Bryce Hruska

Associate Professor, Public Health Department

Research Affiliate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Courses

2025 Spring
- PHP 707 Integrative Learning Experience
2024 Fall
- PHP 630 Analysis of Public Health Data
2024 Spring
- PHP 305 Community Mental Health
- PHP 707 Integrative Learning Experience
2023 Fall
- PHP 630 Analysis of Public Health Data
- PHP 223 Public Health Data & Decision Making
2023 Spring
- PHP 305 Community Mental Health
- PHP 707 Integrative Learning Experience

Highest degree earned

Ph.D., Kent State University, 2014

Areas of Expertise

Trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), occupational stress, community firearm violence.

Multiple regression; multi-level modeling (linear and generalized linear mixed models); mediation and moderation; intensive data collection designs; Stata, SPSS, R, Excel.

Research Interests

My research examines trauma, occupational stress, and community factors to understand and reduce mental health disparities in vulnerable populations, particularly emergency responders and injury survivors.

Research Grant Awards and Projects

"Examining Neighborhood Profiles Defined by Place-Based Community Features and their Relationships with Firearm Violence Disparities", Sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH)/DHHS.

"The Psychosocial and Physiological Consequences of Taking and Not Taking Paid Time Off", Sponsored by US Travel Association.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles
- Hruska, B. J., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L. and Barduhn, M. S., "Investigating the relationship between psychosocial safety climate and mental illness stigma among emergency medical service clinicians." Prehospital Emergency Care, 2024.
- Hruska, B., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., George, R. L. and Delahanty, D. L., "Avoidance Coping as a Vulnerability Factor for Negative Drinking Consequences Among Injury Survivors Experiencing PTSD Symptoms:An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2023.
- Gump, B. B., Hruska, B., Heffernan, K. S., Brann, L., Voss, M. A., Labrie-Cleary, C., Cheng, H., MacKenzie, J. A., Woolf-King, S. E., Maisto, S. A. and Bendinskas, K., "Race, cortisol, and subclinical cardiovascular disease in 9- to 11-year-old children." Health Psychology, 2023.
- Sheehy, K. A., Hruska, B., Waldrep, E. E., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., George, R. L., Benight, C. C. and Delahanty, D. L., "The mediating role of coping self-efficacy on social support and PTSD symptom severity among injury survivors." Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 2023.
- Hruska, B., Patterson, P. D., Doshi, A. A., Guyette, M. K., Wong, A. H., Chang, B. P., Suffoletto, B. P. and Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., "Examining the prevalence and health impairment associated with subthreshold PTSD symptoms (PTSS) among frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic." Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2023.
- Hruska, B. J., Anderson, L. and Barduhn, M. S., "Multilevel analysis of sleep quality and anger in emergency medical service workers." Sleep Health, 2022.
- Hruska, B. J., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., Castro, I. E., George, R. L. and Delahanty, D. L., "Incorporating community-level risk factors into traumatic stress research: Adopting a public health lens." Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2022.
- Gump, B. B., Hruska, B. J., Pressman, S. D., Park, A. and Bendinskas, K. G., "Vacation's lingering benefits, but only for those with low stress jobs." Psychology and Health, 2021.
- Gump, B. B., Heffernan, K. S., Bendinskas, K., Hruska, B. J., MacKenzie, J. A., Park, A., Brann, L. and Atallah-Yunes, N. H., "Association of Sleep Quality With Greater Left Ventricular Mass in Children Aged 9 to 11 Years." Psychosomatic medicine, 2021.
- Hruska, B. J., Barduhn, M. S., "Dynamic psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with mental health in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel." Journal of Affective Disorders, 2021.
- Kmush, B. L., Lu, A. M., Spillane, T., Hruska, B. J., Gump, B. B., Bendinskas, K. G. and Bendinskas, Y. E., "Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies in adults and children from upstate New York: A cross-sectional study." PLoS ONE, 2021.
- Hruska, B. J., Pressman, S. D., Bendinskas, K. and Gump, B. B., "Do vacations alter the connection between stress and cardiovascular activity? The effects of a planned vacation on the relationship between weekly stress and ambulatory heart rate." Psychology and Health, 2020.
- Lin, H., Lynk, N., Moore, L. L., Cabral, H. J., Heffernan, K. S., Dumas, A. K., Hruska, B. J., Zajdel, R. A., Gump, B. B., Spartano, N. L. and Harezlak, J., "A pragmatic approach to the comparison of wrist-based cutpoints of physical activity intensity for the MotionWatch8 accelerometer in children." PLoS ONE, 2020.
- Gump, B. B., Hruska, B. J., Parsons, P. J., Palmer, C. D., MacKenzie, J. A., Bendinskas, K. and Brann, L., "Dietary contributions to increased background lead, mercury, and cadmium in 9–11 Year old children: Accounting for racial differences." Environmental Research, 2020.
- Castro, I. E., Hruska, B. J. and Gump, B. B., "Race Differences in the Effect of Subjective Social Status on Hostility and Depressive Symptoms Among 9- to 11-Year-Old Children." Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 2020.
- Hruska, B. J., Pressman, S. D., Bendinskas, K. and Gump, B. B., "Vacation frequency is associated with metabolic syndrome and symptoms." Psychology and Health, 2020.
Book Chapters
- Hruska, B. J., Gump, B. B., Waldstein, S. R., Kop, W. J., Suarez, E. C., Lovallo, W. R. and Katzel, L. I., "Stress and the Development of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease." In Handbook of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine. Springer New York, 2022.
- Hruska, B. J., Gump, B. B., "Environmental Exposures: Lead Studies." In Handbook of Research Methods in Health Psychology. Ragin, D. F., Keenan, J. P. (eds.) Routledge, 2021.
- Hruska, B. J., Delahanty, D. L., Ouimette, P. and Read, J. P., "PTSD-SUD biological mechanisms: Self-medication and beyond." In Trauma and substance abuse: Causes, consequences, and treatment of comorbid disorders. American Psychological Association, 2014.

