Nataliya Zelikovsky, Ph.D.

Dr. Zelikovsky is a health psychologist, specializing in pediatric chronic illness and behavioral medicine. Her clinical interests across the life span focus on patient and family adjustment to health conditions and quality of life outcomes, psychosocial factors impacting adherence to medical regimens, and interventions to promote healthy behaviors and enhance social supports. She is a licensed psychologist who teaching Health Concentration courses in the PsyD program.

Dr. Zelikovsky currently has two lines of research in health psychology. (1) The relationship between health attitudes and health behaviors among college students, community samples, and adults with medical conditions. Recent studies have investigated the role of cognitive factors (e.g. health locus of control, self-efficacy, illness perception, beliefs about medicine), the use of health technology (e.g. apps, devices) and factors affecting health behaviors (e.g. physical activity, adherence, use of CAM, and health care utilization). (2) Research with pediatric populations focuses on adolescents with kidney disease and organ transplants, cancer survivors, and chronic pain. Specifically, studies have investigated psychosocial factors (e.g., health-related quality of life, illness uncertainty, family environment) and cognitive factors (e.g., perceived barriers, negative health beliefs, and grit) associated with illness management and adjustment. She has been involved in multi-site randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of behavioral problem-solving interventions, electronic pillbox monitoring, peer mentoring and mHealth technology to enhance adolescent adherence.

Dr. Zelikovsky enjoys travel to national parks and hiking with her family, photography, and drawing.

Areas of Expertise

• Pediatric psychology and behavioral medicine
• Health technology use to improve health behaviors
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Adjustment to chronic health conditions
• Adherence to medical regimens

Education

• Licensed Psychologist (Pennsylvania)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida
• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Ohio University
• M.S., Clinical Psychology, Ohio University
• B.A., Psychology, SUNY Binghamton

Teaching

• PSY 751: Clinical Health Psychology I
• PSY 752: Advanced Health Psychology II
• PSY 787: Supervision and Management

Representative Publications

Zelikovsky, N., & Nelson, E. (2021). Illness perception and beliefs about medication: The impact on health-related quality of life in adolescent kidney transplant patients. Pediatric Transplantation, 25(3), e13988.

Dougherty, B.L., Zelikovsky, N., Miller, K. Rodriguez, D., Armstrong, S., Sherry, D. (2021). Longitudinal impact of parental catastrophizing on child functional disability in pediatric amplified pain. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 46(4), 474–484.

Zelikovsky, N. & McKelvey, E. (2021). Looking beyond: Exploration of care processes and structures associated with medication adherence AYA transplant recipients. Pediatric Transplantation, 25(8), e14099.

Petrongolo, J.L., Zelikovsky, N., Keegan, R.M., Furth, S.L. & Knight, A. (2020). Examining Uncertainty in Illness in Parents and Children With Chronic Kidney Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Mediational Model of Internalizing Symptoms and Health Related Quality of Life. Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 27, 31–40.

Markman, E.S., McClure, K.S., McMahon, C.E., Zelikovsky, N., Macone, B.W. & Bullock, A. J. (2020). Social Problem Solving as a Predictor of Posttraumatic Growth New Possibilities in Postoperative Breast Cancer Survivors. Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 27(3), 518-526.

Boucquemont, J., Pai, A.L.H, Dharnidharka, V.R., Hebert, D., Zelikovsky, N., Amaral, S., Furth, S.L. & Foster, B.J. (2020). Association between day of the week and medication adherence among adolescent and young adult kidney transplant recipients. American Journal of Transplantation, 20(1), 274-281.

Kraenbring, M. M., Zelikovsky, N., Meyers, K.E. (2019). Medication adherence in pediatric renal transplant patients: The Role of Family Functioning and Parent Health Locus of Control. Journal of Pediatric Transplantation, 23(2):e13346, 1-9.

Foster, B.J., Pai, A.L.H., Zelikovsky, N., Amaral, S., Bell, L., Dharnidharka, V.R., et al. (2018). Teen Adherence in Kidney Transplant Effectiveness of Intervention Trial (TAKE-IT): A Randomized trial of a multicomponent medication adherence-promoting intervention. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 72(1), 30-41.

Representative Presentations

Maglio, D., Zelikovsky, N., Lindgren, K. & Murphy-Eberenz, K. The Effect of Rehabilitation Services on the Relation between Indices of Disability and Quality of Life Following Acquired Brain Injury. Poster presented at the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology 2021, Virtual Format.

Huseman, T., Cruz-Dillard, K., Maglio, D., Dupuis, A., & Zelikovsky, N. Healthcare discrimination: a common experience that is associated with worse perceived health. Poster presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting 2021, Virtual Format.  

Maglio, D., Stepien, D., Dupuis, A., McKelvey, E., & Zelikovsky, N. Health-related quality of life in chronic health conditions impacts routine and emergent healthcare utilization. Poster presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting 2021, Virtual Format.  

McKelvey, E., Maglio, D., Nelson, E. & Zelikovsky, N. The Five Factor Model of personality and health care utilization in individuals with chronic illness. Poster presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting 2021, Virtual Format.  

Chang, W. R., Zelikovsky, N., Scalese, S., Roth, G., & Armstrong, S. L. (2020, Nov). The Lived Experiences of Second-Generation Chinese American College Students Seeking Mental Health Services. Poster accepted to be presented the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT) 2020, Philadelphia, PA.

Hasnie, A., Schulman, J., Brooks, E. & Zelikovsky, N. (2019). Confidence mediates the relation between health technology and decreased use of change strategies for physical activity. Poster presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting 2019, Washington, D.C.

Amaral, S. Schwartz, L. Zelikovsky, N., Psihogios, A., Rodig, N., Reason, J., George4, R., Turek-Queally, J., Kirsch, A., Bowlin5, P., Reese6, P., Zderic, S., & Warady, B.  (2018, May).  U-REAACT: Using M-Health to Promote Adherence in AYA with Renal and Urological Diseases. Poster presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2018 Meeting, Toronto, Canada.

Professional Memberships

• Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM)
• Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA)
• Pennsylvania Behavior Therapy Association (PBTA)