Britney Wardecker

“I am involved in age-friendly care to ensure that LGBTQ older adults are acknowledged in the research and practice that involves their lives. My role is to provide expertise on best practices and barriers to accessing care for underserved populations (e.g., LGBTQ older adults) in Pennsylvania and beyond.”

Dr. Wardecker is trained as a health psychologist and her interests are in the areas of sexual and gender minority health and aging. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan and subsequently began training in the Center for Healthy Aging at Penn State as a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, funded by the National Institute on Aging. As an Assistant Professor in Penn State’s College of Nursing, she has developed a theoretically driven research program that uses psychological science to promote wellness and reduce social and health disparities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. In her primary line of research, she studies LGBTQ health and wellness, and in a secondary line, she examines processes for healthy aging in later adulthood. These two streams of research intersect in her focus on LGBTQ older adults’ health and experiences. She has published and presented on several themes of LGBTQ health and aging and her research is influenced by scholarship in public health and public policy, social work, and nursing, all of which inform her motivation to conduct translational science.

Research Interests 

• Promoting health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults 
• Examining health disparities and individual differences in health (e.g., age, gender, sexual orientation) 
• Biomarker measurement 

PURE Profile

Orcid Profile

Education 

• Ph.D., Psychology, University of Michigan
• B.S., Psychology, Pennsylvania State University

Selected Accomplishments, Contributions, Awards & Memberships

• 2019 – present: Member, Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ+ Affairs (Aging Committee)
• Wardecker and Matsick (MPI)
  09/01/2020 - 09/01/2021
  Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), Penn State
  Person-Centered Care for LGBTQ Older Adults: A Partnership between Penn State and Older Adults in Philadelphia
  This project uses a community advisory board of sexual and gender minority older adults to develop items for care and living preferences that reflect the needs of people with various sexual and gender identities. The set of items (i.e., Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory; PELI) will be validated through scale development procedures with a diverse sexual and gender minority online sample.
  Role: MPI