Kelly studies how working conditions, workplace culture, and work-family policies affect the health and daily lives of employees and their families. At a macro-level, she investigates the implications of work-family conflict and the family context for public health. At a micro-level, she examines the implications of work for family processes, including emotional transmission, family routines, and parental socialization. Kelly applies a social justice approach to her work-family scholarship to identify and propose actions to minimize inequities in both work and family spheres.
Kelly has published a number of papers on the implications of nonstandard work schedules and schedule flexibility for employed parents, partners, and their children. As a member of the Work, Family, & Health Network (https://workfamilyhealthnetwork.org/), Kelly was an investigator and project manager for the daily diary assessment of the effects of a workplace intervention called STAR. STAR was effective in increasing employees’ schedule control and supervisors’ support for employees’ work and family lives; reducing work-family conflict; and, in turn, improving organizational, employee, and family well-being. For example, Kelly published a paper in Pediatrics showing that compared to employed parents in the Usual Practice condition, those who participated in the intervention showed an increase in parent-child time one year later.
Kelly utilizes a number of research methods to examine work, family, and its interface, including surveys, daily diaries, ecological momentary assessments (EMAs), semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. Information about current projects in Kelly’s research lab, the Family Life, Occupations, and Well-being (FLOW) Lab can be found here: https://health.oregonstate.edu/labs/flow .
Note: From 2002-2017, Kelly published under the name Davis.