Research Highlights – Spring 2023
Advancing nursing science
Chao Hsing Yeh, PhD, RN, FAAN, received a $1 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to help patients undergoing cancer treatment manage their pain with her study, “Personalized Auricular Point Acupressure to Self-Manage Cancer-Related Pain.”
Meagan Whisenant, PhD, RN, is working on two newly funded projects. She is using a $275,000 R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute to test methods to support caregivers of patients with brain tumors by employing educational materials with her study, “Simulation-Based Caregiving Skills Training for Family Members of High-Grade Glioma Patients.”
Whisenant’s most recent study, “Adherence to chemoprevention among women at high risk for breast cancer,” has been funded by Elizabeth W. Quinn Oncology Research Award. This is a pilot study to increase breast cancer preventive behaviors among women prone to developing the disease and to explore women’s experience when it is suggested they begin chemoprevention.
Maja Djukic, PhD, RN, FAAN, and D’Hania Miller, MS, BSN, RN, are using a $250,000 grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation to test the effectiveness of a three-week summer seminar for high school students in increasing the acceptance of underrepresented youth into post-secondary health care education programs. Lectures, simulation activities, certification training for basic patient care skills, and shadowing nurses on shift are included in their study, “Advancing Visibility through Accelerated Nursing Curricula with Collaboration and Engagement (ADVANCCE).”
Deniz Dishman, PhD, DNAP, CRNA, received a $100,000 PARTNERS Nursing Research Award to study using quantitative EEG brain mapping to identify shared spatial patterns in patients with post-stroke shoulder pain with her study titled “Biomarkers Illuminating Pain After Stroke (BIPAS).”
Carina Katigbak, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAHA, is using a $40,000 Aging in Place Research Award to capture stress reactivity by employing heart rate variability monitoring and ecological momentary assessment methods amongst caregivers of older adults with her study, “Care Matters: Using Ecological Momentary Assessment & Heart Rate Variability Monitoring to Identify the Timing and Experience of Caregivers’ Stress.”
Seema Aggarwal, PhD, RN, AGNP-C, also received a $40,000 Aging in Place Research Award for her study, “The Feasibility, Usability, and Acceptability of Using the Oculus Virtual Gaming Reality in Stroke Survivors for Upper Extremity and Cognitive Rehabilitation.” Her study tests the effectiveness of a consumer-level virtual reality system as an economical option for providing outpatient stroke rehabilitation, particularly for patients who live in rural areas or who lack transportation or adequate insurance.
Vuong Prieto, PhD, RN, CHSE, and Brandi Virgin, MSN, RN, received the first Dean’s Innovation in Education Award to help nursing students gain the experience they need to manage multiple NICU patients with their proposal titled “The Implementation of a Neonatal Multiple Simulation in an Undergraduate Baccalaureate Nursing Program.”
Nitha Mathew Joseph, PhD, RN, CNE, is using Sigma Theta Tau International Research Grant for her study titled “Perspectives on Physical Activity Participation in Middle-aged U.S. South Asian Indian Women at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.” This study examines exercise attitudes among middle-aged South Asian Indian women who are at high risk for type 2 diabetes.
Linda Cole, DNP, RN, APRN, CCNS, CNE, CPHQ, FCNS, has teamed up with Francine Snow, DrPH, MSN, RN, CNE, NPD-BC; Susan R Stafford, DNP, MPA, MBA, RN-BC, NEA-BC; and Lisa Boss, PhD, EdD, RN, CNS, CEN, CNE, on a research project funded by Zeta Pi Chapter Sigma Theta Tau International. Their study “An Examination of Innovation Competencies and Organizational Culture in a Sample of Texas Registered Nurses,” aims to examine the innovation competencies of direct care registered nurses (RNs) and their organizational culture within Texas.
