Samantha Nagy

I am currently a clinical psychology graduate student at the University of Arizona. I am part of the Insomnia and Sleep Health Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel Taylor. I graduated with my master’s in experimental psychology with a focus in behavioral health in August 2018 from Oakland University (advisor: Dr. Scott Pickett). After graduation, I taught several undergraduate courses at OU and worked as a research coordinator for Dr. Pickett in the College of Medicine at Florida State University.  

Research Interests: 

Currently, my research focuses on sleep patterns in shiftworkers and the impact of shift work on mental and physical health. I have additional experience and interest in efficacy and mechanisms of change in insomnia interventions. 

• Shift work
• Insomnia
• Healthcare workers
• Circadian factors
• Inflammation
• Burnout/presenteeism
• Mechanisms of CBTi
• PTSD

Selected Publications: 

• Nagy, S. M., Pickett, S. M., & Hunsanger, J. A. (2020). The relationship between mindfulness, PTSD-related sleep disturbance, and sleep quality: Contributions beyond emotion regulation difficulties. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
• Nagy, S. M., Butame, S. A., Todd, L., Sheffler, J. L., Budhwani, H., Fernandez, M. I., ... & Naar, S. (2021). Barriers and facilitators to implementing a motivational interviewing-based intervention: a multi-site study of organizations caring for youth living with HIV. AIDS care, 1-6.
• Ray, Travis N., Jillian A. Hunsanger, Samantha M. Nagy, and Scott M. Pickett. "Potentially morally injurious events and depression symptoms among a trauma‐exposed sample: Examining the roles of interpersonal needs and emotion dysregulation." Stress and Health 37, no. 1 (2021): 151-161.
• Nagy, S.M. & Pickett, S.M. (2019). Anger as avoidance: The role of negative posttraumatic cognitions and association with posttraumatic outcomes. Symposium presented at the 7th International Conference on Emotions, Wellbeing, and Health, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
• Kirwan, M., Lanni, D. J., Nagy, S., & Pickett, S. M. (2021). Building a model to predict sexual assault victimization frequency among undergraduate women. Violence against women, 10778012211022777.
• Warnke, A. S., Nagy, S. M., Pickett, S. M., Jarrett, N. L., & Hunsanger, J. A. (2018). The examination of behavior inhibition system sensitivity, experiential avoidance, and sex in relation to post-traumatic stress symptom severity: Comparison of a moderated versus mediated model. Personality and Individual Differences, 132, 60-65.

Dissertation Title:

• Comprehensive Evaluation of Work and Off Day Sleep and Next Day Consequences Within and Between Day Shift and Night Shift Nurses

Updated: 07/15/25