Faculty and Staff Profile

Christine (Christy) Phillips

Educational Background

Ph.D. Aging Studies
University of South Florida 2013

M.S.S. Sport Fitness Management
United States Sports Academy 1996

B.S. Human Nutrition and Foods
Virginia Tech 1991

Courses Taught

Adulthood and Aging

Profile

I have a broad interest in preserving or improving health and functional abilities across the lifespan. My research focuses on understanding how individual-level and environmental influences interact to facilitate or impede behavioral and functional outcomes, and applying this knowledge in intervention design and implementation, built environment design, and policy-making. Secondarily, I am interested in emerging methods and technologies used to measure these influences and outcomes.

Research Interests

Active aging
Physical activity and physical function
Cognitive training and cognitive function
Everyday functional abilities
Community mobility
Built environments to support healthy aging

Research Publications

McEntee, M. L., Hurley, J. C., Phillips, C. B., Hooker, S. P., Todd, M., Frank, L. D., Adams, M. A. (2023). The moderating impact of neighborhood walkability on mHealth interventions to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity for insufficiently active adults in a randomized trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 20, Article 97. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01494-2
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Phillips, C. B., McVey, A.*, Tian, J.*, Stephan, A. T.*, Davis, W. B.**, Aflagah, E. L., & Ross, L. A. (2023). Feasibility of a pilot dyadic randomized controlled trial testing the effects of three behavioral interventions on older adults’ cognitive, physical and everyday function. Frontiers in Aging: Interventions in Aging, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2023.1166338

Nicholson, J. S., Hudak, E.M., Phillips, C.B., Chanti-Ketterl, M., O’Brien, J.L., Ross, L.A., Lister, J.J., Burke, J.R., Potter, G., Plassman, B., Woods, A.J., Krischer, J., & Edwards, J.D. (2022). The Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training (PACT) randomized controlled trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 123, 10698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2022.106978

Adams, M. A., Phillips, C. B., Patel, A., & Middel, A. (2022). Training computers to see the built environment related to physical activity: Detection of microscale walkability features using computer vision. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(8), 4548; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084548

Adams, M. A., Todd, M., Angadi, S. S., Hurley, J. C., Stecher, C., Berardi, V., Phillips, C. B., McEntee, M., Hovell, M. F., & Hooker, S. (2021). Adaptive goal setting and financial reinforcement to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity in insufficiently active overweight adults: A randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Freed, S. A., Sprague, B. N., Stephan, A. T., Doyle, C. E., Tian, J., Phillips, C. B., & Ross, L. A. (in press). Feasibility and enjoyment of exercise video games in older adults for social connectedness. Frontiers in Public Health

McEntee, M. L., Cantley, A., Foreman, E., Berardi, V. B., Phillips, C. B., Hurley, J. C. Hovell, M. G., Hooker, S., Adams, M. A. (2020). Effects of goal type and reinforcement type on self-reported domain-specific walking among inactive adults: 2x2 factorial randomized controlled trial. JMIR Formative Research, 4(12):e19863. doi: 10.2196/19863

Edwards, J. D., Phillips, C. B., O’Connor, M. L., O’Brien, J. L., Hudak, E. M., & Nicholson, J. S. (2020). Applying the health belief model to quantify and investigate expectations for computerized cognitive training. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-020-00183-3

Berardi, V. B., Hovell, M., Hurley, J. C., Phillips, C. B., Bellettiere, J., Todd, M. & Adams, M. A. (2020). Variable magnitude and frequency financial reinforcement is effective at increasing adults’ free-living physical activity. Perspectives on Behavioral Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-019-00241-y

Sprague, B. N., Freed, S. A., Phillips, C. B., & Ross, L. A. (2020). A viewpoint on change point modeling for cognitive aging research: Moving from description to intervention and practice, Ageing Research Reviews, 58, 101003. doi:org/10.1016/j.arr.2019.101003

Sprague, B. N., Phillips, C. B., & Ross, L. A. (2019). Cognitive training attenuates age-related decline in physical function across 10 years. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl 1): S214. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igz038.785

Adams, M. A., Hurley, J. C., Phillips, C. B., Todd, M. Angadi, S. S., Berardi, V., Hovell, M. F., & Hooker, S. (2019). Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of WalkIT Arizona: A factorial randomized trial testing adaptive goals and financial reinforcement to increase walking across higher and lower walkable neighborhoods. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 81, 87-101. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2019.05.001

Phillips, C. B., Hurley, J. C., Angadi, S. S., Todd, M., Berardi, V., Hovell, M. F., & Adams, M. A. (2019). Delay discount rate moderates a physical activity intervention testing immediate rewards. Behavioral Medicine, 1-11. doi: 10.1080/08964289.2019.1570071

Phillips, C. B., Freed, S. A., & Ross, L. A. (2019). Older adult lifespace varies by driving status and residential population density. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673 (7), 586-595. doi: org/10.1177/0361198119846092

Sprague, B. N., Freed, S. A., Webb, C. E., Phillips, C. B., Hyun, J., & Ross. L. A. (2019). The impact of behavioral interventions on cognitive function in healthy older adults. Ageing Research Reviews. 52, 32-52. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2019.04.002

Ross, L. A., Sprague, B. N., Phillips, C. B., O’Connor, M. L., & Dodson, J. E. (2018). The impact of three cognitive training interventions on older adults’ physical functioning across five years. Journal of Aging and Health, 30(3), 475-498. doi: 10.1177/0898264316682916

Sprague, B. N., Phillips, C. B., & Ross, L. A. (2017). Age-varying relationships between physical function and cognition in older adulthood. Journals of Gerontology: Series B, gbx126. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbx126

Phillips, C. B., Engelberg, J. K., Cain, K. L., Geremia, C. M., Conway, T. L., Zhu, W., Kurka, J. M., Sallis, J. F. & Adams, M. A. (2017). Online versus in-person comparison of Microscale Audits of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS) assessments: Reliability of alternate methods. International Journal of Health Geographics, 16, 27. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-017-0101-0

Ross, L. A., Freed, S. A., Phillips, C. B., Edwards, J. D., & Ball, K. K. (2017). The impact of three cognitive training programs on driving cessation across ten years: A randomized controlled trial. Gerontologist, 57(5), 1-9. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnw143

Phillips, C. B., Sprague, B. N., Freed, S. A., & Ross, L. A. (2016). Longitudinal associations between changes in physical function and driving mobility behaviors of older adults. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2584, 70-76. doi: 10.3141/2584-09

Phillips, C. B., Edwards, J. D., Andel, R., & Kilpatrick, M. (2016). Daily physical activity and cognitive function variability in older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 24(2), 256 – 267. doi: 10.1123/japa.2014-0222

Edwards, J. D., Ruva, C. L., O’Brien, J. L, Haley, C. B., & Lister, J. J. (2013). An examination of mediators of the transfer of cognitive speed of processing training to everyday functional performance. Psychology and Aging, 28(2), 314-321. doi: 10.1037/a0030474

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