Collaborating researchers awarded Advancement of Nursing Science funding
Last year the Faculty embarked on a collaboration with Duke University School of Nursing in North Carolina, to cultivate innovative partnerships that foster the promotion of nursing and midwifery research. The Advancement of Nursing Science fund was set up to support two stages of collaboration between researchers – the first for travel between institutions, and the second for the development of pilot research projects, which should form the basis of a larger research project for which external funding will be sought.
Congratulations to the successful collaborators from each institution: Professor Debra Bick (King’s) and Leigh Ann Simmons, PhD, MFT, associate professor, Duke University School of Nursing and Dr Maria Duaso (King’s) and Devon Noonan PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, associate professor of Duke University School of Nursing.
The first stage of this collaboration was the launch of a travel grant programme which allowed Professor Debra Bick to connect with Dr Leigh Ann Simmons and Dr Maria Duaso to connect with Dr Devon Noonan in August 2017. The second stage for pilot research projects launched in November, when both Debra and Maria’s joint applications with Duke were successful.
Debra’s project with Leigh Ann will be on Paternal Influences on Overweight and Obesity among Preschool Children. As childhood obesity is an increasing and significant public health concern particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, so this is an ideal opportunity for both institutions to work together.
On receiving the award, Debra said:
“It is a great honour to receive funding as part of the Duke Advancement of Nursing Science Pilot Research Program, with Dr Leigh-Ann Simmons from Duke. With this funding we will undertake secondary analysis of data from the UK UPBEAT study to consider the role of dads on overweight and obesity among pre-school children. In the UK and USA, childhood obesity is a major public health issue. Findings will be used to inform the future development and evaluation of family-based interventions aimed at preventing child obesity.”
Leigh-Ann said: “Although we know that the family environment influences health behaviours like consuming a healthy diet and physical activity, much of our research to date has focused on mother and child. Understanding the father’s contributions to overweight and obesity in children will help us to develop family-based interventions that will benefit all family members and promote life-long health.”
Maria’s project will focus on the development of a text-based smoking cessation intervention, tailored to the unique needs of Type Two Diabetic smokers. Smoking increases the risk of developing Type Two Diabetes, and has been shown to enhance the risk of morbidity and mortality among diabetic patients. Despite this, smoking rates for adults diagnosed with diabetes are similar to the general population, both in the UK and the US.
Maria said: "Our project aims to develop a text-based smoking cessation intervention tailored to the unique needs of Type Two Diabetic (T2D) smokers. Smoking is especially detrimental for patients with diabetes but despite the added risks the smoking rates are similar to the general population. We are hoping to identify and address health related factors that are specific to diabetic smokers that might make cessation difficult. The results of this pilot will form the basis of a future extramural funding application to test the feasibility and efficacy of a text-based intervention to help T2D stop smoking.”
Devon said: “People with diabetes who smoke may be using smoking to reduce the stress associated with managing a chronic disease or to deal with food cravings, and quitting smoking may present unique challenges for this population. To date, there have been no tailored interventions for smoking cessation among people with diabetes, and our proposed research will begin to fill this gap."