Current Projects

“Investigating human dignity in practice during the COVID-19 crisis”

(co-PIs: Christa Teston, PhD and Melissa Guadrón, English PhD student at Ohio State University; with Mahlet Meshesha, LCSW, MPH student at George Washington University; Ania Pathak, DO/PhD student at Michigan State University; Shariq Sherwani, MS, MBA, MACPR, MA, Health Communication PhD student at Ohio University; and Goran Stevanovski, MD, MA student in Biomedical Education and Neuroscience at Ohio State University).

Generously sponsored by Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme, this study investigates how medical professionals’ experiences with providing dignified care have been altered by COVID-19.

Current status: Approved by Ohio State’s IRB (#2020B026). Data collection underway.

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“Dignified Patient Communication: A Transdisciplinary, Participatory Research Project”

(PI: Christa Teston; co-PIs: Theresa Berner; Wendy Koesters)

A site-based investigation of the ways medical professionals in Ohio State University’s Wheelchair Seating and Positioning Clinic enact dignified care practices.

Current status: Manuscript preparation in progress (IRB #2016B0361); second phase of project under way


“Situational analyses of death-with-dignity legislation”

(PI: Christa Teston)

Rhetorical analyses of various versions of Death-with-Dignity Acts and concomitant practices within the U.S.

Current status: Manuscript preparation in progress