Na Zhang

Assistant Professor

LAB WEBSITE

As a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher with backgrounds in Psychology, Family Science and Prevention Science, I am interested in studying the application of mindfulness training for parents and families. My research goal is to optimize the reach and effectiveness of family interventions to prevent mental health problems and promote resilience. I am interested in studying developmental processes that explain adaptation or maladaptation in children, with an emphasis on understanding the predictors and outcomes of high-quality parenting. In my research lab, we use a variety of methods including advanced quantitative research methods, qualitative interviews, and research synthesis. We also adopt Human-Centered Design methods for developing engaging and sustainable family-based interventions.

Funded by NIMH, I developed the Healing Hearts program, a self-guided mindfulness app designed for divorced parents reporting elevated psychological distress. My lab is working on a randomized controlled trial to establish the intervention’s feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy. This study will inform a future study to investigate its effectiveness and mechanisms of change.

Prospective PhD Students: I welcome inquiries from prospective PhD students interested in working with me in the HDFS program. My primary appointment is at the Stamford campus, and my FRAME lab is physically located at the Stamford campus. I typically mentor PhD students remotely, with occasional in-person meetings.

Selected Awards

2026                Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship (PAECES) Emerging Faculty Teaching Award, UConn. Link.
2026                Rising Alumni Award, University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development. Link.
2025                Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award, Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy, UConn. Link.
2023                Mentorship Excellence Award, Office of Undergraduate Research, UConn. Link.
2021                Barbara Thompson Excellence in Research on Military and Veteran Families Award, Military Family Research Institute, Purdue University. Link.

Research Funding

Principal Investigator, “A digital mindfulness-informed parenting intervention for high-risk divorced families”
Funded by National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health (2022-2027)

Selected Professional Development

2025              Five-day program, “Love’s Journey: Polishing the Mirror of the Heart”. With Saki Santorelli.
2024              Eight-day program, “Deepening inquiry, practice, and community in the greater mindfulness universe: An experimental international retreat within the non-dual embrace of noble silence and dialogue”. With Jon Kabat-Zinn.
2023 Level-1 (Qualified) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher
2013              Seven-day program, “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Mind-Body Medicine”. With Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli.

Editorial Service:

Associate Editor, Mindfulness
Consulting editor, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Consulting editor, Journal of Family Psychology

Selected publications:

1. Zhang, N.,Cai, Q., Tong, H., Sandler, I., Duncan, L., Roeser, R., Lin, Y. & Lengua, L. (2026). A systematic meta-review of mindfulness-based and mindfulness-integrated programs with parents and families: Evidence from over 25 years of research. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice.
2. Gliske, K., Buchanan, G. J. R., Carlson, D., Cai, Q., Waring, M. E., & Zhang, N. (2026). Mindfulness-based programs for perinatal depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being: A systematic meta-review. Mindfulness.
3. Zhang, N., Zhang, Y., Wang, W., Chan, A. C. Y., & Wang, Q. (2026). Risk and resilience from early to middle childhood in three-generation families: Grandmother coresidence stability matters. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001470
4. Duncan, L. G., Zhang, N., Santana, T., Cook, J. G., Gastro-Smyth, L., Hutchison, M., Mallareddy, D., Jurkiewicz, L., Huynh, T., & Bardacke, N. (2023). Enhancing prenatal group medical visits with mindfulness skills: A pragmatic trial with Latina and BIPOC pregnant women experiencing multiple forms of structural inequity. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02227-z
5. Zhang, N., Zhang, J., Gewirtz, A., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2023). Linking observing and nonreactivity mindfulness to parenting: Moderated direct and indirect effect via inhibitory control. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001152
6. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Thieleman, K., O’Hara, K., & Wolchik, S. (2023). Self-compassion for caregivers of children in bereaved families: A theoretical model and intervention example. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 26, 430-444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-023-00431-w
7. Sandler, I., Tein, J., Zhang, N., & Wolchik, S. (2023). Developmental pathways of the Family Bereavement Program to prevent major depression 15 years later. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2023.02.012
8. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Tein, J., Wolchik, S. & Donohue, E. (2022). Caregivers’ self-compassion and bereaved children’s adjustment: Testing caregivers’ mental health and parenting as mediators. Mindfulness, 13, 462-473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01807-1
9. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Tein, J., & Wolchik, S. (2021). Reducing suicide risk in parentally bereaved youth through promoting effective parenting: Testing a developmental cascade model. Development and Psychopathology, 35(1), 433-446. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421001474

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