Sharan Schwartzberg

Sharan Schwartzberg teaches courses on group leadership and use of groups as a therapeutic and educational modality. Her research is directed toward understanding the impact of group therapy on individuals with severe mental illness and chronic conditions. She has published several books on topics including group work, the therapeutic relationship, gender, envy and competition, and ethical/legal dilemmas in occupational therapy. Mainly known for her work developing the Functional Group Model, she has facilitated process groups for graduate students and practitioners from a variety of fields including occupational therapy, school psychology, urban and environmental policy and planning, psychiatry, nursing, and social work. Professor Schwartzberg is presently manualizing the Functional Group Model and developing measures of fidelity. After 21 years of serving as department chair of Occupational Therapy, Professor Schwartzberg is currently coordinator of the Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) Program at Tufts. Her interdisciplinary work brings her to the School of Medicine where she holds secondary appointments as professor of psychiatry and professor of Public Health & Community Medicine. Following her interests in interprofessional education she is developing tools to measure team function in health care settings in collaboration with occupational therapy students and faculty in the public health Pain Research Education and Policy program. Her research takes place on the Medford Campus and the Health Sciences Campus where she is working with the School of Dental Medicine faculty and occupational therapy students to develop an oral health risk screener for individuals with severe mental illness.