Presentations and Events

Hruska, B. J., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., Barduhn, M. S., International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "Examining the Contribution of Psychosocial Safety Climate to Workplace Mental Health Stigma in Emergency Medical Service Providers" (September, 2024)

Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., Hruska, B., Patterson, D. P., Doshi, A., Koenig Guyette, M., Wong, A. H., Chang, B. P., Suffoletto, B. P., International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "A latent class analysis of posttraumatic growth and distress reactions among emergency healthcare workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic" (November, 2023)

Hruska, B. J., Patterson, P. D., Doshi, A., Koenig Guyette, M., Chang, B. P., Suffoletto, B. P., Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L., 38th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "Examining the Prevalence and Health Impairment Associated with Subthreshold PTSD Symptoms (PTSS) Among Frontline Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic." (November, 2022)

38th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "How and Where to Share Data" (November, 2022)

American Medical Response, "Strategies for Improving Sleep Quality and Its Impact on Anger Among EMS Workers" (June 20, 2022)

Hruska, B. J., LaBarbara-Pacella, M. L., Society for Ambulatory Assessment, Virtual, "A Bibliometric Analysis of Ambulatory Assessment Research Published Over the Past 32 Years." (June, 2022)

Montgomery, Z., Hruska, B. J., 2021 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), Virtual., "Depression symptom severity, childhood trauma history, and non-childhood" (November, 2021)

Hruska, B. J., Barduhn, M. S., 37th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "Meaning Made and Recovery Activities as Mental Health Protective Factors Among Emergency Medical Service Personnel: Investigating Between- and Within-Person Effects" (November, 2021)

Hruska, B. J., Barduhn, M. S., Society for Ambulatory Assessment, Virtual, "Dynamic risk and protective factors associated with mental health in emergency medical service (EMS) personnel." (June, 2021)

Foster, J., Hruska, B. J., Barduhn, M. S., 2021 Falk Student Research Celebration, Virtual., "Evaluating the association between poor sleep quality and occupational stressors in EMS workers." (May, 2021)

American Medical Response, "Strategies that EMS Workers Use to Navigate the Challenges of the Job" (December 15, 2020)

Hruska, B. J., LaBarbara, M. L., George, R. L., Delahantry, D. L., 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, "Incorporating Symptom Fluctuation Metrics from the Field of Ambulatory Assessment into Traumatic Stress Research" (November, 2020)