Associate Professor
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
[email protected]
617-373-5621
Lichuan Ye Biography
Lichuan Ye, PhD, RN
Areas of Expertise
Health Promotion
Sleep Disorders
About
Lichuan Ye, Ph.D., RN, is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health School of Nursing. Dr. Ye’s research focuses on promoting health through better sleep and better management of sleep disorders. In particular, her work aims to improve understanding of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) clinical presentations to facilitate earlier diagnosis, to improve OSA health outcomes by promoting treatment adherence, and to improve sleep in various settings such as in acute care hospitals and on college campus.
Dr. Ye’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, American Sleep Medicine Foundation, Sigma Theta Tau International, and American Nurses Foundation. As an educator, Dr. Ye has had the opportunity to teach over 1000 students in several different undergraduate and graduate courses in both classroom and lab settings.
She is a member of the Sleep Research Society, American Thoracic Society, and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing, and has served in professional committees including the Sleep Research Society and Eastern Nurse Research Society.
Dr. Ye received her Bachelorette degree in Nursing and Master’s degree in Geriatrics and Internal Medicine from West China School of Medicine Sichuan University in China, and her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania.
Project Description
Sleep deficiencies has been proposed to be a potential fundamental contributor to health disparities. Sleep deficiencies, including insufficient sleep duration, poor sleep quality, irregular timing of sleep, and sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea, are highly prevalent in the US population. Growing evidence suggests that significant sleep health disparities exist, such that racial/ethnic minorities, especially in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage, achieve less quality sleep. Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, Black/African Americans are more likely to report insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality, and are more likely to suffer persistent, severe, and under-diagnosed sleep disorders, which can lead to significantly higher morbidities, mortalities, and poor quality of life.
In this project we will place sleep in a social context and primarily examine social and behavioral factors that are related to sleep deficiencies in a group of urban community-dwelling African American adults. Guided by the social ecological model of sleep and health, a mixed-methods approach will be used to examine the impact of three levels of factors on sleep deficiencies, including individual level (e.g., health, beliefs, attitudes, and sleep hygiene practice), social level (e.g., family, work, neighborhood, socioeconomics, and culture), and societal level (e.g., environment, technology, public policy, and 24/7 society). With the understanding of these modifiable individual, social, and societal factors, future novel therapies and behavioral interventions can be developed to improve sleep in Black/African Americans, which could have a significant impact on public health and help to close gaps in health disparities.
Publications – Past Three Years
Karosas, A., Ye, L. (in press). Challenges of Contact Tracing in College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of American College Health.
Kendrick, J., Duffy, L., Ye, L., & Burke, P. (2022). College students’ motivations for using fitness related technology. Journal of American college health: J of ACH, 1–9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2071622
Ye, L., Li, W., & Willis, D. G. (2022). Facilitators and barriers to getting obstructive sleep apnea diagnosed: perspectives from patients and their partners. Journal of clinical sleep medicine: JCSM: official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 18(3), 835–841. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.9738
Ye, L., Arnold Mages, M., Jimison, H. B., & Patel, S. R. (2021). Developing OurSleepKit: A Couple-focused mHealth Tool to Support Adherence to Positive Airway Pressure Treatment. Behavioral sleep medicine, 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2021.1984239
Gormley, J. M., Poirier, V., Hassey, K. A., Van Pelt, M., & Ye, L. (2021). School Nurses’ Reports on Reopening Roles, Practices, and Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic at the Start of the 2020-2021 School Year. The Journal of school nursing: the official publication of the National Association of School Nurses, 10598405211054805. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405211054805
Ye, L., & Dykes, P. C. (2021). Individualized sleep promotion in acute care hospitals: managing specific factors that affect patient sleep. mHealth, 7, 25. https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth-20-31
Richards, K. C., Wang, Y. Y., Jun, J., & Ye, L. (2020). A Systematic Review of Sleep Measurement in Critically Ill Patients. Frontiers in neurology, 11, 542529. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.542529
Genta, P. R., Kaminska, M., Edwards, B. A., Ebben, M. R., Krieger, A. C., Tamisier, R., Ye, L., Weaver, T. E., Vanderveken, O. M., Lorenzi-Filho, G., DeYoung, P., Hevener, W., & Strollo, P. (2020). The Importance of Mask Selection on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Outcomes for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 17(10), 1177–1185. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202007-864ST
Ye, L., & Dykes, P. C. (2021). Individualized sleep promotion in acute care hospitals: managing specific factors that affect patient sleep. mHealth, 7, 25. https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth-20-31
Carter, P., Ye, L., Richards, K., & Vallabhaneni, V. (2019). Sleep and Memory: The Promise of Precision Medicine. Sleep medicine clinics, 14(3), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsmc.2019.05.001