Susan G. Williams, PhD, RN University of South Alabama, College of Nursing, USA

Dr. Susan G. Williams’ (PhD, RN) research focuses on stressful life events, perceived stress, bullying or teasing, health promotion, and depressive symptoms with a focus on bio-behavioral research methods in adolescent populations (high school and college). As a primary investigator (PI), she conducted a pilot study (n = 30) to examine the feasibility of collecting data using validated measures with an online delivery method in addition to collecting salivary samples to examine change in cortisol from morning to afternoon in ninth-grade students at a suburban high school. During this research, she trained and worked with three fellow PhD students to assist in data collection. Her PhD dissertation research was conducted with a larger group (n = 143) of ninth-grade students using the same validated measures with the addition of a validated stressful life events measure.