Louis A. Penner, Ph.D.
pennerl@karmanos.org


Departmental Role:

I have a joint appointment with Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and the Communication and Behavioral Oncology Program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute.  My research primarily focuses on the causes and consequences of racial/ethnic disparities in medical care.  More specifically, I look at the role that racial biases and stereotypes may play in the quality of medical care for African-American patients. Another major research area concerns personal and social variables may affect how well both adults and children cope with treatments for cancer.  In this context, I also collaborate with colleagues on the factors that influence accrual to clinical trials and the measurement of quality of life in cancer patients.  Finally, I continue to pursue my career long interest in prosocial behavior.

Education:

B.A. Psychology – Miami University, Ohio, 1964
M.A. Social Psychology – Miami University, Ohio, 1966
Ph.D. Social Psychology – Michigan State University, MI, 1969 (Minor: Personality Theory)


Training and Experience:

1969-1973 Assistant Professor, University of South Florida
1973-1978 Associate Professor, University of South Florida
1978-2003 Professor, University of South Florida
1984-1985 Associate Chair and Professor
1986-1993 Professor and Chair
1995-1998 Coordinator Undergraduate Program, University of South Florida
2000-2003 Chair University Institutional Review Board (Social and Behavioral)
2003-present Senior Research Scientist, Communication and Behavioral Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Professor Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences


Primary Research Interests:

Doctor-patient communication, the role of personality and social variables in patient treatment and recovery, the role of race and ethnicity in quality of health care.


Selected Grants:

Effects of Physician Communication on Patient Accrual (2001-2004) NIH/National Cancer Institute RO1 CA75003-03 (T. Albrecht PI).

The parental antecedents of prosocial tendencies Research Council of University of South Florida. (2002) (PI)

Parental Role in Pediatric Cancer Pain and Survivorship (2003-2006) NIH/National Cancer Institute RO1 CA10027-01 (T. Albrecht PI)

Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (2002-2007) National Institute on Aging (J. Jackson & P. Lichtenburg, Co-directors

Parental Role in Pediatric Cancer Pain and Survivorship (2003-2006) NIH/National Cancer Institute (T. Albrecht PI).
 
Community Network Program for Older Underserved African American Adults (2005-2009) National Cancer Institute (T. Albrecht PI)
 
Using Doctor Patient Teams to Reduce Health Disparities (2006-2008) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.. (L. Penner PI)
 
Building a Clinical Encounter Communication Research Program to Reduce Health Disparities (2005 -2008) HRSA Bureau of Health Profession ( M Schenk PI)

Copies of the Prosocial Personality Battery.  There is no copyright, but please let me know before you use this scale. I’d like to keep track of who is using it and how. The 56 item version is probably more reliable.

56 item version: (56itemPSBkey)
30 item version: (30itemPSB key)

Selected Publications:

Penner, L. A., Fritzsche, B. A., Craiger, J. P., & Freifeld, T. R. (1995) Measuring the prosocial personality. In J. Butcher & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.) Advances in personality assessment. (Vol. 10) (pp. 147-164). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA. (Measure)

Penner, L. A. (2002). The Causes of Sustained Volunteerism: An Interactionist Perspective Journal of Social Issues, 58, 447-468.
 
Albrecht, T. L., Penner, L. A., & Ruckdeschel, J. R.  (2003) Understanding patient decisions about clinical trials. Journal of Cancer Education, 18, 210-214.

Penner, L. A. (2004). Volunteerism and social problems: Making things better or worse? Journal of Social Issues, 60, 645- 666. (JSI Presidential)

Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., Schroeder, D. A., & Piliavin, J. A.  (2005) Prosocial behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365-392. (Annurevpsych)

Penner, L. A., Brannick, M., Connell, P., & Webb, S. (2005). The effects of the September 11 attacks on volunteering: An Archival analysis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 1333-1360. (JASP)

Cline, R.J.W., Harper, F.W.K., Penner, L.A., Peterson, A.M., Taub, J.W., & Albrecht, T.L. (2006). Parent communication and child pain and distress during painful pediatric cancer treatments. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 883-898.

Eggly S., Penner, L., Albrecht T.L., Cline, R.J., Foster, T., Naughton, M., Peterson, A., & Ruckdeschel, J. (2006) Discussing bad news in the outpatient oncology clinic: rethinking current communication guidelines. Journal of  Clinical Oncology, 24, 716-719.

Eggly, S. Penner, L. A. Greene, M., Harper, F. Albrecht, T. & Ruckdeschel, J. (2006) Information seeking during ‘Bad News’ Oncology Interactions:  Question-Asking by Patients and their Companions, Social Science and Medicine, 63, 2974- 2985.

Dovidio, J., Piliavin, J., Schroeder, D., & Penner, L.  (2006). The social psychology of prosocial behavior; Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Penner, L. A., Albrecht, T.L., Coleman, D. K., & Norton, W. (2007). Interpersonal Perspectives on Black-White Health Disparities: Social Policy Implications Social Issues and Policy Review, 1, 63-98. (SIPR)

Penner, L. A., Orom., Albrecht, T. Franks, M., Foster, T.,  & Ruckdeschel, J. C. (2007). Camera-related behaviors during video recorded medical interactions.  Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 31, 99-117. (Penner JNVB)

Cline, R. W., Penner, L. A., Harper, F., Foster, T., Ruckdeschel, J. & Albrecht, T. (2007) The Roles of Patients’ Internet Use for Cancer Information and Socioeconomic Status in  Oncologist-Patient Communication  Journal of Oncology Practice, 167- 171.

Dovidio, J. F., Penner, L. A., Albrecht, T. L., Norton, W. E., Gaertner, S. L. & Shelton, N. J. (2008) Disparities and Distrust: The Implications of Psychological Processes for Understanding Racial Disparities in Health and Health Care  Social Science and Medicine, 67, 478-486. (Dovidio)

Penner, L. A., Cline, R. J. W., Albrecht, T. L. Harper, F. W.K., Peterson, A. M., Taub, J. M. & Ruckdeschel, J. C. (2008). Parents’ empathic responses and pain and distress in pediatric patients. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 102-114. (BASP)

Orom, H., Penner, L. A., West, B., Downs, T., Rayford, W., & Underwood, W., III. (in press). Personality predicts prostate cancer treatment decision-making difficulty and satisfaction. Psycho-Oncology.

Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., Edmondson, D. Dailey, R. Markova, T. Albrecht, T. L. & Gaertner, S. (in press). The experience of discrimination, and black-white health disparities in medical care. Journal of Black Psychology

Penner, L. A. Albrecht, T. L., Orom, H. A., Coleman, D & Underwood, W. III,. (in press) The role of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination in Black-White health disparities in the United States, In Dovidio, J.F., Hewstone, M., Glick, P., & Esses, V.M. (Eds.) Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. London, England: Sage

Penner, L. A. & Orom, H. (in press) Enduring Goodness: A Person by Situation Perspective on Prosocial Behavior. In M. Mikulnicer & P. Shaver (Eds.) Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Penner, L. A. & Dovidio, J. F. (in press) Prosocial actions. In Salovey, P. et al. (Eds.) Oxford companion to the affective sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.