Research Focus

My research focuses on community engagement through arts programming for veterans and military-connected community members. I am interested in military to civilian transitions, pre and post-injury transitions, and family transitions during and after military service. Part of my research interests include supporting those recovering from traumatic brain injury and psychological health conditions in post-rehabilitation, community-based settings to support well-being and social support through the arts. I am also interested in how intergenerational veteran communities can support each other through shared experiences in the arts to foster a sense of community, agency, and social support.

Current Projects

■ Veterans and the Arts Initiative has received three contracts through Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and state and local arts agencies

■ Longitudinal ethnographic study of intergenerational workshops to derive baseline characteristics, including qualitative and quantitative data, of those who participate in arts workshops through the Veterans and the Arts Initiative

■ Studying the effects of arts engagement in older adults through a cross-disciplinary study with researchers in the College of Education and Human Development, College of Visual and Performing Arts, and College of Health and Human Services

Select Publications

■ N. Dhokai, Mediating music and culture in medical rehabilitation settings. Journal of Folklore Research 54(1-2), 119-131 (2017).