• Assistant Professor
  Cancer Prevention and Control Program
  University of Hawaii Cancer Center

Degrees

• PhD, Clinical Psychology - Emphasis in Health Psychology
  Loma Linda University
• MA, Psychology
  Loma Linda University

Research Focus

As a clinical health psychologist, Dr. Bantum's research focuses on psychological adjustment to cancer. Much of her work has been conducted by implementing online interventions with the goal of positively impacting both physical and mental health. She just completed a project sponsored by the Department of Defense. The primary aim of this study was the implementation of an online health behavior change with people who have survived cancer. It involved collaboration with Stanford University in which one of the novel aspects of the online intervention was the facilitation of the group by people who have also survived cancer. The project utilized the period after treatment as a window of opportunity, given this is a time when many people who have experienced cancer are interested in changing their health behaviors. The website targeted fatigue, diet, exercise, and stress management, as these were areas described as the most important in focus groups run with both cancer survivors and healthcare providers. Data is currently being analyzed and manuscripts are being written to share the results of this study.

Another primary focus of Dr. Bantum's work is in the area of emotional expression as a coping mechanism for people who have survived cancer. Dr Bantum hopes to better understand how culture impacts the expression of emotion. She is currently completing the first year of an R21 grant funded by the National Cancer Institute to work with a team in creating a computer program to identify emotional expression, as well as other potential coping mechanisms, in text. In another online intervention under review with the Southwestern Oncology Group, Dr Bantum is working with a local medical oncologist, Thanh Hyunh, to create an online mindfulness meditation project for people who have survived cancer. Online interventions have been demonstrated as being crucial in helping to eliminate both physical and geographical limitations of potential participants.

One additional current project of Dr Bantum's is to understand and then decrease disparities in clinical trial recruitment. She is working with a number of colleagues at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to better understand how best to promote an equal representation of people from Hawaii in clinical trials.

Publications

• Bantum EO, Owen JE. Evaluating the validity of computerized content analysis programs for identification of emotional expression in cancer narratives. Psychological Assessment 21(1), 79-88, 2009.
• Sanders SL, Bantum EO, Owen JE, Thornton AA, Stanton AL. Supportive care needs in patients with lung cancer. Psycho-Oncology 19(5):480-9, 2010.
• Maskarinec G, Pagano I, Lurie G, Bantum E, Gotay CC, Issell BF. Factors affecting survival among women with breast cancer in Hawaii. Journal of Women's Health, 20(2):231-7, 2011.
• Owen JE, Hanson E, Preddy DA, Bantum E. Linguistically-tailored video feedback increases total and positive emotional expression in a structured writing task. Computers in Human Behavior 27(2): 874-82, 2011.

Publication list via PubMed

Active Grants

• E. Bantum, Co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigators: Bantum/Elhadad/Owen)
  NIH (NCI) R21 CA143642-01A1
  "Use of Natural Language Processing to Identify Linguistic Markers of Coping"
  2010-2012
• E. Bantum, Co-Investigator (Behavioral Scientist) (Principal Investigator: J. Cho)
  NIH (NCI) U10CA63844
  "Hawaii Minority-based Community Clinical Oncology Program (HMBCCOP)"
  2010-2014
• E. Bantum, Co-Investigator/Clinical Supervisor (Principal Investigator, T. Wills)
  NIH (NIDA) R01 DA021856
  "The Project Success Model: Evaluation of a Tiered Intervention"
  2009-2013
• E. Bantum, Consultant (Principal Investigator: J. Owen)
  NIH (NCI) R03 CA137391
  "Evaluation of a Social-networking Intervention to Reduce Cancer-related Distress"
  2009–2012