Donna E. Howard, Associate Professor
2387 SPH Bldg, Valley Drive
College Park, MD 20742
301.405.2520
dhoward1@umd.edu
VITA
Thematically my research has concentrated on adolescent engagement
in risk and protective health behaviors, with a directed focus on
these behaviors among urban African American youth. In an effort
to understand the psychosocial influences on behavior I have explored
the relationship between stress and coping processes, and adolescent
risk taking and resilience. One behavioral outcome of particular
interest has been violence and in this regard my research has examined
its correlates, predictors, consequences, and protective factors.
Insights garnered from this research has led me to recognize the
pivotal role both proximal and distal social forces play in shaping
behavior. I have begun to work on the development of models that
attempt to synthesize public health theory within a framework that
borrows from the allied social sciences, particularly sociology
and urban anthropology. That is, how the geography of place (in
all its dimensions- physical, social, economic) reciprocally interacts
with personal psychodynamics to affect behavior regulation and health.
One current research interest is how parental perceptions of neighborhood
social cohesion and support are related to their monitoring practices
and predict adolescent risk behavior. Another considers how a youth's
physical environment and social status (minority, underclass) affects
both self appraisal and perceptions of life's opportunities or constraints.
In addition, the dilemmas raised by conducting research among both
under-aged and minority populations has propelled my interest into
the domain of ethics.
As far as my academic background, I received my doctorate in Public
Health from the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. I completed
a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Minority Health Research
in Baltimore, Maryland. I also hold a BS in Human Nutrition from
the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and a MPH from the University
of Hawaii in Manoa, where my area of concentration was International
Health.
I have a strong interest in community-based health education programs
and have worked internationally and nationally in pursuit of community
empowerment goals . In 1980 I traveled to Southeast Asia to study
the integration of nutrition education programs into the primary
health care program in Bali, Indonesia. More recently, I lived and
work in Grenada, West Indies for two years coordinating community
health education and nutrition programs for the Grenada Food and
Nutrition Council. Nationally I have had the good fortune to have
worked with the Headstart Program, and Department's of Aging and
Health.
In Fall 1998, I joined the Department of Behavioral and Community Health
at the University of Maryland, College Park, where I am an Associate
Professor. Presently, I am an investigator in the Laboratory for
Health Behavior Assessment and Intervention and collaborator in
the Seat Pleasant -University of Maryland Partnership for Health.
My teaching course load includes a graduate class in epidemiology,
and undergraduate classes in health behavior.
Major Research Interests
Broad research areas:
- Adolescent risk and protective health behavior; minority health;
community and dating violence; resilience; psychosocial contributors
to health behavior; ethical issues in the conduct of risk research
Research in progress:
- The psychosocial and behavioral correlates of adolescent exposures
to community and date violence.
- The relationship between urban African American perceptions
of social capital, parental monitoring practices, and adolescent
risk behavior.
- Adolescent preventive health research at a crossroad: Issues
of study integrity, ethics, and imminent harm in the context of
adolescent self disclosure of risky behaviors and affective states.
- Association of parental monitoring and teen sexual intentions
and behavior.
- An exploration of the relationship of spirituality/religiosity
to addiction and treatment outcomes in pregnant substance abusers.
Service Interests:
- Mentoring
- Manuscript review for professional journals
- Consultancy to local, state and private health-related organizations
Courses Taught
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