Jennifer Barsky Reese, PhD, FSBM

Jennifer Reese, PhD
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This Fox Chase professor participates in the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship
Learn more about Research Volunteering.

Specialties

Other Specialties

Survivorship, QOL, Sexual Function, Breast Cancer, Interventions

Educational Background

  • American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2009-2012
  • T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 2008-2009
  • Behavioral Medicine Intern, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 2007-2008
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 2008
  • BA, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2001

Certifications

  • Licensed Psychologist, State of Pennsylvania

Memberships

  • Academy of Communication in Healthcare
  • American Psychosocial Oncology Society
  • Scientific Network on Female Sexual Health and Cancer
  • Society of Behavioral Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • New Investigator Award, American Psychosocial Oncology Society, 2021
  • Co-Author, Honorable Mention Abstract, Sexual Medicine Society of North America Annual Fall Meeting, 2020
  • Putnam Scholar, Academy of Communication in Healthcare, 2018
  • Faculty Scholarship, International Conference on Communication in Health Care Conference, Baltimore, MD, 2017
  • Co-author, Best Abstract, Female Sexual Health, International Society for Sexual Medicine Conference, 2014
  • Early Career Scholarship, Summer Institute on Longitudinal Methods at Penn State University, State College, PA, 2010
  • Phi Beta Kappa Society, 2001
  • Summa cum laude with Departmental Honors in Psychology, 2001
  • Hollingsworth Prize for Outstanding Research Project in Psychology, 2001

People

Research Interests

  • Sexual health and intimacy after cancer
  • Factors contributing to psychosocial well-being for individuals and couples after cancer
  • Distress, resilience and coping for cancer survivors
  • Couple-based interventions for cancer survivors
  • Patient-clinician communication about sexual health in cancer
  • Development and evaluation of behavioral interventions in cancer

Lab Overview

Work in our lab centers on developing evidence-based interventions that aim to improve sexual health outcomes, relationships, and quality of life for those affected by cancer. We incorporate a diverse range of study designs and methods, including qualitative methodology, survey methods, communication analysis, and randomized controlled trials, which yield a deep understanding of the problems under investigation and thus help us develop feasible, acceptable, and effective interventions. Our research studies are funded by the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society.

Lab Description

Work in our lab investigates the factors contributing to cancer survivors’ psychosocial well-being and ability to cope with after-effects of cancer, with a focus on cancer-related sexual concerns. Research in our lab has demonstrated that impairments in sexual quality of life are common, distressing, and often persist if unaddressed. Findings have also illuminated the key role that cancer survivors’ intimate relationships play in survivors’ psychosocial well-being. Collectively, work in this area has contributed to the understanding of the prevalence and nature of sexual concerns for those diagnosed and treated for cancer, thus helping to pave the way feasible, acceptable, and potentially effective interventions.

Other related research is concerned with examining distress and resilience in cancer survivors. In a current pilot study, we are currently examining relationships among distress, resilience, and inflammatory biomarkers and effects of racial background in a sample of colorectal cancer patients. In this vein, work in our lab has helped clarify the understanding of how patients perceive benefit from their cancer diagnosis, including finding gratitude and cultivating acceptance. Future projects will build on these findings, with the aim of developing evidence-based interventions to reduce distress, enhance resilience, and improve survivors’ quality of life.

In addressing the many issues that confront cancer survivors, interpersonal relationships play a critical role, and our lab has interest in developing and evaluating couple-based interventions for cancer-related health concerns, foremost of which are sexuality and intimacy. A key objective of this work is to identify how best to help couples cope. In earlier work, we elucidated a model of coping flexibly with sexual concerns in cancer that influenced subsequent intervention development. We have found promising effects of couple-based approaches for addressing sexual concerns and enhancing intimacy and related outcomes in breast and colorectal cancer, and are currently evaluating this approach in a clinical trial. We are also extending this line of research to women with metastatic breast cancer, about whom little is known with respect to their sexual and intimacy needs and who are in particular need of survivorship-related interventions. We plan to continue this work by determining optimal methods for dissemination of these approaches, once determined effective, and by assessing the utility of couple-based approaches in enhancing other outcomes in cancer populations in future studies.

