Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center

Debra Lobato, PhD

Director of child psychology at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital

Clinical associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at theWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Background Information

Debra Lobato, PhD, is an expert on the unique needs of siblings of children with chronic illnesses and disabilities: physical, emotional or developmental. She is the founder and director of SibLink, and internationally recognized program created to promote understanding and healthy adjustment among siblings.

Lobato graduated magna cum laude from Queens College of the City University of New York in 1976 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She earned her master's and her doctorate in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she conducted her first sibling research and group treatment program in 1980. She joined the staff of Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School in 1984.

She participates in the teaching of interns, residents and postdoctoral fellows in clinical psychology, child psychiatry and pediatrics.

Research Interests

Lobato's primary research focuses on siblings of children with chronic illness and disability. Ongoing projects examine factors (including family and cultural variables) affecting sibling functioning as well as how siblings influence and support family management of childhood disorders. SibLink research also seeks to develop interventions that promote health sibling adjustment. Along with the director of the division of pediatric gastroenterology, nutrition and liver diseases at Hasbro Children's Hospital, Lobato also coordinates the pediatric GI/psychosocial research program which examines issues related to recurrent abdominal pain, inflammatory bowel disease, childhood obesity and feeding disorders.

Honors

Lobato has been awarded the Brown Medical School Distinguished Teacher Award and Excellence in Teaching Award for her work with interns, residents and postdoctoral fellows in clinical psychology, psychiatry and pediatrics.

Selected Publications

Lobato, D., Faust, D., & Spirito, A. (1988). Examining the effects of chronic disease and disability on children's sibling relationships. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 13, 389-407.

Lobato, D.J. (1990). Brothers, sisters, and special needs: Information and activities for helping young siblings of children with chronic illnesses and developmental disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Plante, W., Lobato, D., & Engel, R. (2001). Review of group interventions for pediatric chronic conditions. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 26, 435-453.

Lobato, D., & Kao, B. (2002). Integrated parent-sibling group intervention to improve sibling knowledge and adjustment to chronic illness and disability. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 27, 711-716.

Guite, J., Lobato, D., Kao, B., & Plante, W. (2004). Discordance between sibling and parent reports of the impact of chronic illness and disability on siblings. Children’s Health Care, 33, 77-92.

Lobato, D. & Kao, B. (2005). Family-based group intervention for young siblings of children with chronic illness and developmental disability. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 30, 678-682.

Lobato, D., Kao, B., & Plante, W. (2005). Latino sibling knowledge and adjustment to chronic disability. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 625-632.

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