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Posted 12-20-99
The National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR) has awarded the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing $103,000 to develop and host a week-long educational workshop on approaches to researching children with chronic illnesses, particularly asthma and diabetes. JoAnne Youngblut, professor and associate dean for research at the nursing school, is project director.
Planned for the summer of 2000, the workshop will feature presentations by nationally known researchers on three research approaches frequently used in such studies: physiologic, individual behavioral and cognitive, and family systems.
"A considerable amount of research has focused on improving control or management of both asthma and diabetes in childhood, but research has generally focused on only one or two of these research influences without considering the effects of the others," says Youngblut, who has conducted research on families with chronically ill children for 14 years. "This workshop will address this issue by bringing together researchers from each approach and providing both education and the opportunity to foster collaboration across approaches."
Workshop participants will be researchers interested or engaged in conducting research on control or management of asthma or diabetes in children. The 50 participants will be recruited through interdisciplinary diabetes and asthma organizations and generic research organizations in nursing, medicine, psychology, and social work; through advertisements in professional publications; and via the Web.
Victor Groza, associate professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences; E.R. McFadden, a professor at the School of Medicine; and Leona Cuttler, professor at School of Medicine and medical director of the Center for Chronic Conditions of Childhood at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, are working with Youngblut to plan and implement the project.
The workshop will consist primarily of presentations, small group and panel discussions, and networking opportunities. The first day will feature an overview. Each of the next three days will focus on the study of management of children's chronic illness from one of the research approaches. On the final day, group discussions will center on possible ways to combine the three approaches.
"This is an exciting opportunity to bring researchers from different disciplines and perspectives together to explore ways of collaborating," Youngblut said.
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