Denise Lewis

Education

Research

My research examines influences of culture and cultural dissonance on marginalized populations with a particular focus on elderly individuals and their families. As a qualtiative methodologist, I employ methods grounded in anthropology, gerontology, and family science. I maintain a global focus by examining intergenerational relationships of families in the US, Cambodia, and other regions of Asia and Southeast Asia. Multiple graduate and undergraduate students engage in research on aging and sexuality, end of life caregiving, generativity among LGBT families, the role of transmigration on family relations, resilience and well-being, and household production of health. 

Teaching

I strive to be a fire starter. My goal is to light a passionate fire in my students so that they want, and even crave, excellence in all aspects of their lives, both inside and outside the classroom. I hope to start these fires by making my own passion visible. I am excited to teach and mentor the wonderful group of students I encounter throughout each year. I firmly believe that, from the most boisterous to the quietest, each student has a unique way of learning and has an inherent “fire” that can be ignited if given the right catalyst. I teach from a feminist standpoint and employ concepts of andragogy in my classes. 

Editorial Appointments

Service

Outreach

I co-direct an outreach project, the Refugee Responsiveness Program, in partnership with a local refugee resettlement organization, Jubilee Partners. My co-director and I work closely with Jubilee Partners to identify and then address needs of newly arrived refugee families. Graduate students collaborate to create a series of workshops (Refugee Responsiveness Series) that range from physical, psychological, and financial health.

Areas of Expertise

My areas of expertise include elders' health and wellbeing, family and community resilience, intergenerational relations, culture, refugee, immigrant & transnational families, aging and sexuality, and grandparenting. 

Awards

Award Name	Awarded By	Year Awarded
Graduate Mentoring Academy	University of Georgia Graduate School	2016
Teaching Academy Member, Class of 2015	Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Georgia	2015
UGA Graduate School Mentor of the Year	University of Georgia Graduate School	2014
Teacher of the Year	College of Family and Consumer Sciences	2013
Teacher of the Year	Department of Human Development and Family Science	2012
Sarah H. Moss Fellowship	Sarah H. Moss Foundation	2011
Khmer Language Scholarship. Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute	University of Wisconsin, Madison	2011
Theoretical Developments in Social Gerontology	Gerontological Society of America	2010
Best Article in Human Development and Family Studies published in Family and Consumer Science Research Journal	American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences	2010
University of Georgia Alumni Association Award for Intergenerational Studies in Cambodia	University of Georgia Alumni Association	2009
President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for Friendly Visitors Program	Office of the President of the United States	2008
President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for Friendly Visitors Program	Office of the President of the United States	2007
International Scholarship of Engagement Award for Intergenerational service-learning program for impoverished grandparents raising grandchildren in Cambodia	Office of Public Service and Outreach, University of Georgia	2007

Current Research

My current research focuses on aging issues relevant to marginalized populations and on household production of health in elder-headed households. I conduct this research with Southeast Asian refugee families in the United States and with impoverished families in Cambodia. 

Journal Articles

Young, S. S., Lewis, D. C., Oshri, A., Gilbey, P., Eisenman, A., Schuster, R. & Seponski, D. M. (In press 2017) Humanitarian healthcare: Treating Syrian patients in Israeli hospitals. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare.

Ewen, H. H., Lewis, D. C., Carswell, A. T., Emerson, K. G., & Smith, M. L., (In press 2017). A model for aging in place in multi-family residential housing communities. Journal of Housing for the Elderly. 31(1).

Muruthi, J. R.* & Lewis, D. C., (In press 2017) Cambodian refugee families: Impact of immigration-related stressors on intergenerational relationships. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. 15(2).

Seponski, D. M. & Lewis, D. C., (In press 2017) Challenges in culturally responsive research methodologies: Implications for international mental health research. SAGE Methods Cases: Health.

Chen, H. M., & Lewis, D. C., (In press 2016). The role of Chinese grandparents in adult children’s parenting practices in the United States. Monograph on Asian-American Studies.

Morrissey Stahl, K.,* Bower, K. L.,* Seponski, D. M., Lewis, D. C., Farnham, A.* & Cava, Y.,* (In press 2016). A practitioner’s guide to end-of-life intimacy for older adults: Suggestions for conceptualization and intervention in palliative care. OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying.

Spivey, S. E.* & Lewis, D. C., (In press 2016). The interloping researcher: Conducting mixed methods research in Israeli hospitals. SAGE Methods Cases: Health.

Lewis, D. C. & Spivey Young, S., (In press 2016). Parallel Pasts, Presents, and Futures: Narratives of Cambodian and Karen Refugees in the United States. In A. Garnier, L. Jubilut, and B. Sandvik (Eds.), Refugee Resettlement: Power, Politics and Humanitarian Governance.

Chen, H. M, & Lewis, D. C., (2016). A changing relationship: Visiting Chinese grandparents and their adult children in the United States. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research. 11, pp. 87-98. ISBN: 1935-3308.

Muruthi, J. R.* & Lewis, D. C., (2016). Factors impacting old-age economic security: Views of Kenyan rural-dwelling older adults. Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research. 2(1). 72-86. ISSN: 1935-3308.

Spivey Young, S. & Lewis, D. C., Gilbey, P., Eisenman, A., Schuster, R. & Seponski, D. M., (2016). Conflict and care: Israeli healthcare providers and Syrian patients and caregivers in Israel. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 3. Published online September 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/2333393616666584.

Spivey, S. E.* & Lewis, D. C., (2016). Harvesting from a repotted plant: A qualitative study of Karen refugees and foodways. Journal of Refugee Studies. 29(1). 60-81. DOI: 10.1093/jrs/fev013.

