Delesha Carpenter Lab

Dr. Carpenter directs a funded research program that is focused in three areas:

1. patient-provider communication;
2. mobile and digital health; and
3. rural health.

Her patient-provider communication research spans primary care and community pharmacy settings and addresses numerous topic areas, including increasing access to medications for individuals with substance use disorders, suicide, asthma, and vasculitis. She has developed multiple online training tools, including a shared decision-making module for pediatric pain management and a tailored inhaler technique software program. She directs a practice-based research network for rural community pharmacies – find out more here.

She enjoys mentoring students and postdocs in her lab!

Research

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (PIs: Carpenter/Lavigne)
Developing and evaluating a scalable suicide prevention gatekeeper training program for community pharmacy staff
Our goal is to increase the number of community pharmacy staff who complete suicide prevention gatekeeper training. We will co-develop and evaluate a suicide prevention training module with community pharmacy stakeholders.

NSF Hernandez/Carpenter (co-PIs)
SCH: INT: Collaborative Research: A Data-Driven Approach to Enhancing Wearable Device Performance – An Early Asthma Exacerbation Detection Study
In this project, the investigators aim to provide an innovative framework for characterizing the performance of wearable devices in the real-world based on contextual information of their usage, and aim to demonstrate the framework’s value by enabling more reliable early detection of asthma exacerbations in young adults.

NIDA Carpenter (PI)
Addressing the opioid epidemic through community pharmacy engagement: a multi-state study
The objective of our 4-state collaboration is to develop and test the effectiveness of an online module (Nalox-Comm) designed to teach naloxone communication skills to rural community pharmacists. The project involves formative data collection with community pharmacists, patients, and caregivers and an RCT to assess the impact of Nalox-Comm on how often pharmacists dispense naloxone.
Role: Principal Investigator

Eshelman Institute for Innovation Carpenter (PI)
Creating the first multi-state rural community pharmacy research network: RURAL-CP
We will create the first multi-state rural community pharmacy practice-based research network called the Rural Research Alliance of Community Pharmacies (RURAL-CP). RURAL-CP’s mission is to reduce rural health disparities by supporting high-quality pharmacy-based implementation research. RURAL-CP will include 100 rural community pharmacies across five southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina).
Role: Principal Investigator

AHEC Campus Innovation Grant Carpenter (PI)
Preparing Residents to Communicate Effectively with Pediatric Patients and Their Parents about Opioids
The purpose of this project is to develop a training module to prepare medical, dental, pharmacy, and surgical residents to engage in shared decision making with pediatric patients and their parents about using prescription opioids to treat pain.
Role: Principal Investigator