Joan Kearney, PhD, APRN, FAAN
Professor of Nursing
Chair, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program
Yale University School of Nursing - Room 20411
email: joan.kearney@yale.edu
phone: 203-737-1791
fax: 203-785-6455
About
Dr. Kearney is a Professor at YSN and the Yale Child Study Center, having previously served on the faculty of the Columbia University School of Nursing. In addition to her academic career, she has held administrative and executive positions in Nursing and Psychiatry in New York and Connecticut, as well as membership on and consultative roles to advisory boards and professional panels across practice, organizational, and policy domains. Dr. Kearney belongs to various organizations including the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), the American Nurses Association, and the American Psychological Association, to name a few. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the New York Academy of Medicine. She was a founding faculty member of the Center for Children and Families at the Columbia University School of Nursing where she was also elected as a Fellow and Charter Member of the Anna Maxwell Teaching Academy. Her clinical background and specialty licensure is in psychiatry and her doctoral research training was in developmental psychology and human development at Cornell University and the University of Ct. She has mentored numerous students across PhD and DNP programs in nursing, psychology and social work nationally and internationally and served on many doctoral committees here and abroad. Her clinical research and advisory work centers on severe relational trauma in varied populations and continues to have critical relevance for clinical practice, systems level initiatives and policy change. Her systems leadership interests center on healthcare and academic organizational stress, trauma, conflict, and emotionally intelligent leadership skills as they support structural alignment, process, and system excellence.
Research Interests
Dr. Kearney’s research interests on the impact of psychological holding environments span the intersections of attachment, personal and professional relationships, leadership, stress, trauma, and coping in caregiving systems and organizations. Her early work centered on emotional development and developmental psychopathology in young children. She has served as Co-I or consultant on numerous NIH grants and PI on several foundation grants.
Clinical Interests
Dr Kearney is a licensed psychiatric practitioner in the state of CT currently. She is also licensed in NY and NJ.
Selected Publications and Presentations
Recent Publications
Du Charme, P, Hitt, R & Kearney, J. (2025) Relationship-centered communication in breast cancer screening: An interdisciplinary development program. In press.
Camilleri, M.A., Allegra, M., Kearney, J., (2023) Answering the wake-up call to nurse leaders: Five practices to restore psychological safety after the Vaught case. Nurse Leader, 21, (2), 213-217.
Breazeale, S., Conley, S., Jeon, S., Dorsey, S., Kearney, J., Yoo, B., Redeker, N. (2022)
Symptom cluster profiles following traumatic orthopaedic injuries. Injury. 53(7):2524-2532,
Breazeale, S., Dorsey, S., Kearney, J., Conley, S., Jeon,S., Yoo, B. Redeker, N. (2021),
Symptom cluster profiles following traumatic orthopedic injuries: A protocol. Research in Nursing & Health. 44(2):268-278.
Kearney, J & Byrne, M. (2018). Reflective functioning in incarcerated women enrolled in a mother baby program: associations with depression, stress, and parenting satisfaction. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 32(4), 517–523.
Hutchens, B., Kearney, J., Kennedy, H (2017) Child Maltreatment and Postpartum Depression: An Integrative Review of Literature. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. 65(1) 96-108.
Wang, J., Shang, J., Jia, H., & Kearney, J. (2016). Critical association between mental health disorders and medical status: Depression intervention indicates a two-fold risk for subsequent medical events in older American home health care patients. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 42 (10), 42-55.
Wang, J., Shang, J., Kearney, J. (2016). Mental Health Disorders in Home Care Elders: An Integrative Review. Geriatric Nursing, 37(1), 44-60.
Wang, J., Kearney, J., Jia, H., & Shang, J. (2016). Mental health disorders in elderly people receiving home care: Prevalence and correlates in the national U.S. population. Nursing Research, 65(2), 107-116.
Cortés, Y., Arcia, A., Kearney, J., Luchsinger, J., & Lucero, R. (2016) Urban-dwelling Community Members’ Views on Biomedical Research Engagement. Qualitative Health Research. 1-8.
