Chronic illness, women’s health issues, lesbian health care, breast cancer, research methods, and clinical trials.

Usual methods include randomized clinical trials, cross-sectional studies, and longitudinal studies. The above quantitative methods are used to explore and test aspects of self-care theory.

Validation of the Revised COJAC Screening Tool for Coexisting Disorders. 

Non-pharmacological interventions for management of dyspnea in patients with chronic lung disease.

Social-cognitive theory; adherence to the intervention; functional status.

Project Director for NIH-funded research related to internet-based interventions for dyspnea self-management; pending R01 for using videoconferencing and internet technology to provide a yoga class in the home as a treatment for dyspnea in patients with COPD; intramural project evaluating long-term outcomes of patients who attend pulmonary rehabilitation programs. 

Research focuses on the effects of chronic progressive neurologic disorders on circadian functioning and the sleep-wake cycle.  PI on large multi-site studies funded by the National Institutes of Health investigating “low tech” easily accessible methods (e.g., bright light) in an effort to decrease the significant sleep problems that people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease experience.  First to receive NIH funding, in partnership with Red Hill Studio, to adapt the Nintendo Wii platform for functional rehabilitation.  Other ongoing research involves characterizing rest-activity rhythms in patients with frontotemporal dementia and their primary caregivers.  

Biological rhythmicity (circadian and ultradian), rest-activity cycle, functional rehabilitation.

1) Characterizing rest-activity rhythms in community-dwelling patients across the spectrum of frontotemporal dementias and their caregivers. 2) Examining the effects of a computer-based training program on gait and balance in people with Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy. 

Population of Interest:  individuals treated in hospital or pre-hospital settings with acute coronary syndromes or cardiac arrhythmias. Studies related to novel strategies to improve the efficacy of continuous ECG monitoring for better detection and diagnosis of myocardial ischemia and cardiac arrhythmias.

Physiological theories. Quantitative Methods.

1) Synthesized Twelve-lead ST Monitoring and Real-time Tele-electrocardiography (ST SMART Study):  Randomized clinical trial of pre-hospital cell phone transmission of ECG to emergency department of receiving hospital and its effect on time to treatment and mortality in acute MI; 2) QTIP Study: QT in Practice. Value of automated QT interval monitoring for the detection of drug-induced prolonged QT for the prevention of torsades de pointes in hospital settings; and 3) Practical Use of the Latest Standards for Electrocardiography (PULSE Study). Multi-center randomized clinical trial to determine effect of implementing practice standards for ECG monitoring on nurses’ knowledge and skills and patient outcomes.