Silvia Sörensen
Associate ProfessorCounseling & Human Development
PhD, Pennsylvania State University (Human Development and Family Studies)
MS, Technical University of Berlin (Psychology)
BA, Antioch College (Psychology)
Silvia Sörensen is a researcher and teacher in human development with particular interests in facilitating well-being among vulnerable older adults and their families. Collaborating with colleagues in ophthalmology, psychiatry, primary care, immunology, and with community-based health activists, she has developed and/or evaluated interventions to (1) promote positive health behaviors, (2) prevent mental and physical health problems, (3) increase access to mental health services for underserved groups, (4) assist older adults with preparation for future care, and (5) support well-being among older adults.
Sörensen is a co-founder of the Aging Well Initiative community collaboration with faith-based organizations, and she has a particular interest in empowerment of underserved groups in order to reduce health disparities. She is also the director of the Laboratory for Aging, Population Health, Disparities, and Intervention Research (LAPHDIR) in which new research and community health projects are hatched with the help of a Community Health-project Advisory Board (CHAB). Her specific areas of research include successful aging through preparation for future care, family caregiver stress and coping, interventions with caregivers, interventions with vision-impaired older adults, future thinking among older adults, as well as health literacy and patient education for diabetes prevention.
Her areas of mentoring expertise include community engagement, research methods and statistics, and grant-writing; content expertise is in application of life-span developmental perspectives, adult development and aging, mental health in the context of chronic illness, health and aging, health disparities, and health promotion.
Research Publications
Visit: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/23113909-silvia-sorensen/articles
Research Projects
Project ENGOAL: Engaging older adult learners as health researchers
Cognitive training to protect immune systems of older caregivers
Mindfulness-based stress reduction for family caregivers of dementia patients
Project REBUILD-VL: A resilience-building intervention to prevent late-life depression with vision loss
Project ENGOAL: Engaging older adult learners as health researchers
Cognitive training to protect immune systems of older caregivers
Mindfulness-based stress reduction for family caregivers of dementia patients
Project REBUILD-VL: A resilience-building intervention to prevent late-life depression with vision loss
In the News
- 10/08/2021Silvia Sörensen discusses mental health issues and management for people with low vision loss on podcast
- 4/26/2021Faculty discover ways for research to thrive during the pandemic
- 1/29/2020Kaiser Health News Article on Caregiving Links to Silvia Sörensen’s Work
- 12/20/2019Silvia Sörensen on Caregiver Stress in the Democrat & Chronicle
- 10/01/2019Free Program for Seniors With Vision Loss that Can’t be Corrected
- 8/15/2018ENGOAL Program: Crossing Boundaries and Making Strides
- 1/18/2018ENGOAL Program Creates Community of Emerging Health Researchers
- 10/19/2017Silvia Sörensen on Project REBUILD in In Good Health Magazine
- 7/24/2017University of Rochester Researchers Receive PCORI Community Engagement Award
Courses
ED569 Studying Human Development, Counseling, and Education in Context: Advances in Design and Method
ED419 Life Course Studies
EDE481 Practical Knowledge and Skills for Research in Health and Education
EDU494 Adult Development and Aging
ED429 Theories of Human Development
EDU557 Selected Theories of Human Development
EDU565 Research in Life Course Studies
ED425 Minority Youth Development in Urban Contexts
ED481 School, Family, and Community Relations
EDU560 Research in Cognitive Development