Chen, H. M & Lewis, D. C., (2015). Visiting Chinese grandparents and their adult children in the United States. Journal of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal. 37(1). 58-71. DOI: 10.1007/s10591-014-9321-7.

Lewis, D. C. & Spivey, S. E.* (2014). Immigrant and refugee Families. In S. K. Whitbourne & K. Roberto (eds), Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging, Wiley-Blackwell.

Seponski, D. M., Lewis, D. C., & Megginson, M. C.,* (2014). A responsive evaluation of mental health treatment in Cambodia: Intentionally addressing poverty to increase cultural responsiveness in therapy. Journal of Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy, and Practice. 9(10). 1211-1224. DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2014.947302.

Chen, H. M., & Lewis, D. C., (2014). Chinese grandparents’ involvement in their adult children’s parenting practices in a southern region of the United States. The Journal of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 33, 310-323.

Seponski, D. M., Bermudez, J. M., & Lewis, D. C., (2013) Creating culturally responsive family therapy models and research: Introducing the use of responsive evaluation as a method. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. 39(1). 28-42. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00282.x.

Lewis, D. C. & Seponski, D. M., (2012).  Transcendent sacrifice and spirituality: Cambodian grandmothers raising orphaned grandchildren. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. 10(4). 355-369. DOI:10.1080/15350770.2012.725629.

Lewis, D. C. & Seponski, D. M., (2012). A user-friendly guide to intergenerational service-learning. Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education. 4(1). https://discovery.indstate.edu/jcehe/index.php/joce.

Cho, W. J.* & Lewis, D. C., (2012). Transitions and time: Dissonance between social and political aging in South Korea. Anthropology and Ageing Quarterly. 33(2). 53-64.

Chen, H. M.* & Lewis, D. C., (2011). Approaching the “Resistant:” Exploring East Asian international students' perceptions of therapy and help-seeking behavior before and after they arrived in the United States. The Journal of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal. 33(3). 310 – 323. DOI: 10.1007/s10591-011-9154-6.

Lewis, D. C. & Cho, W. J.,* (2011) Assessing trustworthiness of personal aides. Journal of Primary Care and Community Health. 2(4). 216-219. Doi: 10.1177/21501311911405213.

Lewis, D. C., Seponski, D. M.,* & Camp, T. P., (2011). Religious and spiritual values transactions: A constant comparison analysis of grandmothers and adult granddaughters. Journal of Religion, Spirituality and Aging, 23(3). 184-205.

Lewis, D. C., Medvedev, K., & Seponski, D. M.,* (2011). Awakening to the desires of older women: Deconstructing ageism in fashion magazines.  Journal of Aging Studies. 25, 101-109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2010.08.016.

Seponski, D. M.* & Lewis, D. C., (2010). My grandmother and me: International service-learning in Cambodia with children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Information for Action: A Journal for Service-Learning Research with Children and Youth. 3(2).

Lewis, D. C., (2010). Cambodian refugee families in the United States: “Bending the tree” to fit the environment.  Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. 8, 5-20. DOI: 10.1080/15350770903520635.

Seponski, D. M.* & Lewis, D. C., (2009). Caring for and learning from each other: A grounded theory study of grandmothers and adult granddaughters. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 7, 394-410.

Lewis, D. C., (2009). Aging out of place: Cambodian refugee elders in the United States. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal. 37(3), 376-393. DOI: 10.1177/1077727X08330684 (Selected as Best article in Human Development and Family Studies by AAFCS).

Lewis, D. C., (2008). Types, meanings, and ambivalence in intergenerational exchanges among Cambodian refugee families in the United States.  Journal of Ageing & Society, 28(5), 693-715.

Lewis, D. C., (2007). A hierarchy of medicine: Health strategies of elder Khmer refugees in the United States. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 146-165. http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR12-2/lewis.pdf.

Van Willigen, J. & Lewis, D. C., (2006). The cultural context of aging, In H. Yoon and J. Hendricks (Eds.), Handbook of Asian Aging, pp. 117-141. Amityville NY: Baywood.

Schoenberg, N. & Lewis, D. C., (2005).  Ageism in cross-cultural perspective, In E. B. Palmore, L. G. Branch, and D. K. Harris (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Ageism, New York, Haworth Pastoral Press.

Van Willigen, J. & Lewis, D. C., (1999). Sources, Practicing Anthropology, Spring, 20(2), 55-57.

Working Papers

Muruthi, B., Bermudez, M., Gale, J. Chou, J. & Lewis, D.C. (Under review). A collectivist measure of mother-adult daughter relationships among Afro-Caribbean women: Testing for construct validity and invariance.

Stinson, M.A.,* Bermudez, J. M., & Lewis, D. C., (Under review). Marital satisfaction, conflict resolution styles, and religious attendance among Latino couples:  Using the actor-partner interdependence model.

Stinson, M. A.,* Bermudez, J. M., Gale, J., Lewis, D, C., Meyer, A. S., & Templeton, G. B., (Under review) Reexamining marital satisfaction and conflict resolution among Latino couples: Using the actor- partner interdependence Model.

Farnham, A.,* Lewis, D. C., Bermudez, J. M., & Muilenburg, J. L., (Under review). Silent death of sexual intimacy: Media messages of older adults.

Spivey, S. E.* Seponski, D. M., & Lewis, D. C., (under review). Refugee child obesity: A dynamic cascading systems approach.

Seponski, D. M., Lewis, D. C., Sotelo, J. M.,* (Under review). Cambodian family therapy and mental health treatment: Challenges to service providers.

Morrissey Stahl, K.,* Meeks, K.,* & Lewis, D. C., (revising). Mindfulness Intervention to combat caregiver stigmatizing beliefs and burnout.