Assistant Professor
School of Nursing
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Research Interests
Dr. Cleveland received her Master’s degree in Nursing as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) at the Medical College of Georgia and her PhD in parent/child nursing research at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a practicing PNP and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Her research is focused on health disparities in underserved women and infants.
Dr. Cleveland has served as a consultant on several Housing and Urban Development grants focused on early childhood development and environmental pollutants. She is currently the PI on 3 Texas Department of State Health Services funded projects focused on substance use disorders in pregnancy and neonatal abstinence syndrome. These projects include the development of a “toolkit” and statewide education to expand a successful, integrated program for treatment of pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders. She is also conducting research in a neonatal intensive care unit to explore the impact of skin-to-skin contact on stress and attachment in substance exposed mother-infant dyads. This study incorporates the measurement of biological markers to include maternal and neonatal salivary cortisol levels and their attunement within dyads.
In addition to her clinical research, Dr. Cleveland is interested in the use of technology to create and evaluate interactive, case-based, learning activities. She developed, implemented and evaluated the Baby Boy Jones Interactive Case-Based Learning Activity which now serves as a prototype. She continues to work toward the development of a scalable process for the creation of additional case-based activities to include the evaluation of learning outcomes using this technology.
Selected Publications
Cleveland LM, Bonugli, RJ, McGlothen, KS. The Mothering Experiences of Women with Substance Use Disorders (in review) Advances in Nursing Science
Cleveland LM. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (in review) The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association-International
Cleveland LM, Carmona, E., Paper, B, Solis, L, Taylor, BS. Baby Boy Jones: Using technology to engage nursing students in an interactive case-based learning activity (Advance on-line Publication) Nurse Educator 2015.
Cleveland LM, Bonugli RJ. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Experiences of Mothers of Infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Journal of Obstetrics Gynecology and Neonatal Nurses 2014 May; 43: 318-329.
Cleveland LM, Gill SL. Try not to judge: Mothers of substance exposed infants MCN; American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing 2013 Jul; 38(4):200-205.
Cleveland LM, Horner SD. Taking Care of My Baby: Mexican-American Mothers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing 2012 Jul; 35(3-4):163-175.
Gill SL, Cleveland LM. Interpretation of Research: Qualitative Methodology In: Marsha Walker. The Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice (3rd Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett; 2012.
Cleveland LM Horner SD. Normative Cultural Values and the Experiences of Mexican-American Mothers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Advances in Neonatal Care 2012 Apr;12(2):120-125.
Cleveland, LM. Symbolic Interactionism and Nurse-Mother Communication in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Research & Theory for Nursing Practice 2009 Jul;23(3):216-229.
Cleveland, LM. A Mexican-American Mother‘s Experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing 2009 Jun; 23 (2):174-181.
Cleveland, LM. Parenting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Nominated for Best of JOGNN Award) Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Neonatal Nurses 2008 Dec; 37(6):666-691.
Cleveland LM, Minter ML, Cobb KA, Scott AA, German VF. Lead hazards for pregnant women and children: Part 2: More can still be done to reduce the chance of exposure to lead in at-risk populations. American Journal of Nursing 2008 Nov; 108(11):40-47.
Cleveland LM, Minter ML, Cobb KA, Scott AA, German VF. Lead hazards for pregnant women and children: Part 1: Immigrants and the poor shoulder most of the burden of lead exposure in this country. Part 1 of a two-part article details how exposure happens, whom it affects, and the harm it can do. American Journal of Nursing 2008 Oct; 108 (10):40-49.