Merluzzi's research is in an area of health psychology referred to as psychooncology. Psychooncology is the scientific study of the interface of the medical and psychological aspects of cancer. Within psychooncology, he studies, among other things, coping processes in people with cancer and cancer survivors from the perspective of social learning theory and, in particular, self-regulation and self-efficacy theories.
"What are you fighting for" video on Prof. Merluzzi's research
Below is a link to a very short video highlighting Prof. Merluzzi's work:
Video - American Cancer Society
Four Current Areas of Research
1. Assessment of Self-efficacy for Coping with Cancer
Development and refinement of the Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI; Merluzzi & Martinez Sanchez, 1997; Merluzzi et al., 2001; Heitzmann, Merluzzi et al., 2011; Merluzzi et al., 2018), a widely-used measure of self-efficacy for coping with cancer.
The CBI has been translated into many languages including the published Italian version of the Brief CBI (Serpentini, Del Bianco, Chirico, Merluzzi, et al., 2019) and the Korean version of CBIV3.0 (Lee, Merluzzi, Choi, & Lee, 2021). Recent projects: NIH PROMIS measure of coping self-efficacy (Salsman, Schalet, Merluzzi, et al., 2019); meta-analysis of self-efficacy outcomes in RCT interventions for cancer patients (Merluzzi, Pustejovsky, et al., 2019) and a multivariate (canonical correlation) approach to analyzing components of interventions including coping efficacy (Merluzzi, Zhang, Philip, Lee, & Salamanca-Balen, N., 2022).
PLEASE NOTE...The latest long (V3.0) and short (Brief Form) versions of the CBI are available on the Measures page of this website and through the links below.
Cancer Behavior Inventory (V3.0)
Cancer Behavior Inventory (V2.0)
Cancer Behavior Inventory (Brief Form)
For versions in languages other than English, please email me at tmerluzz@nd.edu. The translated versions are not vetted by my lab, therefore, I cannot vouch for quality of the translated measures, except for the Italian version of the Brief 12-item CBI (CBI-Brief Form-Italian); Serpentini et al, 2019) and the Korean version of the 27-item CBI V3.0 (CBI3.0-Korean; Lee et al, 2021)
2. Survivorship, Coping with Stressors, Social Support, COVID-19
2.a. Development of a stage-based model of the transition from cancer treatment to cancer survivorship (Philip, Merluzzi, Zhang et al., 2013; Merluzzi et al, 2016; Philip & Merluzzi, 2016). Recent projects: Natural language analyses of stages of survivorship (Misiti, Kosidowski, Prendergast, Merluzzi, 2019; Kosidowski, Lamoretti, Wright, Salamanca-Balen & Merluzzi, 2021; Merluzzi, Salamanca Balen, Kurapatti, Misiti, & Kosidowski, 2021).
2.b. Assessment of coping models of cancer and cancer survivorship. These studies focus on coping with issues outside of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer that affect the lives of persons with cancer, for example life stress (Merluzzi, Chirico, et al., 2019), comorbities (Merluzzi, Philip, Gomer et al., 2021), discrimination Merluzzi, Philip, Zhang, & Sullivan, 2015; Merluzzi, Salamanca-Balen & Philip, under editorial review), and the combination of physical symptoms and life problems (Merluzzi, Zhang, Philip, Lee & Salamanca-Balen, 2022).
2.c. Development of a new perspective on social support, Social Relationship Coping Efficacy, that focuses on optimizing the patient’s social network (Merluzzi, Serpentini, et al., 2019; Charos, Merluzzi et al., 2021; Serpentini et al., 2022).
Social Relationship Coping Efficacy Scale (SRCE): A measure of self-efficacy for maintaining and enhancing social relationships and social support for persons with cancer.
A copy of the SRCE scale and scoring procedures are contained on the Measures page of this website
2.d. COVID-19 studies of persons with cancer. A recent study investigated the relative effects of tolerance of uncertainty in mediating the relationship between COVID-19-pandemic stress and quality of life outcomes for those with and without a diagnosis of cancer (Salamanca-Balen, Qiu, & Merluzzi, 2022). Another recent study (Merluzzi, Salamanca-Balen & Wright, 2023) is a comparative analysis of resilience skills during the COVID-19 pandemic for persons with and without cancer.
3. “Letting Go” – Religious/Spiritual Perspectives on Relinquishing Control and Religious Coping
Integration of modern psychological theory with traditional approaches to religious/spiritual coping in persons with cancer (Nairn & Merluzzi, 2003; Merluzzi, 2007; Howsepian & Merluzzi, 2009; Sherman, Merluzzi et al, 2015).
Projects focus on the historical, conceptual and practical aspects of relinquishing control or “letting go” (Merluzzi & Philip, 2017; Serpentini, Capovilla, & Merluzzi, 2016) and a theory of hope that integrates uncertainty and control and contextualizes primary and secondary control (e.g., 'letting go") (Salamanca Balen & Merluzzi, 2021). A recent project investigated the mechanism of meaning/peace in the relationship between "letting go" and quality of life outcomes (Merluzzi, Philip, Salamanca-Balen, & Salsman, 2023). Along these same lines, a theoretical paper that will appear in the journal Cancers focuses on reconciling the paradox of palliative care in which patients are encouraged to be agents of their care and, at the same time, accept the uncertainty of their disease (Merluzzi, Salamanca-Balen, Philip, & Salsman, in preparation).
Below is a Saturday Scholar Series lecture on Professor Merluzzi's research on "Letting Go" (approximately 55 minutes)
Watch a short video on Letting Goprepared by Jean-François Dars and Anne Papillault as part of their Historie Courteseries
Read an essay on spiritual coping – "Dad and Jimmy" by Tom Merluzzi
4. Psychosocial Issues in Racial Health Disparities
Current projects are focused on a threshold-restraint theory that explains the impact of perceived discrimination on the quality of life of African Americans with cancer (Merluzzi, Philip, Zhang, & Sullivan, 2015). In an attempt to dig deeper into the threshold-restraint theory, a new study investigated the role of coping in the relationship between perceived micro and macro-aggressions and quality of life for African American and Caucasian cancer patients (Merluzzi & Salamanca-Balen, under editorial review).