Karen Crew is a Clinical Research Program Manager at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has 15 years of experience working in research on parents’ decision making in pediatric palliative care, complex chronic conditions, and serious pediatric illness.
Karen coordinates all aspects of research studies for PACT and for Dr. Chris Feudtner. Recent projects include the Decision-making in Serious Pediatric Illness study, an intimate interview study of parental stress and parental decision-making of parents of children with serious illness; Developing a Coping Kit for Parents of Seriously Ill Children to develop a stress coping intervention that may improve the ability of parents to care for their child and in turn improve the long-term physical and psychosocial outcomes of the parent and child; and the ongoing Pediatric Palliative Care Research Network SHARE Project, a multi-center cohort study following over 500 children receiving palliative care in the US regarding symptoms experienced by these patients, how symptoms change over time and are associated with parental affect and distress, how patient symptoms and parental distress influence goals of care decision-making, and hospital costs.
BS in Psychology - Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Hill DL, Carroll KW, Snyder KJG, Mascarenhas M, Erlichman J, Patterson CA, Barakat LP, Feudtner C. Development and Pilot Testing of a Coping Kit for Parents of Hospitalized Children.
Acad Pediatr. 2018 Nov 8. pii: S1876-2859(18)30747-2. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2018.11.001. [Epub ahead of print]
Hill DL, Nathanson PG, Carroll KW, Schall TE, Miller VA, Feudtner C. Changes in Parental Hopes for Seriously Ill Children. Pediatrics. 2018 Apr;141(4). pii: e20173549. doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-3549.
Hexem KR, Miller VA, Carroll KW, Faerber JA, Feudtner C. Putting on a happy face: emotional expression in parents of children with serious illness. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2013 Mar;45(3):542-51. PMID: 22926092
Renjilian CB, Womer JW, Carroll KW, Kang, TI, Feudtner C. Parental explicit heuristics in decision-making for children with life-threatening illnesses. Pediatrics. 2013 Feb;131(2):e566-72. PubMed PMID: 23319524
Carroll KW, Mollen CJ, Aldridge S, Hexem KR, Feudtner C. Influences on decision making identified by parents of children receiving pediatric palliative care. AJOB Primary Research. 2012 Vol. 3, No. 1: 1-7. ISBN: 2150-7716
Madrigal VN, Carroll KW, Hexem KR, Faerber JA, Morrison WE, Feudtner C. Parental decision-making preferences in the pediatric intensive care unit. Crit Care Med. 2012 Vol. 40, No. 10: 2876-2882. PubMed PMID: 22824932.
Hexem KR, Mollen CJ, Carroll K, Lanctot DA, Feudtner C. How parents of children receiving pediatric palliative care use religion, spirituality, or life philosophy in tough times. J Palliat Med. 2011 Jan;14(1):39-44. PubMed PMID: 21244252; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3021326.
Feudtner C, Carroll KW, Hexem KR, Silberman J, Kang TI, Kazak AE. Parental hopeful patterns of thinking, emotions, and pediatric palliative care decision making: a prospective cohort study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010 Sep;164(9):831-9. PubMed PMID: 20819965.
Phi Beta Kappa
Psychology Department Award
Michael F. Maher, S.J. Award for Academic Excellence