Paula Trief, PhD
IHP 3707 Institute For Human Performance (IHP)
505 Irving Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13210
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Medicine
Professor of Orthopedic Surgery
SPECIALTIES
Clinical Psychology
LANGUAGES
English
PATIENT TYPE
Adults
RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND AFFILIATIONS
Medicine
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research focuses on the psychosocial issues that affect patients with diabetes and those at risk for diabetes. I have developed and tested effective and practical interventions for patients with diabetes, those at risk, and their partners, to help them achieve better physical health (e.g., control of blood sugar, weight) and quality of life. I have also studied the relationship between depression/anxiety and diabetes outcomes. My current NIH-funded project follows young adults with type 2 diabetes to better understand factors that affect medication adherence and healthcare usage, to design more effective behavioral interventions for this vulnerable group.
EDUCATION INTERESTS
Effective psychotherapy; Unconscious bias training; Research skills mentoring
EDUCATION
PhD: Syracuse University, 1977
Internship: SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, 1974
RESEARCH ABSTRACT
- Developing a couples based telephone intervention with adults with type 2 diabetes- with Ruth Weinstock, MD/PhD, and Jonathan Sandberg, PhD (Syracuse University) Marital quality has been identified as a predictor of adaptation to type 2 diabetes. This study involved development and testing of a psychosocial intervention that can be used with couples in which one partner has type 2 diabetes, and assessing it’s feasibility, acceptability and efficacy.
- TODAY2-iCount Study. With Ruth Weinstock, MD/PhD. The TODAY (Treatment Options for Adolescents and Youth with type 2 Diabetes), Study was a multi-site (N=15) trial of treatment alternatives for youth who have type 2 diabetes, to identify whether medications alone, or in combination with an intensive lifestyle intervention to promote weight loss, is more effective at managing the youth’s diabetes. That study evolved into the TODAY2 study, an observational study of these youth as they move into adulthood. Our furrent NIH-funded TODAY2:iCount Study is ancillary to TODAY2 and provides the opportunity to follow these now young adults on psychosocial factors, specifically to identify factors that predict medication adherence and healthcare usage, as well as psychosocial factors that predict glycemic control and other diabetes-related outcomes.
PUBLICATIONS
Link to PubMed (Opens new window. Close the PubMed window to return to this page.)