Deanna Kaplan

Research Psychologist, Emory Spiritual Health
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Deanna Kaplan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Research Psychologist for Emory Spiritual Health. Dr. Kaplan’s research integrates a variety of ambulatory assessment methods, including ecological momentary assessment, accelerometry, GPS trajectories, ambulatory cardiovascular monitoring, voice diaries, and the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR). She leads a program of research focused on the optimization of ambulatory assessment methods for clinical science and behavioral medicine. She also frequently collaborates as a research methodologist on projects that use ambulatory assessment to advance treatment research for populations with co-occurring psychological and physical health concerns.

Dr. Kaplan is a developer of the EAR, a research method for naturalistically assessing social interactions and language use in daily life. In partnership with Emory Spiritual Health, several current projects apply this method to investigating social-ecological mechanisms of spiritually-integrated and contemplative interventions. Other current interests include implementation concerns in digital health, including identifying adverse implementation outcomes of digital assessment and intervention technologies.

Dr. Kaplan received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, completed her predoctoral residency in Behavioral Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and completed an NHLBI-funded F32 postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. Prior to this, she worked as research specialist in public health policy evaluation, conducting community health needs assessments in the southwestern United States.

Education

  • Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Arizona
  • M.A., Educational Psychology, University of Arizona

Award

  • Individual National Research Service Award, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
  • PEO Scholar Award for Dissertation Research, Philanthropic Educational Foundation

Publications

  1. Mascaro, J., Florian, M., Ash, M., Kaplan, D. M., Palevsky, R., Cole, S. P., Grant, G., & Raison, C. L. The language of compassion: hospital chaplains' compassion capacity reduces patient depression via other-oriented, inclusive language. Mindfulness, 1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01907-6
  2. Kaplan, D. M., Hughes, C. D., Schatten, H. T., Mehl, M. R., Armey, M. F., Nugent, N. R. (2022). Emotional change in its “natural habitat”: Measuring everyday emotion regulation with passive and active ambulatory assessment methods. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000291
  3. Palitsky, R. Kaplan, D. M., Brener, S.*, Mascaro, J. S., Mehl, M. R. & Sullivan, D. Do worldviews matter for implementation-relevant responses to mindfulness-based interventions? An empirical investigation of existential and religious perspectives. (2022). Mindfulness. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-02010-6
  4. Kaplan, D. M. (2022). Social-ecological measurement of daily life: How relationally focused ambulatory assessment can advance clinical intervention science. Review of General Psychology, 0(0). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680221142802
  5. Anderson, M., Kaplan, D. M., & Palitsky, R. Religious and existential determinants of affective response to a brief mindfulness intervention. (2023). Affective Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00139-0
  6. Kaplan, D. M., Palitsky, R., Dunsiger, S. I., Wu, W. C., Parker, A. G.*, Troubh, J. K.*, Whitworth, J. W. & Bock, B. C. (2023). Biological and psychological predictors of heart rate patterns during physical activity. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102346
  7. Tidwell, C. A., Danvers, A. F., Abel, D. B., Alisic, E., Beer, A., Bierstetel, S., Kaplan, D. M., … Mehl, M. R. (2023, Accepted as a Stage 1 Registered Report). Are women really (not) more talkative than men? A registered replication of binary gender similarities/differences in daily word use. Journal of Social and Personality Psychology.
  8. Palitsky, R., Reznik, S.J., Kaplan, D. M., ^Anderson, M.R., ^Athey, A., ^Brodt, M.A., ^Coffino, J.A., ^Egbert, A., ^Hallowell, E.S., ^Fox-Fuller, J.T., ^Han, G.T., ^Hartmann, M.-A., ^Herbitter, C., ^Herrera Legon, M., ^Hughes, C., ^Hosking, C.R., ^Jao, N.C., ^Kassel, M.T., ^Le, T.-A. P., ^Levin-Aspenson, H.F., ^López, G., ^Maroney, M.R., ^Medrano, M., ^Rogers, M.L., & ^Stevenson, B. (2023). Inclusion of trainee stakeholders is necessary for effective change in health service psychology training. Clinical Psychological Science. ^shared fourth authorship. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231156598
  9. Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D. M., Peacock, C., Zarrabi, A. J., Maples-Keller, J. L., Grant, G. H., Donlop, B. W., & Raison, C. L. (2023). Importance of integrating Spiritual, Existential, Religious, and Theological components into psychedelic-assisted therapies. JAMA Psychiatry. DOI: doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.1554
  10. Kaplan, D. M., Greenleaf, M., & Lam, W. A. (2023). What to wear: A call for empirical investigations of adverse outcomes of consumer health wearables. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcpdig.2023.06.014 

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