Welcome to the Healthy Couples Lab
The Healthy Couples Lab is directed by Dr. Krista Ranby at the University of Colorado Denver. Team members consist of both undergraduate students and graduate students in the department's PhD program in Clinical Health Psychology. Together, we conduct observational and intervention research to understand daily health behavior within the context of romantic relationships. Studies cross several participant populations.
Dr. Krista Ranby
Dr. Ranby, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver and head of the Healthy Couples Lab. She comes to the study of health behavior from the perspective of social and quantitative psychology. She is particularly focused on ways in which close relationship partners affect each other's health. Dr. Ranby is interested in disease prevention through the promotion of physical activity and smoking cessation. Further, she has a particular interest in life transitions (e.g., marriage, pregnancy, disease diagnosis) as a naturally occurring opportunity for behavior change. Her work considers intervention targets for encouraging behavior change within romantic relationships such as joint planning (i.e., collaborative implementation intentions) and consideration of whether partners view each other’s health as their responsibility (i.e., partner investment). Finally, Dr. Ranby does dyadic work within several patient populations (e.g., diabetes, bone marrow transplant, cancer, heart disease) through collaborations with researchers at the Anschutz medical campus.