Michele Easter | Scholars@Duke

Michele Easter
Research Associate, Senior

At the Services Effectiveness Research Program, I am a co-investigator, analyst, and manager for projects on mental health/substance use services and policy research. Our group conducts longitudinal studies of criminal justice outcomes and crisis-driven service utilization to assess the effects of policies (e.g., mental health-based firearms disqualification) and services (e.g., medication-assisted treatment for substance dependence). We also collaborate with community partners to study and promote the use of psychiatric advance directives. My research interests center on the conceptualization of illness and recovery by people with behavioral disorders, specifically the extent to which they endorse and identify with biologically-based explanatory models. My dissertation was on how women with eating disorders understand and interpret the idea that genes play a role in eating disorders.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Research Associate, Senior, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Clinical Science Departments

Contact Information

905 West Main Street, DUMC Box 3071, Durham, NC 27710
michele.easter@duke.edu +1 919 385 0862

Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Journal Articles
  - Easter, MM, Swanson, JW, Robertson, AG, Moser, LL, and Swartz, MS. "Facilitation of Psychiatric Advance Directives by Peers and Clinicians on Assertive Community Treatment Teams." Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) 68, no. 7 (July 2017): 717-723. Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Swanson, JW, Norko, MA, Lin, HJ, Alanis-Hirsch, K, Frisman, LK, Baranoski, MV, Easter, MM, Robertson, AG, Swartz, MS, and Bonnie, RJ. "Implementation and effectiveness of connecticut's risk-based gun removal law: Does it prevent suicides?." Law and Contemporary Problems 80, no. 2 (January 1, 2017): 179-208.
  - Swanson, JW, Easter, MM, Robertson, AG, Swartz, MS, Alanis-Hirsch, K, Moseley, D, Dion, C, and Petrila, J. "Gun Violence, Mental Illness, And Laws That Prohibit Gun Possession: Evidence From Two Florida Counties." Health affairs (Project Hope) 35, no. 6 (June 2016): 1067-1075. Full Text
  - Robertson, AG, Swanson, JW, Lin, H, Easter, MM, Frisman, LK, and Swartz, MS. "Influence of Criminal Justice Involvement and Psychiatric Diagnoses on Treatment Costs Among Adults With Serious Mental Illness." Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) 66, no. 9 (September 2015): 907-909. Full Text
  - Easter, M. "Interpreting genetics in the context of eating disorders: evidence of disease, not diversity." Sociology of Health & Illness 36, no. 6 (July 2014): 840-855. Full Text
  - Easter, MM. ""Not all my fault": genetics, stigma, and personal responsibility for women with eating disorders." Social science & medicine (1982) 75, no. 8 (October 2012): 1408-1416. Full Text
  - Cadigan, RJ, Easter, MM, Dobson, AW, Davis, AM, Rothschild, BB, Zimmer, C, Sterling, R, and Henderson, G. "“That's a good question”: University researchers' views on ownership and retention of human genetic specimens." Genetics in Medicine 13, no. 6 (June 2011): 569-575. Full Text
  - Easter, MM, Linnan, LA, Bentley, ME, DeVellis, BM, Meier, A, Frasier, PY, Kelsey, KS, and Campbell, MK. "“Una Mujer Trabaja Doble Aquí”: Vignette-Based Focus Groups on Stress and Work for Latina Blue-Collar Women in Eastern North Carolina." Health Promotion Practice 8, no. 1 (January 2007): 41-49. Full Text
  - Henderson, GE, Churchill, LR, Davis, AM, Easter, MM, Grady, C, Joffe, S, Kass, N, King, NMP, Lidz, CW, Miller, FG, Nelson, DK, Peppercorn, J, Rothschild, BB, Sankar, P, Wilfond, BS, and Zimmer, CR. "Clinical trials and medical care: Defining the therapeutic misconception." PLoS Medicine 4, no. 11 (2007): 1735-1738. Full Text
  - Easter, MM, Henderson, GE, Davis, AM, Churchill, LR, and King, NMP. "The many meanings of care in clinical research." Sociology of health & illness 28, no. 6 (September 2006): 695-712. Full Text
  - Henderson, GE, Easter, MM, Zimmer, C, King, NMP, Davis, AM, Rothschild, BB, Churchill, LR, Wilfond, BS, and Nelson, DK. "Therapeutic misconception in early phase gene transfer trials." Social Science & Medicine 62, no. 1 (January 2006): 239-253. Full Text
  - Easter, M. "Freedom in speech: Freedom and liberty in U.S. presidential campaign discourse." Poetics 36, no. 4: 265-286.
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
- Moving Forward with Psychiatric Advance Directives in North Carolina. NAMI NC Annual Conference. National Alliance on Mental Illness-NC. October 7, 2016 2016

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Selected Publications

Journal Articles

Presentations & Appearances