Barakat Laboratory for Psychosocial Risk and Resilience

The overarching goals of research conducted by the Barakat Lab are to improve physical and psychosocial health outcomes for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and their families with a focus on health equity. We pursue these goals by developing and evaluating psychosocial risk and resource screening as well as interventions to improve decision-making processes, effective self- and family management, and interventions to promote resilience, and improved access to clinical trials information and decision support.

Guided by the Social Ecological Model, the Pediatric Psychosocial Preventative Health Model, and the Psychosocial Standards of Care for Children with Cancer and their Families, we evaluate family assessment and interventions that target patient, caregiver, and family functioning at each stage of cancer treatment and survivorship and development. We lead or are involved in several studies that address the unique needs of adolescents and young adults with cancer including decision support interventions, clarifying their values around treatment decisions, improving self-management, and supporting transition to adult care.

Design and delivery of digital health approaches are central to our studies to ensure acceptability and accessibility, and we partner with patients and families in the conduct of our research and on efforts to implement evidence-informed assessment and interventions to optimize clinical care for all children with cancer and their families.

Our research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, B+ Foundation, a Foerderer Award, Oncology Nursing Foundation, and generous donors to the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, including Stephen and Susan Kelly through the Behavioral Oncology Endowed Chair.