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Noh, Hyunjin (Gina)

Hyunjin Noh

Associate Professor

Contact Information

Email: hnoh1@sw.ua.edu
Office: Little Hall 3020
Phone: (205) 348-5265

Areas of Interest and Expertise

  • Palliative and Hospice Care
  • Pain Management
  • End-of-Life Care Decision Making and Communications
  • Health Disparities
  • Qualitative Methods

Education

  • BA, MA, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
  • MSSW, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Bio

Hyunjin Noh, Ph.D., MSW, is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama School of Social Work and the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Scholar. Her research areas include end-of-life care decision-making, pain and symptom management in rural communities, deprescribing and non-pharmacological pain management among chronically ill older adults, palliative care education, and racial disparities in end-of-life care. She has methodological expertise in qualitative and mixed methods.

Dr. Noh’s current research project examines the attitudes toward deprescribing and knowledge and views of non-pharmacological pain management among community-dwelling older adults with multiple chronic health conditions (funded by US Deprescribing Network (R24AG064025, National Institute on Aging). She is also an investigator of another research project examining disparities in access to and quality of health care services among Asian Americans in Alabama (University of Alabama RGC/ORED Small Grant Program). Her past funded research projects examined transportation barriers in pain management among rural residents in Alabama (Alabama Transportation Institute), factors affecting the use of hospice and palliative care among adolescent and young adult cancer patients (Palliative Care Research Cooperative: U2CNR014637, National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health), and perceptions of advance care planning by race and health status (Deep South Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Pilot Grant: National Institute on Aging). She also piloted an educational intervention program to improve palliative care knowledge among family caregivers of cognitively impaired older adults (Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care Seed Grant: the Mary and Gary West Foundation).

As a researcher, she strives to take an interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach whenever possible and collaborated with multiple community-based organizations throughout the state of Alabama, such as the Area Agency on Aging, Black Belt Community Foundation, and local hospice agencies. Dr. Noh has a goal to implement statewide palliative care educational interventions tailored for different groups, such as rural caregivers, minority older adults, and immigrants, in the state of Alabama to promote palliative care knowledge in community settings.

