Research in Adherence to Pediatric Medical Regimens
Avani Modi, PhD, is a professor in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology and director of the Center for Adherence and Self-Management at Cincinnati Children's within the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Her research lab focuses on adherence to pediatric medical regimens, including the measurement of adherence, identification of adherence barriers, and the development and testing of adherence interventions. She also has an interest in the development of patient-reported outcome measures and executive functioning.
Research Projects
Dr. Modi has a long track-record of NIH funding, including a K23 Career Development Award, two R21s and three R01s as principal investigator. Her K23 focused on identifying patterns and predictors of adherence in children with new-onset epilepsy (ages 2-12 years).
She then developed and tested a problem-solving intervention to improve adherence in 200 young children with epilepsy and their caregivers via a large-scale randomized controlled clinical to improve antiepileptic drug adherence, as well as pilot intervention studies using text-messaging and apps for teens with epilepsy. Her current research focuses on the development and testing of mHealth interventions to improve adherence.
Dr. Modi and her colleagues also developed a web-based intervention to improve executive functioning skills in adolescents with epilepsy, called Epilepsy Journey. This intervention was recently adapted and modified to address both adherence barriers and executive functioning skills for teens with Type 1 diabetes through her R01 with Dr. Kimberly Driscoll at the University of Florida.
Active Projects and COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Modi Lab has transitioned to remote recruitment and study procedures for all active studies (i.e., eACT, Diabetes Journey, and BEAT), until it is safe to be with the families we serve.
We recognize the significant impact of the pandemic on everyone’s daily lives and are deeply empathetic to those who have been impacted. As such, our team has incorporated COVID-19 measures into our study procedures to understand how the pandemic has affected their families and loved ones.
