Sebrina L. Doyle Fosco
Researcher/practitioner interested in the development of social and emotional skills and wellbeing for youth and adults, including mindfulness and compassion-based strategies and systemic changes needed to promote individual and community growth, with a leadership focus.
University Park, PA 16802
My interests focus on exploring novel and sustainable ways to support wellbeing for adults working in high-stress services such as school, community mental health, and juvenile justice. My current research centers on the use of evidence-informed mindfulness-based programming and social and emotional learning (SEL) for youth and adults in educational settings. As a researcher-practitioner I am actively involved with facilitating programs like Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education in addition to researching outcomes and best practices for implementation. I also consider issues that affect ongoing use of evidence-based programs through the development of implementation monitoring tools and undertaking program cost analysis. I engage in mixed-methods research, incorporating qualitative and quantitative methods as a means for understanding how interventions work, for whom, and under what conditions.
I am actively recruiting new students to join me in this work!
- Penn State University (2011 - current)
- Assistant Research Professor, Human Development and Family Studies (2022-2024)
- University Graduate Fellow, Education Policy Studies (2019-2022)
- Assistant Research Professor, Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (2018-2019)
- Project Manager, CARE for Teachers RCT (2012-2018)
- Research Coordinator, Evidence-based Prevention & Intervention Support Center (2011-2016)
- Child and Family Center, University of Oregon (2005 - 2011)
- Project Coordinator (2009-2011)
- Clinical Services Coordinator, Family Check-Up Intervention and Therapy Clinic (2005-2010)
- Human Subjects Coordinator (2007-2011)
- Cultivating REsilience and Wellbeing (CREW) in Engineering (2022-2024), Penn State Healthy, Inclusive, & Productive Workplaces Initiative, role: PI
- Mindfulness-Based Self-Care for Youth Services Workers (2017-2019), PA Bureau of Juvenile Justice Services, Department of Human Services, role: Contract PI
- "Alexa, I’m in pain!" A Real-Time Mindfulness Intervention to Control Pain: Delivery Through a Conversational Agent (2018-2023), Penn State Social Sciences Research Institute, role: Co-I
- Doyle Fosco, S. L. (2024) Cultivating awareness and resilience in education: Caring for yourself so you have the resources to care for others. In Carpenter, B, Mahfouz, J., & Robinson, K. (Eds.) Supporting Leaders for School Improvement Through Self-Care and Wellbeing (pp. 317-336). Information Age Publishing.
- Doyle Fosco, S.L., Rutten, L. & Schussler, D.L. (2023) Understanding the relationship between teacher leadership and teacher wellbeing: A narrative review of the theoretical and empirical literature. International Journal of Teacher Leadership. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1420334.pdf
- Schussler, D.L., Doyle Fosco, S.L., Kohler, K. (2023) The core curricular content of school-based mindfulness programs. School Mental Health. doi.org/10.1007/s12310-023-09623-9
- Doyle Fosco, S.L., Brown, M.A., Schussler, D.L. (2023) Factors affecting educational leader wellbeing: Sources of stress and self-care. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432231184601
- Doyle Fosco, S.L., Schussler, D.L., Jennings, P.A. (2023) Acceptability of a mindfulness-based professional development program to support educational leader wellbeing. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02182-9
- Doyle Fosco, S.L. (2022) Educational leader wellbeing: A systematic review, Educational Research Review (37), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2022.100487
- Jennings, P.A., Doyle, S.L., Oh, Y., Rasheed, D., Frank, J., Brown, J.L. (2019). Long-term impacts of the CARE program on teachers' social and emotional competence and well-being. Journal of School Psychology (76), p. 186-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2019.07.009
- Doyle, S.L., Jennings, P.A., Brown, J., Rasheed, D., DeWeese, A., Frank, J., Turksma, C., Greenberg, M. (2019). Exploring relationships between CARE program fidelity, quality, participant responsiveness, and uptake of mindful practices. Mindfulness. 10(5), 841-853. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1034-9
- Doyle, S.L., Rasheed, D., Brown, J., Jones, D. & Jennings, P.A. (2019). Cost analysis of ingredients for successful implementation of a mindfulness-based professional development program for teachers. Mindfulness 10(1), 122-130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0958-4