Her program of research focuses on adolescents with a parent in hospice. She is especially interested in how adolescents interact with their ill parent and the strategies they use to cope with the changes in their lives during the final months of a parent’s illness and after the death. Sheehan has received major funding for her work from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Sigma Theta Tau International, the Midwest Nursing Research Society, Akron General Health System, as well as internal funding from Kent State University.