Dr. O’Neal’s primary research interest focuses on designing, testing, and implementing evidence-based, behavioral approaches that aim to mitigate injury risk in typically and atypically developing children and adolescents. Elizabeth uses a multi-disciplinary approach built on principles of public health and psychological science. Her work also leverages collaborations with computer scientists, clinical psychologists, and human factors engineers. Much of Dr. O’Neal’s work uses immersive virtual environments to better understand the behaviors that contribute to injury risk and as a safe way to evaluate injury prevention interventions.

Currently, Elizabeth’s research focuses on 1) creating parent-focused interventions to mitigate childhood and adolescent injury risk, 2) how immature perceptual-motor skills put child pedestrians, cyclists, and teen drivers at risk for collisions with motor vehicles, and 3) how parents use conversations to teach children to engage in common, yet risky activities.

Dr. O’Neal is an active member of the University of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Research Center, the DeLTA Center, and the Driving Safety Research Institute.

Research Interests

• Unintentional injury prevention
• Evidence-based, behavioral intervention
• Parent-child interaction
• Perceptual-motor skill
• Social and psychological determinants of health