Publications

Dr. Fisher’s Coping Together, Side by Side is the first evidence-based book to demonstrate the importance of mother-daughter communication when women navigate breast cancer. Her nationally recognized award-winning book provides narrative-based behavioral models for mothers and daughters to learn healthy communication practice that is tailored based on age and generational differences. This book brings to the forefront the importance of family-centered cancer care for clinicians and provides mothers and daughters a tool for taking on cancer together.

Quick Scroll Links to Research:

• Mother-Daughter Breast Cancer Communication: Coping and Reducing Risk 
• High-Risk Mothers and Daughters: Managing Risk Uncertainty and BRCA Medical Decision-Making  
• Family Caregiving Communication: Cancer and Aging Contexts
• Developmental Theorizing and Intergenerational Communication in Family Health Contexts
• Provider-Patient-Family Communication and Diabetes Management
• Provider-Patient Communication and Acupuncture Treatment Integration in Family Medicine
• Family Communication and Mental Health

Mother-Daughter Breast Cancer Communication: Coping and Reducing Risk

Dean, M., & Fisher, C. L. (2019). Uncertainty and previvors’ cancer risk management: Understanding the decision-making process. Journal of Applied Communication Research.​

Wright, K., Fisher, C. L., Rising, C., Afanaseva, D., Burke-Garcia, A., & Cai, X. (2019). Partnering with mommy bloggers to disseminate breast cancer risk information: A social media intervention. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Fisher, C. L., & Wolf, B. (2019). Understanding mother-daughter communication and health through a discourse of “responsible womanhood”. In A. M. Alford & M. Miller-Day (Eds.), Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan. New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L., Wolf, B., Fowler, C., & Canzona, M. R. (2017). Experiences of “openness” between mothers and daughters during breast cancer: Implications on coping and health outcomes. Psycho-Oncology, 11, 1872-1880.

Fisher, C. L. (2014). Coping together, side by side: Enriching mother-daughter communication across the breast cancer journey. New York: Hampton Press.

Fisher, C. L., Miller-Day, M., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2013). Healthy doses of positivity: Mothers’ and daughters’ use of positive communication when coping with breast cancer. In M. Pitts & T. J. Socha (Eds.), Positive communication in health and wellness (pp. 98-113). New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L. (2010). Coping with breast cancer across adulthood: Emotional support communication in the mother-daughter bond. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 38, 386-411. [Impact Factor: 1.212]

Fisher, C. L., & Wolf, B. (2019). Understanding mother-daughter communication and health through a discourse of “responsible womanhood”. In A. M. Alford & M. Miller-Day (Eds.), Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan. New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L., & Wolf, B. (2015). Morality and family communication at the end of life. In V. Waldron & D. Kelley (Eds.), Moral talk across the lifespan: Creating good relationships (pp. 95-114). New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L., Miller-Day, M., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2013). Healthy doses of positivity: Mothers’ and daughters’ use of positive communication when coping with breast cancer. In M. Pitts & T. J. Socha (Eds.), Positive communication in health and wellness (pp. 98-113). New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2012). “Linked lives”: Mother-adult daughter communication after a breast cancer diagnosis. In F. C. Dickson & L. M. Webb (Eds.), Communication for families in crisis: Theories, research, strategies (pp. 179-204). New York: Peter Lang.

Fisher, C. L. (2011). “Her pain was my pain”: Mothers and daughters sharing the breast cancer journey. In M. Miller-Day (Ed.), Family communication, connections, and health transitions: Going through this together (pp. 57-76). New York: Peter Lang.   

High-Risk Mothers and Daughters: Managing Risk Uncertainty and BRCA Medical Decision-Making

Dean, M., & Fisher, C. L. (in press). Uncertainty and previvors’ cancer risk management: Understanding the decision-making process. Journal of Applied Communication Research. [Impact factor 1.00]

Fisher, C. L., Roccotagliata, T. J., Rising, C. J., Kissane, D., Glogowski, E., & Bylund, C. (2017). “I don’t want to be an ostrich”: Managing mothers’ uncertainty during BRCA 1/2 genetic counseling. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 26, 455-468.

Fisher, C. L., Maloney, E., Glogowski, E., Hurley, K., Edgerson, S., Lichtenthal, W. G., Kissane, D., & Bylund, C. (2014). Talking about familial breast cancer risk: Topics and strategies to enhance mother-daughter interactions. Qualitative Health Research, 24, 517-535.

Bylund, C., Fisher, C. L., Brashers, D., Edgerson, S., Glogowski, E. A., Boyar, S. R., Kemel, Y., Siegel, B., Spencer, S., & Kissane, D. (2012). Sources of uncertainty about daughters’ breast cancer risk that emerge during genetic counseling consultations.  Journal of Genetic Counseling, 12, 292-304.

Family Caregiving Communication: Cancer and Aging Contexts

McAllum, K., Fisher, C. L., Scott, M., Simpson, M., & Yamasaki, J. (2016). Constructing the “carer” in society across the lifespan: Home and community-based care contexts across the globe. In J. F. Nussbaum (Ed.), Communication across the life span (pp. 149-164). New York: Peter Lang.

