Blue banner positive health and well being kessler foundation

Positive Health and Well-Being Laboratory

Body

 

scientist lauren strober smiling for the camera
Lauren Strober, PhD
Laboratory Director

We view health and well-being as a complex combination of each individual’s social, mental, physical, and emotional wellness. Well-being is more than just the absence of illness or depression. It is about an individual’s ability to flourish and thrive, despite their illness.

 

Areas of Focus

Lauren Strober, PhD, directs the Positive Health and Well-Being Laboratory, part of the Center for Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Research where she is also assistant director of Wellness Research at Kessler Foundation. The Lab focuses on identifying disease- and person-specific factors that influence health and well-being among individuals with neurological or medical conditions, particularly multiple sclerosis (MS). The forefront of our research is about improving the care for individuals with MS and assuring that they can live their fullest lives possible.

The Lab team conducts psychosocial interventions addressing MS symptoms (e.g., fatigue) and improving occupational outcomes. Further research aims to identify what it means to “live well” with MS and the roles of self-efficacy, personality, resilience, adaptive coping, engaging in positive health-related behaviors, and social connectedness.

In addition, researchers have developed disease-specific measures and appropriate, updated normative data of commonly used measures in MS (e.g., Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Modified Fatigue Impact Scale) to aid researchers and practitioners in accurately and effectively examining the common disease factors of MS and their effects.

 

Current Funding Support

National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).