Lucero RJ, Kearney J, Cortes Y, Arcia A, Appelbaum P, Fernández RL, Luchsinger J. (2015).
Benefits and Risks in Secondary Use of Digitized Clinical Data: Views of Community Members Living in a Predominantly Ethnic Minority Urban Neighborhood. American Journal of Bioethics Empirical Bioethics.;6(2):12-22
Kearney, J. & Byrne, M. (2015). Understanding parental behavior in pediatric palliative care: Attachment theory as a paradigm. Palliative and Supportive Care. 13 (6), 1559-1568.
Other/Related Publications
Buff, Kim, (2019) Edited by J Kearney. Cataclysmic Attachment Trauma in Elephants and Tea. Online publication for AYA and parents /cancer caregivers. Discussed the experience of “cataclysmic attachment trauma”, a term coined by Kearney in her research on the type of trauma experienced by mothers of children diagnosed with cancer.
Book Chapters
Kearney, J. & D’Alton, S. (2021). Disorders Specific to Infants and Young Children in Yearwood, Pearson, and Newland (Eds.) Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health: A Resource for Advanced Practice Psychiatric and Primary Care Practitioners in Nursing, 2nd ed., Wiley.
Recent Presentations
Kearney, J. (June 2024) Trauma informed care in healthcare organizations: A practice -centered ecosystem. YSN/YNHHS Preceptors Day
Kearney, J. (April 2019 ) (Yale University), Santacroce, S.J. (April 2019). (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), & Hinds, P (Children’s National Health System and George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC,). Santacroce, S.J & Hinds, P. Parenting in the context of childhood cancer: Parental Stressors, Symptoms, and Community Engagement in Research. Symposium. The Eastern Nursing Research Society. Providence, RI.
Kearney, J. (November 2018). Trauma Recovery in Young, Urban Women who are Sexually Trafficked: What They are Teaching us about Community Based Relational Models. Podium presentation. International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, DC.
Kearney, J. (July,2016) Complex Trauma Considerations and Developing a Model for Recovery in Young Urban Female Survivors of Domestic Sex Trafficking. Symposium on Trafficking, Podium Presentation University of New Haven, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice, Center for Forensic Investigations of Trafficking in Persons, West Haven, CT
Kearney, J.A., (June 2016). Building a Translational Model for Understanding Trauma, its Developmental Trajectory and Recovery in Young Urban Female Survivors of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking. Podium Presentation Annual Symposium, Center for Children and Families, Columbia University. New York, New York.
Kearney, J. (June 2016) Parents and Caregivers in Pediatric Palliative Care: Understanding the Role of Attachment and Caregiving in Parental Behavior at Pediatric End of Life. Featured Speaker Annual lecture, The John D. Thompson Hospice Institute for Education, Training and Research, Branford Hospice, Branford, Ct.
Byrne, M., Blanchard-Lewis, B., Kearney, J.A. (April 2016). Testing and Funding a Research Intervention to Support Triadic Relationships among Mothers, Alternate Caregivers, and Children During Maternal Separations. Eastern Nursing Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA.
Kearney, J.A.., Byrne, M., Trudeau, J., Magargee, M., Johnson, J., Semeraro, P. (April 2016). Trauma Recovery in the Context of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking: Moving Beyond Clinical Diagnoses. American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) New England Annual Conference
Byrne, M & Kearney, J. (April 2014). Developing a Research Intervention to Improve Triadic Relationships Among Mothers, Alternate Caregivers, and Children During Maternal Separations. Eastern Nursing Research Society. Philadelphia, Pa.
Kearney, J & Byrne, M. (April 2014). Maternal Reflective Functioning in Criminal Justice Involved women enrolled in a mother /baby co-residence. Eastern Nursing Research Society. Philadelphia, Pa.
Kearney, J. (October 2013) Attachment Theory and the Evolutionary Caregiver role: An Appropriate Paradigm for Understanding Parental Behavior in Serious and Life Limiting Pediatric Illness. Featured speaker, Annual Hospice and Palliative Medicine Grand Rounds, Palliative Medicine Fellowship, Columbia University Medical School and Columbia University Medical Center, NY,NY.