Stephen Lepore, Ph.D.

Professor
Director, Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Program
Director, Social and Behavioral Health Interventions Laboratory
1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue
Ritter Annex, 9th floor (004-09)
Philadelphia, PA 19122

slepore@temple.edu

Biography

Dr. Stephen Lepore is Professor of Public Health, Director of the PhD Programs in Public Health, and Founding Director of the Social and Behavioral Health Interventions Laboratory. Dr. Lepore holds degrees from the University of California-Irvine, Harvard University, and Clark University. His work addresses basic questions about how people adjust to traumatic or chronic stressors in their lives, including cancer diagnosis and treatments, bereavement, and exposure to community violence. Much of his work has focused on how the social context of people’s lives influences both their exposure to stressors and their ability to cope with them. This work, which has culminated in the Social Cognitive Processing model, has been used as the basis for designing individual- and community-level interventions to promote health in vulnerable populations.

Dr. Lepore has received numerous awards in recognition of his research accomplishments, including an Award for Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology from Division 38 of the American Psychological Association, the Young Investigator Award for Outstanding Contributions to Behavioral Medicine from the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Distinguished Lecturer at Old Dominion University, Distinguished Visiting Faculty Award at University of Kentucky, and a Fulbright Award. He is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Researchers, and a Charter Member of the National Institutes of Health Behavioral Medicine Interventions study section. His work regularly appears in leading scientific journals in health, psychology and medicine, and has been supported by over $10 million in grants from federal agencies and private foundations.

Publications/Presentations

Revenson, T. A., & Lepore, S. J. (2012). Stress and coping processes in social context. In A. Baum, T. A. Revenson, & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of Health Psychology (2^nd ed.),193-217. NY: Psychology Press.

Latini, D. M., Hart, S. L., Goltz, H. H., Lepore, S. J., & Schover, L. R. (2012). Prostate cancer Patient Education Project (PC^PEP) – prostate cancer symptom management in low-literacy men. In R. Elk & H. Landrine (Eds.), Cancer Health Disparities: Causes and Evidence-Based Solutions, 393-414. New York: Springer.

Lepore, S. J., Buzaglo, J., Lieberman, M., Golant, M., & Davey, A. (2011). Standard Versus Prosocial Online Support Groups for Distressed Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial. BMC: Cancer, 11, 379-386.

Kliewer, W., Lepore, S. J., Farrell, A. D., Allison, K., Meyer, A. D., Sullivan, T. N., & Greene, A. Y. (2011). A school-based expressive writing intervention for at-risk urban adolescents’ aggressive behavior and emotional lability. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40, 693-705.

Chambers, S.K., Newton, R., Girgis, A. Nielsen, L., Lepore, S. J., Mihalopoulos, C., Gardiner, R. A., Galvao, D., Occhipinti, S. (2011). Living with Prostate Cancer: Randomized controlled trial of a multimodal supportive care intervention for men with prostate cancer. BMC: Cancer, 11, 317-325.

Chambers, S. K., Pinnock, C., Lepore, S. J., Hughes, S., & O’Connell, D. L. (2011; e-pub). A systematic review of psychosocial interventions for men with prostate cancer and their partners. Patient Education & Counseling. PMID: 21334159

Kaynak, Ö., Lepore, S.J., & Kliewer, W. (2011) Social moderation of the relation between community violence exposure and depressive symptoms in an urban adolescent sample. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30, 250-269.

Lepore, S. J. Shejwal, B., Kim, B. H., Evans, G. W. (2010). Associations between chronic community noise exposure and blood pressure at rest and during acute noise and non-noise stressors among urban school children in India. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7, 3457-3466.

Roberts, K. J., Lepore, S. J., Hanlon, A., & Helgeson, V. (2010). Genitourinary functioning and depressive symptoms over time in younger versus older men treated for prostate cancer. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40, 275-283.

Godino, J. G., Lepore, S. J., & Rassnick, S. (2009). Relation of misperception of healthy weight to obesity and health behaviors in urban black men. Obesity, 18, 1318-1322.

Wolf, R., Lepore, S. J., Vandergrift, J. L., Basch, C. E., & Yaroch, A. L. (2009). Tailored telephone education to promote awareness and adoption of fruit and vegetable recommendations among urban and mostly immigrant black men: A randomized controlled trial. Preventive Medicine, 48, 32-38.

Kernan, W. & Lepore, S. J. (2009). Searching for and making meaning after breast cancer: Prevalence, patterns, and negative affect. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 1176-1182.

Lepore, S. J., Glaser, D., & Roberts, K. (2008). On the positive relation between received social support and negative affect: A test of the triage and self-esteem threat models in women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 17, 1210-1215. .

Collins, B. N., & Lepore, S. J. (2008). Association between anxiety and smoking in sample of urban black men. Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, 11, 29-34.

