David Janicke, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology

College of Public Health and Health Professions

2011 Awardee

David Janicke’s main area of interest is translational research intended to promote the dissemination of obesity interventions for individuals in underserved settings, with a primary focus on children.

Unique aspects of his work include comparing family-based vs. parent-only interventions to address lifestyle change in children and designing interventions (group leader training protocol) to be delivered to families in underserved rural settings through the cooperative extension service.

Janicke is the PI on an NIDDK-funded grant titled the “Extension Family Lifestyle Intervention Project (E-FLIP for Kids).” E-FLIP for Kids examines the impact of behavioral interventions for pediatric obesity in underserved rural settings. He was also the PI on a recently completed two-year randomized clinical trial examining the impact of a family-based weight management program for children enrolled in Medicaid, funded by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. In addition, Janicke serves as a co-investigator on a randomized clinical trial examining the effectiveness of obesity interventions for adults in underserved settings. He also served as co-investigator on a recently completed NIH-funded grant (TOURS) examining weight management interventions for adults in rural settings.

One of his earliest lines of research focused on factors related to pediatric health service utilization, most notably the impact of child and parent psychosocial functioning on health service use. Recently, this line of research has expanded to examine the impact of child weight status and obesity on health service use and expenditures. Financial support for his recent research in this area has come from two grants from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Janicke is currently conducting a longitudinal study examining the impact of child weight status and psychosocial functioning on health service use and expenditures. This project will be useful in informing policy makers of the potential cost savings associated with financial support for obesity prevention and treatment.

He is also conducting research examining psychosocial adjustment and barriers to treatment adherence in overweight and obese children. This includes factors impacting quality of life, self-esteem, weight-based stigmatization, extreme versus health weight control behaviors, perceptions of weight status, and rates of psychiatric diagnosis associated with pediatric obesity.