Welcome to the Child Life and Child Development Research Lab (CLCD) Lab!  The CLCD lab examines child development and issues related to children and families experiencing healthcare events. Undergraduate and graduate students work alongside Dr. Burns-Nader to gain research experience and opportunities for presenting at local, state, and national conferences and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Examples of research topics include the daily experiences and coping of parents of newly diagnosed cancer patients, how the appearance of toys influence children's play, and the benefits of tablet distraction provided by a child life specialist. The lab collaborates with researchers at different children's hospitals, universities across the Southeast, the University Medical Center Pediatric Department, and the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. To learn more about this lab, review the web page and/or email Dr. Burns-Nader below.

News for the CLCD Lab


  • CLCD lab member, Ellie Chidley had a project completed during her graduate internship accepted for publication in Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
  • Several articles with Dr. Burns-Nader as one of the lead contributors and supported by members of the CLCD lab have been published in the Journal of Child Life.
  • Recent alums of the lab, Amber Wesoloski, Gracie Avery, Anna Schmitz, and Emily Goldstein, had their research published in Children's Health Care.
  • Anna Schmitz (alum of the CLCD lab), Dr. Burns-Nader, Dr. Blake Berryhill (HDFS faculty member), and Dr. Julie Parker received the 2022 Association of Child Life Professionals' Professional Research of the Year Award.
  • Emily Goldstein (alum of the CLCD lab) received the 2022 Association of Child Life Professionals' Student  Research of the Year Award.
  • Dr. Burns-Nader received the 2021 URCA Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award
  • In March of 2021, Research Methods for Child Life Specialists by Daniels, Burns-Nader, & Boles (Eds.) was released.
  • Check out Dr. Burns-Nader's research.
  • Recent graduate of the CLCD lab, Anna Schmitz, had a paper summarizing her thesis published in the Journal of Child Life.
  • Undergraduate (Shannon Anderson, Amber Wesoloski) and graduate (Emily Goldstein) students in the lab published a recent study in JOSHUA.

External Collaborators

Dr. Jessika Boles
Dr. Jessika Boles, PhD, CCLS- Assistant Professor of Practice at Vanderbilt University
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Dr. Sarah Daniels, PhD, CCLS- Child Life Research Specialist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Current Research Projects

Examining the role of facility dogs in pediatric programs.
In this study, Dr. Burns-Nader and CLCD lab members are collaborating with CCLS from Huntsville Women and Children's Hospital to examine staff members' perceptions of the role of facility dogs in pediatric programs, including benefits and obstacles.
Assessment in the Child Life Profession: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Investigation
In this study, Drs. Burns-Nader, Boles, and Daniels will be exploring child life specialists' approaches to assessment in order to conceptualize and create a model of assessment.
The Relationship of Parental Anxiety and Hospitalized Children's Anxiety in Kenya
This study will examine the relationship between parents' satisfaction and coping with hospitalization and the hospitalized children's anxiety in Kenya.

Recent Thesis Projects

Handling facility dogs with pediatric patients:  An exploration from a child life perspective
Emily Goldstein

In this case study, Emily explores the use of child life specialist as facility dog handlers and their perceived benefits and difficulties of serving as a handler.



Pictures from the Lab