Selected Publications

  • Noh, H., Suntai, Z., Won, C., Jeong, H., & Lee, L. H. (in press). A qualitative exploration of rural older adults’ experiences with pain from chronic illnesses and its treatment. Research on Aging.
  • Noh, H., Bui, C., & Mack, J. (2023). Factors affecting hospice use among adolescents and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 12(2), 151–158. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2021.0225
  • Jeong, H., & Noh, H. (2023). Resilience as a Protective Factor in Older Adult Suicide: A Rapid Review. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 66(8), 1005–1018. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2023.2202729
  • Suntai, Z., Noh, H., Lee, L., Bell, J. G., Lippe, M. P., & Lee, H. Y. (2023). Quality of Care at the End of Life: Applying the Intersection of Race and Gender. The Gerontologist. February 14th, 2023 (OnlineFirst) https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnad012
  • Lee, H. Y., Noh, H., Choi, E., & Lee, L. H. (2022). Social determinants of willingness to discuss end-of-life care with family and doctors among Korean American immigrants: Findings from a cross-sectional survey in Alabama. Health & Social Care in the Community, 30(6), e6056-e6066. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.14043 (corresponding author)
  • Noh, H., Bui, C., & Mack, J. (2022). Factors affecting hospice use among adolescents and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 12(2), 151-158. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2021.0225
  • Noh, H., Lee. H. Y., Luo, Y., & Lee, L. H. (2022). Willingness to Discuss End-of-Life Care Wishes among Rural African Americans. The Journal of Applied Gerontology, 41 (7), 1763-1772, https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221084174
  • Noh, H., Lee, H. Y., Lee, L. H., & Luo, Y. (2021). Awareness of Hospice Care among Rural African-Americans: Findings from Social Determinants of Health Framework. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 39 (7), 822-830, https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221084174
  • Noh, H., Lee, L. H., & Won, C. (2021). Educational intervention to improve palliative care knowledge among informal caregivers of cognitively impaired older adults. Palliative & Supportive Care, 19(5), 515-523. doi:10.1017/s1478951520001200.
  • Douglas, J., Jung, S., Noh, H., Ellis, A., & Ferguson, C. (2020). “If they don’t like you, they are not going to eat for you”: Individual and interpersonal factors affecting Certified Nursing Assistants’ ability to provide mealtime assistance to residents with dementia. The Gerontologist, 61(4), 552-562 doi:10.1093/geront/gnaa145
  • Noh, H. (2019). Areas of control desired by patients and families referred to hospice care: perspectives of hospice admissions staff. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 38(5), 656-672
  • Noh, H., Kim, J., Sims, O., Ji, S., & Sawyer, P. (2018). Racial differences in associations of perceived health and social and physical activities with advance care planning, end-of-life concerns and hospice knowledge. American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine, 35 (1), 34-40.
  • Oh, H., Noh, H., Sims, O., Guo, Y., & Sawyer, P. A comparison of urban and non-urban African American older adults on health-related characteristics. (2018). Social Work in Health Care, 57 (9), 762-773.
  • Kwak, J., & Noh, H. (2018). What Matters to Persons with Dementia at the End of Life: Perspectives of Proxy Decision-Makers (2018). Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing. 20 (5), 478-485.
  • Noh, H., Guo, Y., Halli-Tierney, A., & Anderson, K. (2017). Hospice staff perceptions of information needs among patients and families during hospice admissions visits. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 19 (1), 82-99.
  • Noh, H. (2017). Areas of control desired by patients and families referred to hospice care: perspectives of hospice admissions staff. Journal of Applied Gerontologyhttp://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0733464817709531.
  • Noh, H., Guo, Y., Halli-Tierney, A., & Anderson, K. G. (2017). Hospice staff perceptions of information needs among patients and families during hospice admissions visits. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 19(1), 82-88.
  • Noh, H., Kim, J., Sims, O. T., Ji, S., & Sawyer, P. (2016). Racial differences in associations of perceived health and social and physical activities with advance care planning, end-of-life concerns, and hospice knowledge. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. doi: 10.1177/1049909116677021
  • Kavanaugh, M. S., Noh, H., & Zhang, L. (2016). Caregiving youth knowledge and perceptions of parental end-of-life wishes in Huntington’s disease. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 12(4), 348-365.
  • Noh, H. & Kwak, J. (2016). End-of-life decision making for persons with dementia: proxies’ perception of support. Dementia: the International Journal of Social Research and Practice. doi: 10.1177/1471301216648473. 
  • Noh, H., De Sayu, R., Anderson, K., & Ford, C. (2016). Community-based participatory research on issues around palliative and end-of-life care: literature review. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing.18(3), 249-255.
  • Burgio, K. L., Williams, B. R., Dionne-Odom, J. N., Redden, D. T., Noh, H., Goode, P. S., Kvale, E., Bakitas, M., & Bailey, F. A. (2016). Racial differences in processes of care at end of life in VA medical centers: planned secondary analysis of data from the BEACON trial. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 19(2), 157-163.
  • Allen, R. S., Noh, H., Beck, L. N., & Smith, L. J. (2016). Caring for individuals nearing the end of life. In L. D. Burgio, J. E. Gaugler & D. Algase (Eds.), The Spectrum of Family Caregiving for Adults and Elders with Chronic Conditions. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Kavanaugh, M., Noh, H., & Zhang, L. (2016). Caregiving youth knowledge and perceptions of parental end-of-life wishes in Huntington’s Disease. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 12 (4), 348-365.
  • Noh, H., & Schroepfer, T.A. (2015). Terminally ill African American elders’ access to and use of hospice care. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 32(3), 286-297.
  • Williams, B., Amos, B., Noh, H., Woodby, L., Wittich, A., & Burgio, K. (2015). “I was ready to take him home”: next-of-kin’s accounts of loved one’s death before planned hospice discharge in Veterans Affairs medical centers. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care. 11(1), 50-73.
  • Kavanaugh, M.S., Noh, H., & Studer, L.(2014). “It’d be nice if someone asked me how I was doing. Like, ’cause I will have an answer”: Exploring support needs of young carers of a parent with Huntington’s Disease. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 1-14. doi:10.1080/17450128.2014.980370
  • Noh, H. (2014). Values Important to Terminally Ill African American Older Adults in Receiving Hospice Care. Journal of Social Work in End-Of-Life & Palliative Care, 10(4), 338-355. doi: 10.1080/15524256.2014.975317.
  • Noh, H., & Schroepfer, T.A. (2014). Terminally ill African American elders’ access to and use of hospice care. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. doi: 10.1177/1049909113518092.
  • Schroepfer, T.A., Waltz, A., Noh, H., Matloub, J., & Kue, V. (2010). Seeking to bridge two cultures: The Wisconsin Hmong cancer experience. Journal of Cancer Education, 25(4), 609-616.
  • Schroepfer, T. A., & Noh, H. (2010). Terminally ill elders’ anticipation of support in their dying process.  Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, 6(1-2), 73-90.
  • Schroepfer, T. A., Noh, H., & Kavanaugh, M. (2009). The myriad strategies for seeking control in the dying process.  The Gerontologist, 49(6), 755-766.