Dustin Prestridge
Psychology student, Seattle Central College
Research Assistant, CREATIV Lab, University of Washington
A home care visit can meet every physical need and still leave a person feeling alone.
About
I study loneliness in older adults who receive care at home. I'm a psychology student at Seattle Central College and a research assistant in Dr. Patrick Raue's CREATIV Lab at the University of Washington. I plan to transfer in fall 2027 to finish a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Before college, I spent twenty years in training, compliance, and vendor relations at Apple. I then founded Wellbrella, a home care company in Seattle. That work is where my research questions come from.
I also write creative nonfiction. My essay "The Shoe I Kept" won first place in the League for Innovation International Student Literary Competition and is forthcoming in Hippocampus Magazine.
Research
My work looks at paid caregiver interaction as a resource for reducing loneliness in home care, and at why conversation is so often left out of how home care is designed and taught. I'm also interested in behavioral activation for late-life depression.
In the CREATIV Lab, I support an active study on loneliness and depression in older adults. I manage participant data in REDCap, help with consent procedures, and built and maintain the lab's website.
Writing
Public scholarship
- Loneliness is a care need: Why human connection should be part of home care
- We didn't mean to design conversation out of home care
Manuscripts under review
- Beyond physical care: Paid caregiver interaction as an underused resource for reducing loneliness in home care
- Reporting is not conversation: The relational gap in federal home health aide training standards
Conference abstracts
- Paid caregiver interaction: An underused resource for reducing loneliness in home care
- Beyond physical care: Paid caregiver interaction as an underused resource for reducing loneliness in home care
Creative nonfiction
- The Shoe I Kept
Teaching and campus work
I'm a teaching assistant for The Art and Science of Losing, a learning community that pairs psychology and literature for first-year students, and I tutor English language learners. At Seattle Central, I founded the Psychology Club, the Drama Club, and chapters of Psi Beta and Delta Alpha Pi. I also co-directed Charles Mee's Full Circle with a cast and crew of fifty. You can watch the full production.
Contact
- Email mail@dustinprestridge.com
- CV Download CV (PDF)
- ORCID 0009-0009-9982-7860