Samantha Boch, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor | Otterbein University
Westerville, OH, UNITED STATES
Dr. Samantha Boch is an expert on clinical nursing, health disparities, corrections nursing and chronic stress.
Biography
Samantha Boch is an assistant professor in nursing at Otterbein University and a post-doctoral scientist with a dual fellowship appointment through Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
She has corrections nursing experience at Franklin Medical Center, Madison Correctional Institution, and The Ohio Reformatory for Women. Her research and nursing experience center on the correctional system and the psychological, physiological, and behavioral pathways in which the system affects—directly and indirectly—on their inhabitants and population health.
At Otterbein, she is responsible for undergraduate and graduate coursework in both online and classroom settings. Her courses include Evidenced Based Practice, Health Policy, Bio-stats/Epidemiology, Complementary Approaches, and Mental Health/Psychiatric Nursing. Her areas of interest include Health Disparities, Corrections, Chronic Stress, Life Course, and Quantitative Analysis.
Areas of Expertise (14)
Social Determinants of Health
Corrections and Health
Chronic Stress
Health Disparities
Teaching Incarcerated Students
Epidemiology
Nursing
Clinical Nursing
Mental Health Nursing
Prison health
Teaching in Prisons
Health Disparities and Vulnerable Populations
Psychiatric Nursing
Incarceration and health
Education (4)
The Ohio State University: Ph.D., Specialization in University and College Teaching 2017
The Ohio State University: M.S.N., Specialization in Public Health Nursing 2015
The Ohio State University: B.S.N., Nursing 2012
The Ohio State University: B.A., Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 2012
Links (2)
Languages (1)
- English
Selected Articles (5)
Hair cortisol and depressive symptoms in youth: An investigation of curvilinear relationships
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Jodi L Ford, Samantha J Boch, Christopher R Browning
2019 As the prevalence of depression is increasing among youth in the U.S., research on the utility of biomarkers in predicting depressive symptomatology is burgeoning. Hair cortisol may be a useful biomarker as it is a retrospective and longer-term measure of the mean cortisol level. However, studies have yet to examine the relationships between hair cortisol and depressive symptoms in samples of youth, and findings with adult samples are mixed. This study examined hair cortisol as a predictor of depressive symptoms, including the potential for nonlinear relationships.
Attention, Externalizing, and Internalizing Problems of Youth Exposed to Parental Incarceration
Issues in Mental Health Nursing
Samantha J Boch, Barbara J Warren, Jodi L Ford
2019 Few studies have examined the effects of parental incarceration (PI) on outcomes above and beyond other risk and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The objectives of this study were to (1) the associations between PI and mental health problems (attention, externalizing, internalizing, and total behavioral problems) and (2) the mediating role of current socioeconomic status and cumulative ACEs. An observational and cross-sectional design was employed. Analyses included hierarchical multivariable linear regression modeling. The analytic sample included 613 adolescents (11–17 years). On average, youth exposed to PI experienced three times as many ACEs compared with youth unexposed. Youth exposed to PI were more likely to have behavioral problems than their unexposed peers. The main effect for all models was attenuated by current economic hardship as well as exposure to increasing numbers of ACEs. Exposure to PI can be viewed as a marker of accumulative risk for intervention since youth impacted by PI are more likely to experience behavioral difficulties and associated adverse childhood experiences. Due to the associated adversity that impact youth exposed to PI, mental health providers need to be able to identify and screen for symptoms associated with trauma.
Health outcomes of youth in the United States exposed to parental incarceration: An integrative review
Journal of Forensic Nursing
Samantha J Boch, Jodi L Ford
2019 The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize recent quantitative evidence investigating the effects of PI on youths' mental and physical health outcomes.
Feasibility of hair collection for cortisol measurement in population research on adolescent health
Nursing Research
Jodi L Ford, Samantha J Boch, Donna McCarthy
2016 To investigate participation in hair collection for cortisol analyses in a probability sample of racially and socioeconomically diverse adolescents, including the extent to which sociodemographic factors and adverse exposures were associated with participation.
C-reactive protein levels among US adults exposed to parental incarceration
Biological Research for Nursing
Samantha J Boch, Jodi L Ford
2015 Previous studies have linked childhood adversity to low-grade inflammation via C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. This study analyzed the association between low-grade inflammation and prior biological parental incarceration. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (1994–2008) were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression models. Measures included high-sensitivity (hs)-CRP (10 mg/L = acute inflammation), parent incarceration occurring in the child’s lifetime, and frequency and timing of incarceration with respect to child’s age (0–18 years or >18 years vs. never) of incarceration. Analyses were stratified by child’s gender. Final sample sizes were n = 5,396 males and n = 6,447 females for maternal incarceration and n = 4,956 males and n = 5,860 females for paternal incarceration. In models with and without potential mediators, females whose fathers were ever incarcerated were more likely to have hs-CRP levels of 3–10 mg/L than females whose fathers were never incarcerated (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.09, 1.91]). Additionally, daughter’s age (
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