Research
Improving the inhaler technique of Latino children with asthma
Dr. Carpenter, together with co-principal investigator, Dr. Betsy Sleath, have received a $50,000 pilot award from the UNC TraCS Institute to improve the inhaler technique of children with asthma. The study will test whether MEDUCATION, an innovative online tool that generates custom medication instructions, leads to improvements in inhaler technique in a group of 100 Latino children with asthma. The study will also document whether MEDUCATION is well-received by children and their caregivers.
To learn more about MEDUCATION, click here.
To learn more about the UNC TraCS Institute, click here.
Visiting Scholar at UCLA
During the month of May, Delesha will be a visiting scholar at the UCLA Center for Communication, Language, Interaction and Culture (CLIC). While there, Delesha will work on a project focused on identifying racial biases in provider-child-caregiver communication during medical visits.
To learn more about CLIC, visit the website below:
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/clic/
Current Research
Dr. Carpenter’s current research interests focus on patient-provider communication issues for individuals living with chronic disease. She is particularly interested in how triadic communication patterns among children with asthma, their caregivers, and their health care providers influence children’s health behaviors and outcomes, including medication adherence and asthma control. She presented two abstracts about her work on patient-caregiver-provider communication issues at the 2011 meeting of Society of Behavioral Medicine in Washington, D.C..
Postdoctoral Research (2009- 2011)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The purpose of Dr. Carpenter’s postdoctoral training is to develop a more holistic understanding of how different sources, such as physicians, spouses, and the media, influence the self-management behaviors of individuals living with chronic illness. She is currently working with Dr. Betsy Sleath at the School of Pharmacy and Dr. Robert DeVellis at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center (TARC).
Doctoral Research (2003-2009)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Accessing Social Support in Symptom Treatment (ASSIST) Study (2007-2009)
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Robert DeVellis
Dr. Carpenter’s dissertation research assessed the information-seeking behaviors of vasculitis patients, determined whether patients received conflicting medication information, and modeled how social support and information-seeking influenced patient medication adherence. She collected primary data as part of the ASSIST Study and found that more than half of patients received conflicting medication information, which had a direct negative effect on medication adherence. The title of her dissertation is Understanding the Effects of Conflicting Information on Medication Adherence for Vasculitis Patients.
Masters Research (2001-2003)
University of South Carolina
Thesis Chair: Dr. Donna Richter
For her thesis, Dr. Carpenter developed qualitative interview instruments to assess whether participants of the Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership (IHPL) disseminated knowledge and skills gained during a capacity-building program to their co-workers. Using a regression analysis, she determined what attitudinal and environmental factors influenced learning and transfer of learning for participants of IHPL. The results are reported in her thesis entitled Assessing Factors that Affect Learning and Transfer of Learning for a Capacity-Building Program.