
Katherine Rafferty, Ph.D., M.A.
Associate ScholarDr. Rafferty is an associate teaching professor at Iowa State University and previously worked as a health communication specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. She conducts research that lies at the intersection of interpersonal and health communication, with a focus on how patients and families manage and cope with chronic illness and end-of- life care. She is primarily a qualitative scholar but has also used quantitative methods to examine research questions about family health communication. Dr. Rafferty earned her Ph.D. in communication at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. More information about her current research can be found at http://www.familyhealthcomm.com.
Research Authored
#AbortionChangesYou: A Case Study to Understand the Communicative Tensions in Women’s Medication Abortion Narratives
Our study is one of the first to analyze women’s narratives after having had a medication abortion. Using relational dialectics theory, we conducted a case study of the nonpartisan website, Abortion Changes You.
Charlie Gard’s Case and Parental Advocacy for Chronically Ill Children
"My biggest issue is this: a parent is a caregiver and then of course the health professionals are the caregivers, but you know, who gets the final say?" -Mother whose daughter has osteosarcoma This essential question was posed by the mother of
Q&A with the Scholars: Discussing Chronic Illness and End-of-Life Care
Katherine Rafferty, Ph.D., M.A., is a lecturer at Iowa State University and previously worked as a Health Communication Specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. In this interview, she discusses some of her research and findings