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Office Location: RBHS – Busch Campus Piscataway, NJ 08826
Michelle Zechner, Ph.D., LSW, CPRP is an Associate Professor at Rutgers-SHP, Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Programs and has focused her career on helping people recover from mental health conditions, with special expertise in health promotion initiatives and aging.
She has worked in a variety of community and inpatient settings, including nursing homes, outpatient mental health services, state psychiatric hospitals and community services for older adults. In her current role she teaches and is involved in workforce initiatives for mental health staff, implementation of evidence-based psycho-social practices in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings, developing and testing health and wellness promotion interventions in community settings, teaching students, training diverse mental health staff on best practice interventions for older persons with mental health conditions, and conducting research.
Dr. Zechner’s research includes the development of programs focused on health promotion, multi-domain wellness for people with mental health conditions, inter-professional education, physical activity promotion in persons with mental illness, and identifying best practices for use with older adults with mental health conditions. She has co-authored peer-reviewed and technical publications on health promotion for persons with mental illness, and has presented her work at local, national and international conferences. She is passionate about supporting people aging with mental health conditions to improve their emotional and physical health.
MSW, University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D., Rutgers University
Dr. Zechner’s research is focused on improving health and wellness of people living with chronic conditions and their caregivers, especially older adults.
| Title | Authors | Where and When |
| Perspectives on Functional Mobility in Older Adults with SMI: Commentary | Zechner, M. & Anderson, E.Z. | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 2023 Jun 6;S1064-7481(23)00312-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.05.013. 2023 |
| Dental Pre-Doctoral Student Perceptions About Serious Mental Illness: Concerns and Role Clarification. | Zechner, M., Singhal, V., Murphy, A., York, J., Karyczak, S. & Muhammad, A. | Journal of Dental Education, 87, 639-645, doi/10.1002/jdd.13156. 2023 |
| Evaluating the Impact of an Educational Program on Stigmatizing Attitudes in Dental Hygiene Students. | Zechner, M. Karyczak, S., Murphy, A., Vasilenko, G., McMahon, K., Drucks, C., and Singhal., R. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 23, 121-141. 2022 |
| Physical Therapy Students’ Perceptions for Working with Persons with Mental Illness in the United States. | Zechner, M., Anderson, E., Murphy, A., Zazzarino, A. & Karyczak, S. | Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 11, 367. 2022 |
| Bridging religion and spirituality with gestalt psychotherapy to improve clinical symptoms: Preliminary findings using gestalt pastoral care. | Thomas, M., Crabtree, M., Janvier, D., Craner, W., Zechner, M., & Bussian, L. B. | Psychotherapy, 59(3), 400–404. 2022 |
| Old before their time: Comparisons of people with SMI and healthy older adults | Zechner, M. R., Anderson, E. Z., & Gill, K. J. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 45(1), 89–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000496 2022 |
| Multidimensional Wellness for People Aging With Mental Health Conditions: A Proposed Framework. | Zechner, M. , Swarbrick, P., Fullen, M., Barrett, N., Santos, S. & Pratt, C. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 45, 160-169. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000510. 2022 |
| Exploring Dental Students’ Perceptions of Mental Illness to Address Unmet Needs. | Zechner, M., Singhal, V., Murphy, A., and Karyczak, S. | The Open Dentistry Journal, 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/18742106-v16-e2112240. 2022 |
| Faculty-Led Virtual Level 1 Community Fieldwork during the COVID-19 Pandemic. | Benaroya, T. L., Swarbrick, M., Zechner, M., Murphy, A. A., & Cimmino, M. | Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 6 (2). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2022.060217. 2022 |
