Michelle Long

Michelle teaches Health Psychology emphasizing the biological, psychological, social genetic and environmental interplay in health and disease. This advanced course has an experiential focus on healthy behavioral lifestyle changes, stress, coping and relaxation.

Michelle is developing mobile application of Ecological Momentary Assessment and Intervention focusing on healthy habits, coping and stress reduction in college students. EMA/EMI involves repeated sampling and interventions of behavior in real time in natural environments while minimizing recall bias, maximizing ecological validity and allows the intervention and study of microprocesses that influence behavior in real-world contexts. In Spring of 2016, she designed, taught and published a pilot version APP, A Healthy Helper, together with her students and the assistance of Troy Challenger. It is being used by Health Psychology students in her classes on a ongoing basis.

Her Health Psychology class hosted a campus-wide Live Facebook Event on Anxiety and Depression in conjunction with the World Health Organization in Spring of 2017.

Michelle's 25 years of experience includes working for University of Hawaii International Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Hawaii State Department of Health (including pilot projects sponsored by National Institute of Mental Health and Centers for Disease Control), Hawaii Department of Education, YWCA Women’s Shelter, local clinics and Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula.

Sampling of (past) areas of research: impact of disaster trauma on health behaviors; behavioral health risks in use of steroids and needle sharing; risk taking and field safety in telecommunication workers; impact of peer education in reduction of suicide, STD's, teen pregnancy, and substance abuse.