. M., Woods, S., Roberson, P.N.E. (2020) Discrimination, Family Emotional Climate, and African American Health: A Test of the Biobehavioral Family Model. Journal of Family Psychology.
  19. Woods, S.B., Priest, J.B., & Roberson, P.N.E. (2019). Family versus intimate partners: Estimating who matters more for health in a 20-year longitudinal study. Journal of Family Psychology.
  20. Gordon, K. C., Cordova, J. V., Roberson, P.N.E., Miller, M., Lenger, K., Martin, K., Gray, T., & Hawrilenko, M. (2019). An implementation study of relationship checkups as home visitations for low-income at-risk couples. Family Process. | PDF
  21. Miranda, L., Lenger, K. A., Rauer, A., Roberson, P.N.E., Cordova, J. V., Gray, T., & Gordon, K. C. (2019). Consensus and relationship distress before and after a brief intervention for low-income couples. Journal of Family Psychology. | PDF
  22. Roberson, P.N.E., Norona, J. C., Lenger, K. A., & Olmstead, S. B. (2018). How do relationship stability and quality affect wellbeing?: Romantic relationship trajectories, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction across 30 years. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
  23. Roberson P.N.E., Priest, J. B., Woods, S., & Miller, M. (2018). “My family is making me sick” – but, for both him and her?: Examining the effect of gender on the association between close relationships and health.  Journal of Family Studies.
  24. Roberson, P.N.E., Tasman, J., Renegar, R., Cortez, G., Lenger, K., (2023). The Importance of Family Relationships for the Health of Underserved Appalachians: An Application and Extension of the Biobehavioral Family Model. Family, Systems, & Health.
  25. Woods, S.B., Roberson, P.N.E., & Priest, J.B. (2020). Family emotional climate and health:  Testing conveyance of effects via psychobiological mediators. Personal Relationships. Special Issue: Mechanisms Linking Close Relationships and Physical Health. 
  26. Bluth, K., Roberson, P. N. E., (2017). Gender Differences in Physiological Stress Markers and Emotional Wellbeing Outcomes in Response to an Adolescent Mindfulness Intervention: A Call for Research. Journal of Child and Family.
  27. Roberson, P.N.E., Norona, J. C., Zorotovich, J., & Dirnberger, Z. (2016). Developmental trajectories and health outcomes among emerging adult women and men. Emerging Adulthood, 1-15.
  28. Roberson, P.N.E., Norona, J. C., Fish, J. N., Olmstead, S. B., & Fincham, F. D. (2016). Do differences matter?: A typology of emerging adult romantic relationship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.