Cinzia Caparso, Ph.D., RN, an assistant professor in the Wayne State University College of Nursing and a member of the Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, has been named one of 12 national honorees for the prestigious 2025 Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Science Honor by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR).
This annual honor recognizes early-stage investigators whose research embodies the transformative vision of Dr. Matilda White Riley, a trailblazer in behavioral and social sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Caparso will present her paper virtually at the OBSSR event on July 8, 2025, alongside other selected scholars from across the country.
Her selected study, developed during her NIH/NCI T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, under the mentorship of pediatric oncologist Dr. Sung Won Choi, addresses a frequently overlooked issue in cancer care: how parents with cancer, who have dependents, and their coparents communicate with one another about the illness.
“This article provided the foundation to my current work and the foundational work to support my NIH/NCI K01 Career Development Award,” said Caparso.
The qualitative study engaged 15 parents with cancer and 15 coparents, conducting semi-structured interviews via Zoom between October 2022 and September 2023.
Using Charmaz’s grounded theory method, Dr. Caparso uncovered that while both parents with cancer and their coparents often share the same concerns—discussing the diagnosis with children, planning for the future, managing finances and addressing mental health—they frequently struggle to communicate those concerns with each other.
Participants expressed a clear need for communication tools and structured support, and the majority indicated a preference for virtual intervention delivery.
These findings underscore a growing opportunity for providers to support families with web-based resources that promote family resilience during and after a cancer diagnosis.
Dr. Caparso is mentored by Felicity Harper, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, member of the Supportive Oncology Multidisciplinary Team and the PSDR Program at Karmanos. Her work has already sparked further research, including a scoping review of existing family communication interventions, and two ongoing meta-aggregations—one focused on children’s communication concerns and another examining how health care providers navigate family-centered cancer conversations.
Originally published on Today@Wayne.