University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Bio

Dr. Ranby is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver. She comes to the study of health behavior from the perspective of social and quantitative psychology. She is particularly interested in the ways that close relationship partners affect each other's daily health behaviors. Her work has involved psychometrically distinguishing multiple types of social influence on behavior (i.e., exercise) and incorporating these influences into a maintenance model of behavior among older adult women. She is currently wor​king on a couples-based cessation intervention for couples who both smoke which involves framing risk messages in terms of outcomes for the couple and guides couples to develop plans for change together. Dr. Ranby has also worked with daily diary data from couples to examine influences between partners over time.​

Dr. Ranby work has crossed a range of health outcomes given her interest in quantitative methods, particularly mediation analysis of health promotion interventions. She has evaluated interventions developed for high school female athletes, fire fighters, HIV positive victims of childhood sexual abuse, and dual-smoker couples.

Dr. Ranby encourages applicants interested in working in her lab to apply for Fall 2013.

Select Publications

Ranby, K. W., Lewis, M. A., Toll, B. A., Rohrbaugh, M. J., & Lipkus, I. M. (2012). Perceptions of smoking related risk and worry among dual-smoker couples. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntr210

Sikkema, K. J., Ranby, K. W., Meade, C., Hansen, N., Wilson, P. & Kochman, A. (in press). Coping intervention reduces traumatic stress by decreasing avoidant coping for people living with HIV/AIDS and childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Meade, C. S., Watt, M. H., Sikkema, K. J., Deng, L. X., Ranby, K. W., Skinner, D., Pierterse, D., & Kalichman, S. C. (in press). Methamphetamine use is associated with childhood sexual abuse and HIV sexual risk behaviors among patrons of alcohol-serving venues in Cape Town, South Africa. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Watt, M. H., Ranby, K. W., Meade, C. S., Sikkema, K. J., MacPharlane, J. C., Skinner, D., Pieterse, D. & Kalichman, S. C. (2012). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms mediate the relationship between traumatic experiences and drinking behavior among women attending alcohol-serving venues in a South African township. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73, 549-558.

Ranby, K. W., Boynton, M. H., Kollins, S. H., Yang, C., McClernon, F. J., & Fuemmeler, B. F. (2012). Understanding the phenotypic structure of adult retrospective ADHD symptoms during childhood in the United States. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 41, 261-274.

Ranby, K. W., MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., Elliot, D. L., Kuehl, K. S., & Goldberg, L. (2011). The PHLAME (Promoting Health Lifestyles: Alternative Models' Effects) firefighter study: Testing mediating mechanisms. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 16, 501-513.

Ranby, K. W., Aiken, L. S., Gerend, M. A., & Erchull, M. J. (2010). Perceived susceptibility measures are not interchangeable: Absolute, direct comparative, and indirect comparative risk. Health Psychology, 29, 20-28.

Ranby, K. W., Aiken, L. S., MacKinnon, D. P., Elliot, D. L., Moe, E. L., Goldberg, L. & McGinnis, W. (2009). A mediation analysis of the ATHENA intervention for female athletes: Prevention of athletic-enhancing substance use and unhealthy weight loss behaviors. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 1069-1083.

Courses Taught

​​Advanced Statistics
Social Psychology​​
Multivariate Statistics ​