Karen Cheng, Ph.D
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
1731 East 120th Street, Building N
Los Angeles, CA 90059
(323) 357-3424 Fax (323) 357-3477
kacheng@cdrewu.edu
B.S. Psychology (1996) Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
M.A. Social Psychology (1998) University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. Social Psychology (2002) University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Karen Cheng is an assistant professor in the department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Charles Drew University (CDU) and a core investigator with the International Core of the UCLA/CDU Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS).
Her research focuses on culturally appropriate uses of information and communications technology (ICT) to improve delivery of health information and health services in low-income countries. ICT offers many benefits, including access to online resources, electronic data collection, electronic storage and retrieval of patient data, etc. However, there may be social and cultural barriers to acceptance of the technology. Age, gender, class, education level, national or regional culture, level of urbanization, and political climate can all be potential barriers to acceptance. Careful understanding of social and cultural contexts is needed to avert such unintended negative effects. Dr. Cheng’s studies evaluate the acceptability and impact of handheld computers, mobile phones, websites, and other ICT in order to understand the social and cultural barriers to accepting ICT in healthcare settings in low-income countries.
In addition, Dr. Cheng supervises the Drew Cares International team in Kigali, Rwanda. They partner with the Rwandan Defense Forces to provide medical and psychosocial services to soldiers living with HIV or AIDS. She has also worked with the Angolan Armed Forces to develop and experimentally test a culturally-appropriate HIV prevention intervention.
Cheng, K.G. (2008) Recording patient responses in low-income countries: does the tool make a difference? Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(10), 740-741. doi: 10.2471/BLT.08.054668.
Cheng, K.G., Ernesto, F., & Truong, K.N. (2008). Participant acceptance of handheld computers to collect HIV/AIDS data in Sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 763-766. [paper awarded Best of Conference in Technical Note category]
Gong, L. & Cheng, K.G. (in press). Impact of Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Relevance of Health Information on Asian Americans’ Preferences for E-health Agents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Bing, E. G., Cheng, K.G., Ortiz, D. J., Ovalle-Bahamon, R. E., Ernesto, F., & Weiss R. E. (2008). Evaluation of a Prevention Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk among Angolan Soldiers. AIDS and Behavior, 12(3), 384-95. doi: 10.1007/s10461-008-9368-2.
Bing, E. G., Ortiz, D. J., Ovalle-Bahamon, R. E., Cheng, K.G., Huang, F. H., Ernesto, F., & Duan, N. (2008). HIV/AIDS Behavioral Surveillance among Angolan Military Men. AIDS and Behavior, 12(4), 578-584. doi:10.1007/s10461-007-9280-1.
Bing, E.G. & Cheng, K.G. (2008). HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Using a Comprehensive Approach to Tackle an Epidemic. In Omwami, E.M., Commins, S., & Keller, E.J. (Eds.) HIV/AIDS in Africa: Challenges and Impact (pp. 53-74). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Cheng, K.G. (2007, December). Working with militaries to fight HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keynote address at the Ventura County World AIDS Day Commemoration.
Lai, J., Cheng, K.G., Green, P.A., & Tsimhoni, O. (2001). On the road and on the web? Comprehension of synthetic and human speech while driving. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Seattle, WA.