Sherwood Burns-Nader, PhD, CCLS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Alabama. As a Certified Child Life Specialist, her research interests include examining the psychosocial variables affecting children and families in the healthcare setting, the benefits of child life interventions, and the value of play in development and coping in children. She is the editor of Making Ethical Decisions in Child Life Practice Second Edition, and the author of three book chapters and 18 journal articles.
Jessika Boles, PhD, CCLS, is a Child Life Team Lead at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. As a Certified Child Life Specialist, her research interests include children’s experiences of participation in healthcare research, their developing understandings of abstract concepts such as legacy and loss, and the ways in which children negotiate healthcare contexts to access and respond to illness and treatment-related information. She has authored five book chapters and 31 journal articles.