Fowler, C., Fisher, C. L., & Pitts, M. (2014). Older adults’ evaluations of middle-aged children’s attempts to initiate discussion of care needs. Health Communication, 29, 717-727.

Pitts, M., Fowler, C., Fisher, C. L., & Smith, S. A. (2014). Politeness strategies in imagined conversation openers about eldercare. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 33, 27-46.

Nussbaum, J. F., & Fisher, C. L. (2011). Successful aging and communication wellness: Understanding aging as a process of transition and continuity. In Y. Matsumoto (Ed.), Faces of aging: The lived experiences of the elderly in Japan, (pp. 263-272). Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Fowler, C., & Fisher, C. L. (2009). Attitudes toward decision-making and aging, and preparation for future care needs. Health Communication, 24, 691-630. [Impact Factor: 1.487, Ranked 26 in Communication and 43 in Health Policy & Services]

Nussbaum, J. F., & Fisher, C. L. (2009). Communication model for the competent delivery of geriatric medicine. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 28, 190-208. [Impact Factor: 1.272; Ranked 37 in Communication and 43 in Linguistics]

Developmental Theorizing and Intergenerational Communication in Family Health Contexts

 Fisher, C. L., & Roccotagliata, T. (2017). Interpersonal communication across the life span. In J. F. Nussbaum (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fisher, C. L., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2015).  Maximizing wellness in successful aging and cancer coping: The importance of family communication from a socioemotional selectivity theoretical perspective. Journal of Family Communication. 15, 3-19.

Fisher, C. L., & Canzona, M. (2014). Health interactions in older adulthood. In J. F. Nussbaum (Ed.), Handbook of life span communication (pp. 387-404). New York: Peter Lang. Fowler, C., & Fisher, C. L. (2014). Communication in intergenerational family relationships. In L. Turner & R. West (Eds.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 204-218). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Fisher, C. L. (2014). Health transition-Family communication. In T. L. Thompson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of health communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Nussbaum, J. F., Baringer, D., Fisher, C. L., & Kundrat, A. (2008). Connecting health, communication, and aging: Cancer communication and older adults. In L. Sparks, H. D. O’Hair, & G. L. Kreps (Eds.), Cancer, communication, and aging (pp. 67-76). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Nussbaum, J. F., & Fisher, C. L. (2008). Developmental communication. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The International encyclopedia of communication. Boston: Blackwell.

Fisher, C., & Miller-Day, M. (2006). Communication over the life span: The mother-adult daughter relationship. In K. Floyd & M. T. Morman (Eds.), Widening the family circle: New research in family communication (pp. 3-19). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.   

Provider-Patient-Family Communication and Diabetes Management

Ledford, C. J., Fisher, C. L., Seehusen, D., Rider, H., Womack, J., & Crawford, P. (2020). How patients make sense of a diabetes diagnosis: An application of Weick’s model of organizing. Diabetes Research & Clinical Practice.

Ledford, C. J., Fisher, C. L., Cafferty, L., Jackson, J. T., Seehusen, D., & Crawford, P. (2019). Turning points as opportunities to partner with the patient: A qualitative study of patients living with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 33(2), 211-219. 

Seehusen, D., Fisher, C. L., Rider, H., Womack, J., Crawford, P., & Ledford, C. (2019). Exploring patients’ beliefs and divergent perspectives of diabetes severity after a T2D or pre-diabetes diagnosis. Psychology & Health, 1-14.

Provider-Patient Communication and Acupuncture Treatment Integration in Family Medicine

Taylor, G., Addie, Y., Burchett, J., Durkin, C., Crawford, P., & Ledford, C.J.W. (2020). “Miracle” or “Medicine”: A turning point analysis of patients’ and physicians’ shifting views on acupuncture. Medical Acupuncture. Advance Online Publication. DOI: 10.1089/acu.2020.1428

Fisher, C. L., Ledford, C., & Crawford, P. (2019). Explaining acupuncture in family medicine: Patients’ and physicians’ use of metaphor. Journal of Communication in Healthcare.https://doi.org/10.1080/17538068.2019.1683366 ​

Fisher, C. L., Ledford, C., Moss, R., & Crawford, P. (2018). Physician communication to enhance patient acupuncture engagement in family medicine. Journal of Health Communication, 23, 422-429.

Ledford, C., Fisher, C. L., & Crawford, P. (2018). A qualitative study of the communication process for medical acupuncture in family medicine. Family Medicine, 50, 353-358.  

Ledford, C., Fisher, C. L., Moss, R., & Crawford, P. (2018). Critical factors to practicing medical acupuncture treatment in the family medicine: Patient and physician perspectives. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 31:236-242.

Family Communication and Mental Health

Fisher, C. L., Goldsmith, D., Harrison, K., Hoffner, C. A., Segrin, C., Wright, K., & Miller, K. (2012). Communication and mental health: A conversation from the CM café. Communication Monographs, 79, 539-550

Miller-Day, M., & Fisher, C. L. (2008). Parent-emerging adult child communication and disordered eating patterns. International Journal of Psychology Research, 3(3), 223-248.

Miller-Day, M., & Fisher, C. L. (2008). Communication and disordered eating patterns. In J. N. Fuchs (Ed.), Eating disorders in adult women (pp. 1-20). Nova Science Publishers