I specialize in health communication within personal and patient-provider relationships. I study communicative processes of information management, uncertainty, stress and coping, and social support. 

Much of the work I have done over the years concerns the health experiences of adolescents and young adults, particularly within families. I have investigated how emerging adults support parents with chronic health conditions; the support needs of adolescents and young adult cancer patients and survivors (AYA); the attitudes and beliefs of adolescent contraception providers; the influence of social networking sites on college drinking; the experiences of partners whose significant other has a mental health condition; the reasons and responses associated with believing family members "cry wolf" about their health; and the ways in which family members influence one another's weight management behaviors.

My patient-provider research centers on how uncertainty is managed in the patient-provider relationship.