Dr. Shawn Kneipp is the Sarah Frances Russell Distinguised Term Professor in the Carolina Nursing program at UNC. Her program of research focuses on the social, policy, and economic determinants that impact the health of disadvantaged populations – particularly in relation to welfare policy, employment, and women’s health. Her early work focused on understanding the stress and health challenges faced by women as they tried to leave welfare and move into employment. More recent studies have applied a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to develop and test a public health nurse case management intervention for women as they transition from welfare into employment, which resulted in positive health and employment-entry gains. Based on recommendations from her CBPR partners and preliminary findings from the problem-solving work, she has extended this focus to examine the extent to which minor criminal offense history affects womens’ health by way of “collateral consequences” through welfare and labor market systems. Her recent intervention findings have been featured on AHRQ’s Innovation Exchange to promote implementation into practice settings. These and other findings from her program of research have the potential to impact policy at the national level to improve the health of disadvantaged women.
Dr. Kneipp teaches courses across programs and program levels, with an emphasis on PhD education and courses related to public health nursing.