About

Cheryl Giscombe is associated with the UNC School of Nursing, which emphasizes aging and older adult care as a key area of expertise. The school focuses on developing new methodologies for educating caregivers and improving tools for evidence-based care to create better health outcomes for aging adults. The faculty involved in this area include professionals with diverse backgrounds in nursing, public health, and health systems, contributing to research and practice aimed at enhancing care for seniors, who are the most rapidly growing patient population in the US. The school’s initiatives include advancing aging and elderly care through innovative research, education, and community service, with a focus on health disparities, chronic conditions, and health equity.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Sociology
• Social psychology
• Gender studies
• Psychotherapist
• Developmental psychology
• Nursing
• Gerontology

Selected publications

• Student perspectives on recruiting underrepresented ethnic minority students to nursing: Enhancing outreach, engaging family, and correcting misconceptions

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Honoring the past and charting the future: The International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses' commitment to advance diversity and equity in mental health care

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-19

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The development of the Interprofessional Leadership Institute for Mental Health Equity

  UNC Libraries · 2025-03-08

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The <em>Interprofessional Leadership Institute for Mental Health Equity</em> is being developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to reduce mental health disparities by (1) engaging students in interprofessional service learning and research activities, (2) promoting integration of community-based strategies and social determinants of mental health conditions among underserved and vulnerable groups as required curricular components, (3) enhancing workforce diversity (in partnership with Racial/Ethnic Minority-Serving Colleges/Universities) by supporting students to obtain professional careers in mental health leadership, and (4) supporing current mental health providers, educators, and researchers who are working to mentor students in ways that address mental health inequities.

  PublisherDOI

• Known and novel predictors of depression differ among Black and White women and men: The Healthy Aging with Resilient Identities Study

  2025-08-29

  articleOpen access

  Background: Depression is a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality in the U.S. While demographic risk patterns have persisted for decades, evolving sociopolitical contexts may drive disproportionate increases across groups. The Identity Vitality-Pathology (IVP) model posits that modifiable identity-related characteristics shape depression risk, with a vitalized identity—marked by an inclusive self-concept, intrinsic valuing of living beings, and universal compassion—protective against depression. This study examined the association between identity state and depression across Black and White women and men.Methods: Data came from 2,008 Black and White adults aged 35–65 in the 2025 Healthy Aging with Resilient Identities study. Stratified ordinal logistic regression models generated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for race-gender–specific predictors of depression.Results: Severe depression prevalence was highest among White men (9.3%), followed by White women (6.0%), Black women (3.8%), and Black men (3.2%). Higher IVP Scale (IVPS) scores—indicating greater identity vitality—were associated with lower odds of worse depression in all groups except White men. Compared to those with the lowest (Q1) IVPS scores, those in the highest (Q4) had 70% lower odds among Black women (aOR=0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.6) and Black men (aOR=0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.8), and 90% lower odds among White women (aOR=0.1, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.3), but little difference among White men (aOR=0.9, 95% CI: 0.5, 1.5).Conclusions: Findings suggest vitalized identity may reduce depression risk but also highlight the need for interventions attuned to the distinct racialized and gendered contexts shaping health.

  PublisherDOI

• Superwoman Schema, Racial Identity, and Cellular Aging Among African American Women

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-19

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: African American women experience faster telomere shortening (i.e., cellular aging) compared with other racial-gender groups. Prior research demonstrates that race and gender interact to influence culturally specific norms for responding to socially-relevant stress and other stress-coping processes, which may affect healthy aging. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data are from African American Women's Heart &amp; Health Study participants who consented to DNA extraction (n = 140). Superwoman Schema (SWS) was measured using 5 validated subscales: presenting strength, emotion suppression, resisting vulnerability, motivation to succeed, and obligation to help others. Racial identity was measured using 3 subscales from the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity: racial centrality, private regard, and public regard. Relative telomere length (rTL) was measured using DNA extracted from blood samples. Path analysis tested associations and interactions between SWS and racial identity dimensions with rTL. RESULTS: For SWS, higher resistance to being vulnerable predicted longer telomeres. For racial identity, high private regard predicted longer telomeres while high public regard predicted shorter telomeres. Interactions were found between public regard and 2 SWS dimensions: among women with high public regard, emotion suppression (&beta; = 0.20, p &lt; .05) and motivation to succeed (&beta; = 0.18, p &lt; .05) were associated with longer rTL. The interaction between high centrality and emotion suppression predicted shorter rTL (&beta; = -0.17, p &lt; .05). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Culturally specific responses to gendered racism and racial identity, developed early in life and shaped over the life course, are important psychosocial determinants of cellular aging among African American women.

  PublisherDOI

• Service utilization characteristics among adolescents from racial and ethnic minority groups at elevated risk for suicide: A scoping review

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-18

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A scoping review of the concept of resilience among African American women

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-19

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Interventions for Psychological Stress in Pregnant African American Women: A Scoping Review

  Issues in Mental Health Nursing · 2025-10-13

  reviewSenior author

  = 2) were identified. Common intervention components were education, social support, mind-body exercises, and reflection. Studies additionally measured physiological stress, anxiety, and depression. Results for stress reduction were mixed; while two studies reported post-intervention decreases in stress, others found no significant changes, highlighting the preliminary nature of existing evidence. The qualitative studies provided information on intervention benefits and barriers to participation. Future intervention studies that are community-based, culturally-relevant, and target contextualized stressors are necessary to build confirmatory evidence on methods of stress management for pregnant AAW.

  PublisherDOI

• Superwoman Schema and John Henryism among African American women: An intersectional perspective on coping with racism

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-19

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• From proximity concerns to constant snacking: Narratives of food access and consumption patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-18

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  <strong>Objective:</strong> The goal of this research was to uncover narratives around food access and consumption among Black women who attend HBCUs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. <strong>Participants:</strong> Black women, ages 18-25. <strong>Methods:</strong> Focus groups were used to understand how participants defined healthy foods as well as barriers and facilitators of consumption. During the pandemic follow-up focus groups uncovered how COVID-19 impacted their access and consumption patterns. <strong>Results:</strong> Findings revealed that HCBU women faced similar and distinct concerns around food access prior to and during the pandemic. Students were limited by price, budgets, proximity to healthy foods, kitchen access, and cooking tools. However, proximity or transportation both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged students to access healthy foods. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> For students who are already at a societal disadvantage and attend a university located in a food desert, access to nutritious foods can be an exacerbated plight.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Research Training Fellowship in Complementary and Integrative Healthcare

  NIH · $7.3M · 2007–2027

• NIH Grant R21AT004276

  NIH · $585k · 2013

Frequent coauthors

• Lilian Bravo

  57 shared

• Marci Lobel

  Stony Brook School

  57 shared

• Ganga Bey

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  57 shared

• Amnazo Muhirwa

  National Institutes of Health

  56 shared

• Jada L. Brooks

  University of North Carolina Health Care

  54 shared

• Karen Sheffield-Abdullah

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  53 shared

• Charity Lackey

  National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

  52 shared

• Taleah Frazier

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  51 shared

Labs

• Aging and Older Adult CarePI