An additional major area of interest in our lab is to investigate patient-provider communication about sexual health after cancer, with the ultimate aim of integrating sexual health within cancer care. Our work in this area has been instrumental in characterizing the prevalence and nature of patient-provider communication about sexual health in cancer, elucidating patient and provider barriers and facilitators of this communication, and identifying potential paths forward to improve clinical care for sexual concerns. This work is culminating in innovative provider-focused and patient-focused interventions which hold promise for integrating sexual health into cancer care and enhancing patients’ psychosocial outcomes. 

Selected Publications

Reese J.B., Sorice K.A., Pollard W., Handorf E., Beach M.C., Daly M.B., Porter L.S., Tulsky J.A., Lepore S.J., Efficacy of a multimedia intervention in facilitating breast cancer patients' clinical communication about sexual health: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Psychooncology. 30(5): 681-690, 2021. PMC8113064. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33305520.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K., Pollard, W., Handorf, E., Beach, M.C., Daly, M.B., Porter, L.S., Tulsky, J.A., & Lepore, S.J. (In Press). Efficacy of a Multimedia Intervention in Enhancing Breast Cancer Patients’ Clinical Communication about Sexual Health: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial. Psycho-Oncology.

Zimmaro, L.A., Deng, M., Handorf, E., Fang, C. Denlinger, C., & Reese, J.B. (In Press). Understanding benefit finding among patients with colorectal cancer: A longitudinal study. Supportive Care in Cancer.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K.A., Pollard, W., Zimmaro, L.A., Beach, M.C., Handorf, E., & Lepore, S.J. (2020). Understanding sexual help-seeking for women with breast cancer: What distinguishes women who seek help from those who do not? Journal of Sexual Medicine, 17, 1729-1739.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K.A., Zimmaro, L., Lepore, S.J., Beach, M.C. (2020). Communication about Sexual Health in Breast Cancer: What Can We Learn from Patients’ Self-Report and Clinical Dialogue? Patient Education and Counseling, 103, 1821-1829.

Zimmaro, L.A., Lepore, S.J., Beach, M.C., & Reese, J.B. (2020). Patients' Perceived Barriers to Discussing Sexual Health with Breast Cancer Healthcare Providers. Psycho-Oncology, 29, 1123-1131.

Reese, J.B., Zimmaro, L., Lepore, S.J., Sorice, K. A., Handorf, E., Daly, M.B., Schover, L.R., Kashy, D., Westbrook, K., & Porter, L.S. (2020). Evaluating a Couple-Based Intervention Addressing Sexual Concerns for Breast Cancer Survivors: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. Trials, 21, 173.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K., Oppenheimer, N.M., Smith, K.C., Bober, S.L., Bantug, E.T., Schwartz, S.C., & Porter, L.S. (2020). Why Do Breast Cancer Survivors Decline a Couple-based Intimacy Enhancement Intervention Trial? Translational Behavioral Medicine, 10, 435-440.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K., Lepore, S.J., Daly, M.B., Handorf, E.A., Tulsky, J.A., & Beach, M.C. (2019). A Brief Intervention to Enhance Breast Cancer Clinicians’ Communication about Sexual Health: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes. Psycho-Oncology, 28, 872-9.

Reese, J.B., Sorice, K., Lepore, S.J., Daly, M.B., Tulsky, J.A., & Beach, M.C. (2019). Patient-Clinician Communication about Sexual Health in Breast Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Clinic Dialogue. Patient Education and Counseling, 102, 436-442... Expand

Additional Publications

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This Fox Chase professor participates in the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship
Learn more about Research Volunteering.