Our research program includes colleagues from the WVU Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Public Health, WVU Medicine and the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. Multiple funding sources, including federal, state, foundation, institutional and industry, support the program.
Dr. Antill-Keener’s research is on examining underlying bio-behavioral mechanisms of complex symptoms and improving symptom management in pediatric oncology patients. Her long-term goal is to develop nurse-led interventions to reduce symptom burden in children with cancer.
Dr. Carpenter’s research focuses on modifiable psychosocial factors, namely stress, appraisal, and coping, which affect the self-management behaviors of diet, exercise, and medication administration as well as the biophysical outcomes of hemoglobin A1c and BMI in patients with Type II diabetes.
Dr. Hulsey’s research interests and expertise include perinatal outcomes, pregnancy behaviors, low birth weight, preterm birth, and secondary data analysis.
The focus of Dr. Mallow’s research is the use of technology to improve access and outcomes for persons with multiple chronic conditions living in rural and underserved areas. As a Nurse Practitioner, she has provided care, promoted health and managed disease for uninsured individuals. She is currently funded as a Research Consultant on the Population Health Initiative at West Virginia University Hospitals. She and her team have developed an empirically effective, HIPAA compliant, web-based, system of mHealth sensors and mobile devices. The system, called mI SMART, allows patients living in rural areas to perform self-monitoring, receive feedback in real time, and attend primary care visits from their home. It also displays a record database to providers that have the ability to integrate into Electronic Medical Records.
Dr. Piamjariyakul’s research is focused on developing and testing culturally sensitive interventions that will effectively support family home caregiving of their loved ones with complex chronic illnesses and at end of life. Her innovative interventions are shown to provide vulnerable populations with relevant home care skills that will improve self-management, reduce re-hospitalizations and care costs, and prevent and alleviate caregiver home care burden.
Dr. Mary Jane Smith’s research interest areas include theory development, qualitative methodology, veteran health, and adolescent health promotion. She is presently working on the following two studies: the experience of living in a relationship with a veteran who has secondary PTSD-like symptoms for non-veteran women and the experience of living with headache for adolescents.
Dr. Walter investigates headache frequency, headache disability, quality of life, and selected lifestyle behaviors in adolescents. Dr. Walter incorporates the self-management treatment paradigm for chronic illness that uses the principles of self-management, including goal setting, self-monitoring, and information processing to improve outcomes in adolescent headache sufferers.
Dr. Carter-Templeton’s research interest areas include informatics, information literacy, and evidence-based practice. As a nurse researcher and educator, she has worked to inform, instruct, and support nurses at the student, practice, and academic levels with regard to information literacy needs and skills as well as the importance of using credible scientific evidence within our discipline. Furthermore, she has assisted in using informatics and technology tools to support and disseminate nursing research.