Roberts, K. J., Lepore, S. J., & Urken, M. (2008). Quality of life after thyroid cancer: An assessment of patient needs and preferences for information and support. Journal of Cancer Education, 23, 186-191.

Wolf, R. L., Lepore, S. J., Vandergrift, J. L., Wetmore-Arkader, M. A., McGinty, E., Pietrzak, G., & Yaroch, A. L. (2008). Knowledge, barriers, and stage of change as correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption among urban and mostly immigrant black men. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 108, 1315-1322.

Lepore, S. J., & Revenson, T. A. (2007). Social constraints on disclosure and adjustment to cancer. Social & Personality Psychology Compass: Health, 1, 313-333.

Weston, R. E., Weston, P. J., Futterman, R. F., Lepore, S. J., Carolina, D. S., Pinto, J. T., Lang, M. A., Thomas, R. I., Cardwell, J. J., & Gordon, A. P. (2007). Effectiveness of a modified computer assisted instructional tool in the dissemination of prostate cancer information to men of African descent through black churches. Journal of African American Studies, 11, 1081-1753.

Weston, R. E., Weston, P. J., Carolina, D., Lepore, S. J., & Pinto, J. (2007). Evaluation of a prostate cancer computer assisted instructional model for communities of African descent. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 15, 45-68.

Lepore, S. J. & Coyne, J. C. (2006). Psychological interventions for distress in cancer patients: A review of reviews. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 85-92.

Coyne, J. C., Lepore, S. J., & Palmer, S. C. (2006). Efficacy of psychosocial interventions in cancer care: The evidence is weaker than it first looks. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 104-110.

Coyne, J. C. & Lepore, S. J. (2006). Rebuttal: The black swan fallacy in evaluating psychological interventions for distress in cancer patients. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 115-118.

Lepore, S. J., Revenson, T. A., Weinberger, S. L., Weston, P., Frisina, P. G. Robertson, R., Mentor Portillo, M., Jones, H., & Cross, W. (2006). Effects of social stressors on cardiovascular reactivity in Black and White women. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 120-127.

Helgeson, V. S., Lepore, S. J., & Eton, D. T. (2006). Moderators of the benefits of psychoeducational interventions for men with prostate cancer. Health Psychology, 25, 348-354.

Roberts, K. J., Lepore, S. J., & Helgeson, V. (2006). Social-cognitive correlates of adjustment to prostate cancer. Psycho-0ncology, 14, 1-10.

Eton, D. T., Lepore, S. J., & Helgeson, V. S. (2005). Psychological distress in spouses of men treated for early-stage prostate carcinoma. Cancer, 103, 2412-2418.

Lepore, S. J., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., Ragan, J., & Ramos, N. (2004). It’s not that bad: Social challenges to emotional disclosure enhance adjustment to stress. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal, 17, 341-261.

Helgeson, V. S., & Lepore, S. J. (2004). Quality of life following prostate cancer: The role of agency and unmitigated agency. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 2559-2585.

Frisina, P. G., Borod, J., & Lepore, S. J. (2004). A meta-analysis of the effects of written emotional disclosure on health outcomes of clinical populations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 629-634.

Helgeson, V. S., Novak, S. A., Lepore, S. J., & Eton, D. T. (2004). Spouse social control efforts: Relations to health behavior and well-being among men with prostate cancer. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 53-68.

Feldman, P., Cohen, S., Hamrick, N., & Lepore, S. J. (2004). Psychological stress, appraisal, emotion and cardiovascular response in a public speaking task. Psychology & Health, 19, 353-368.

Lepore, S. J., Helgeson, V. S., Eton, D., & Schulz, R. (2003). Improving quality of life in men with prostate cancer: A randomized controlled trial of group education interventions. Health Psychology, 22, 443-452.

Grants & Contracts

PI, (with B. Collins, Multi-PI), Pediatrician advice, family counseling & SHS reduction for underserved children, NCI
PI, A novel prosocial online support group for distressed breast cancer survivors, NCI
PI, Prostate cancer education in African-American men, NCI
PI, Expressive writing & adjustment to colorectal cancer, NCI
PI, Adjustment to thyroid cancer: Needs assessment, THANC Foundation
PI, Training Minorities in Bio-behavioral Cancer Research, NCI
Co-PI (with W. Kliewer), School-based expressive writing intervention trial to youth exposed to community violence, NIMH
Co-PI, (with W. Kliewer). Community violence, expressive writing, and adjustment, CDC
Co-I (C. Basch, PI), Evaluating alternative retinopathy screening approaches, NEI

Research

Cancer prevention, control and survivorship
Stress, social relationships, coping, and health
Social and behavioral clinical trials methodology and interventions
Social disparities in health

For more information and sample publications, please visit the Social and Behavioral Health Interventions Lab

Clinical Interests

Improving quality of life in cancer survivors via live and online social support interventions.

Additional Info

Social & Behavioral Health Intervention Lab (SBHI)