| Self-Care for All: Sharing a Caregiver Program During the Coronavirus Pandemic. | Swarbrick, P., Nemec,P., Gould Folgerite, S., Spagnolo,A., Zechner, M., Lundquist, M. C., Townsend, M. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 23(3), 189-200. 2020 |
| Service learning experiences of Doctor of Physical Therapy students with a severe mental illness population? | Karyczak, S., Murphy, A., Zechner, M., Anderson, E., & Zazzarino, A. | Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 9, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_298_20 DOI: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_298_20 |
| Challenges Experienced by Behavioral Health Organizations in New York Resulting from COVID-19: A Qualitative Analysis | Murphy, A., Karyczak, S., Dolce, J., Zechner, M., Bates, F., & Rothplatz-Puglia, P. | Community Mental Health Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00731-3 |
| Moving PsyR Workforce Training and Support Online During COVID-19, Strategies and Reach. | Bartholomew, T., Sperduto, J., Reinhardt-Wood, D., Birkmann, J., Zechner, M., & Kinter, K. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 23, 1-8 |
| Care2Caregivers: A Retrospective Examination of Needs Addressed and Services Provided by a Peer Support Helpline. | Zechner, M., Lundquist, M. C., Swarbrick, M., & Wey, A. | Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 58(10), 13-16. 2020 |
| Engaging older adults using Tai Chi at a psychiatric hospital. | Zechner, M., McDonald, M, King, T., Jahnke, R., & Monroy-Miller, C. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 21, 344-354, 2019 |
| Multi-Dimensional Wellness Interventions for Older Adults with Serious Mental Illness: A Systematic Literature Review. | Zechner, M., Pratt, C., Barrett, N., Dreker, M. & Santos, S. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. Advance online publication, April 2019 |
| Faculty Mentorship in Allied Health Schools: An Evaluation of a Mentorship Initiative. | Barrett, N., Murphy, A., Zechner, M., & Malenczak, D. | Journal of Allied Health Professions, 48, 134-139, 2019 |
| Tools for Moving On: Adapting an evidenced based housing curriculum for Individuals Receiving Services in an Inpatient Psychiatric Setting to Prepare for Community Living. | Sperduto, J., Zechner, M., Spagnolo, A. & Giacobbe, G. | Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 57,23-29, 2019 |
| Sensitizing inpatient mental health staff to the challenges of aging. | Zechner, M., Birkmann, J. C., Sperduto, J., & Pratt, C. | Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services, 56(4), 12-16, 2018 |
| Fidelity to the structural and clinical aspects of the illness management and recovery program in an institutional setting: A six year study. | Bartholomew, T., Zechner, M. R., Birkmann, J. C., Reinhardt-Wood, D. L., Kinter, K. T., Sperduto, J., Cook, R., & Giantini, M. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 21 (1-2). 102-114, 2019 |
| Predictors of Physical Activity in Persons with Mental Illness: A Social Cognitive Model. | Zechner, M. & Gill, K. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 39(4), 321-335, 2016 |
| Wellness for Life: A Pilot Inter-Professional Intervention to Address MetS | Gill, K., Zechner, M., Anderson, E., Swarbrick, M. & Murphy, A. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 39, 147-153, 2016 |
| The relationship of illness management and recovery to state hospital readmission. | Bartholomew, T., & Zechner, M. | The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 2014202(9), 647-650. 2014 |
| Balanced Life: A pilot wellness program for older adults in psychiatric hospitals. | Zechner, M., & Kirchner, M. P. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 36(1), 42-57. 2013 |
| Wellness coaching: A new role for peers. | Swarbrick, P., Murphy, A., Zechner, M., Spagnolo, A. & Gill, K. | Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 34(4), 328-331. 2011 |
| A wellness approach to addressing tobacco in mental health settings: Learning about healthy living. | Williams, J., Ziedonis, D., Vreeland, B., Speelman-Edwards, N., Zechner, M., Williams, M., Rahim, R., Karimi, L., Molnar, M., & Eilers, R. | American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 12, 352-369. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487760903248580. 2009 |
| Co-morbid psychiatric and medical disorders: Challenges and strategies. | Gill, K., Murphy, A., Zechner, M., Swarbrick, M., & Spagnolo, A. | Journal of Rehabilitation, 75 (3), 32-40. 2009 |
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