Urban health research in the College of Nursing

Faculty within Wayne State University College of Nursing conduct interdisciplinary research and scholarship dedicated to improving urban health. Within the college, urban health research is defined as the study of the determinants and distribution of health and disease in populations living within an urban context (Galea & Vlahov, 2005).  Faculty research is focused in five areas:

  • Stress & Health
  • Wellness: Health Promotion/Illness Prevention
  • Self-Management of Chronic Conditions
  • Symptom Science
  • End-of-Life and Palliative Care

Stress and Health

Research within the area of Stress and Health examines the interaction of psychological stress and emotion states with physical and mental illness and health across the lifespan. Particular emphasis is on the mediational role of stress- and emotion-responsive biological systems.

Wellness: Health Promotion/Illness Prevention

Wellness research is done to promote long-term health, including healthy behaviors, and to prevent illness and comorbidities across health conditions, settings, and the lifespan. Research in this area focuses on the physical, social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of health, as well as the assessment of behaviors that lead to a healthy lifestyle. The ultimate goal of this research is the development of evidence-based, personalized interventions to promote wellness among individuals living within an urban context.

Self-Management of Chronic Conditions

Research on patient-focused self-management is done to engage individuals and families as active participants in maintaining and improving disease management and quality of life while living with a chronic condition or multiple chronic conditions. Self-management research encompasses health strategies that allow an individual and their health care provider to adapt treatments to individual circumstances by accounting for social, cultural, economic, and emotional factors that can influence their health and quality of life.

Symptom Science

Symptom science is focused on developing and applying new knowledge in biology and behavior, including in genomics and biomarkers, to improve our understanding of a variety of symptoms that can occur with numerous acute and chronic illnesses and conditions. Symptom science research focuses on understanding the biological and behavioral aspects of symptoms, with the goal of developing and testing new interventions to reduce the disabling effects of symptoms and improving patient health outcomes and quality of life.

End-of-Life and Palliative Care

Research related to end-of-life and palliative care is done to assist individuals, families, and healthcare professionals in managing the symptoms of advanced, serious illness, planning for end-of-life care decisions, and promoting health care delivery processes. High-quality, evidence-based palliative care is a critical component of maintaining quality of life at any stage of illness, not limited to but inclusive of the end of life. Activities in this area address issues such as: relieving symptoms and suffering; enhancing communication between patients, families, and clinicians; and understanding decision-making surrounding care of advanced illness at the end of life.

Content areas of active* urban health research

The table below describes College of Nursing faculty and their related areas of research. Bolded names indicate the primary focus of research.

Foci

Effects of Stress on Health

Wellness: Health Promotion/Illness Prevention

Self-Management of Chronic Conditions

Symptom Science

End-of-Life and Palliative Care

Faculty

Albdour, Khalil, Peters, Walker, Nantais-Smith, Benkert, Hauff, McCoy, Blair, Solberg

Zimmerman, Choi, Albdour, Khalil, Torres, Blair

Joshwa, Peters, McNeil, Blair

Joshwa, Schutte

 

Populations (Age/Developmental Groups)

  • Neonates
  • Infants
  • Children
  • Young adults
  • Adults
  • Women of child-bearing age
  • Health care workers
  • Fetuses
  • Neonates
  • Infants
  • Adolescents
  • Older adults
  • Families

 

  • Adolescents
  • Emerging adults
  • Young adults
  • Adults
  • Pregnant persons

 

  • Adolescents
  • Emerging adults
  • Adults
  • Older adults
  • Adolescents
  • Emerging adults
  • Adults
  • Older adults

 

Problems

  • Acculturative stress
  • Adverse childhood events (ACEs)
  • Bullying
  • Coping
  • Diabetes
  • Discrimination
  • Health disparities
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
  • Preterm birth/low birthweight
  • Hypertension
  • Medical mistrust
  • Minority stress
  • Resilience
  • Burnout
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Coronary heart disease
  • COVID-19
  • Depression
  • Diabetes
  • Health disparities
  • HIV, other STIs
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Smoking > lung cancer
  • Preterm birth/low birthweight
  • Infant development in context of perinatal substance use

 

  • Asthma
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Dementia
  • Diabetes
  • Health disparities
  • Hypertension
  • Pain
  • Substance use disorders

 

  • Agitation
  • Asthma control/exacerbations
  • Chronic pain
  • Dyspnea at the end of life
  • Fatigue
  • Health disparities
  • Malignant pain

 

 

  • Caregiver strain
  • Communication
  • Decision making
  • Dyspnea
  • Health disparities
  • Multi-symptoms in advanced dementia
  • Primary care-based end-of-life planning and transition

 

Domains

  • Behavior
  • Cultural
  • Biological
  • Omics
  • Biomarkers
  • Emotional
  • Psychological
  • Social determinants of health
  • Resiliency

 

  • Attitudes and beliefs
  • Behavior
  • Behavioral maintenance
  • Biological
  • Omics
  • Biomarkers
  • Self-efficacy
  • Intentions
  • Social genomics
  • Infant mental health
  • Child developmental trajectories
  • Parent-child relationship

 

  • Attitudes, beliefs, perceptions,
  • Behavior
  • Biological
  • Omics
  • Biomarkers
  • Culture
  • Dependent Care
  • Motivation
  • Self-efficacy
  • Technology
  • Tobacco/nicotine use disorder
  • Opioid use disorder

 

  • Assessment
  • Biological
  • Omics
  • Biomarkers
  • Mechanisms producing symptom
  • Prevalence
  • Trajectory
  • Treatment
  • Biological
  • Omics
  • Biomarkers
  • Ethical/legal
  • Cultural
  • End of life
  • Existential/spiritual
  • Physical/symptom
  • Psychological/psychiatric symptoms
  • Healthcare delivery systems
  • Social

 

Theories

  • Allostatic load
  • Lazarus & Folkman
  • Lovallo Theory of Cardiovascular Reactivity  
  • Neuman's
  • System Model
  • Roy's Adaptation Model
  • Socio-technical
  • Stage Change Model
  • Watson  
  • Ecobiodevelopmental Framework
  • Life Course Health Development
  • Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

 

  • Allostatic Load
  • Family Systems Theory
  • Health Belief Model
  • Social Cognitive Theory
  • Theory of Planned Behavior
  • Transtheoretical Model
  • Ecobiodevelopmental Framework
  • Ecological Model
  • Life Course Health Development
  • Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

 

  • Caring theories
  • Dual Process Model
  • Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior
  • Information Motivation Behavioral Skills Model
  • Self-determination
  • Social Cognitive Theory
  • Theory of Dependent Care
  • Theory of Heart Failure Self-Care
  • Theory of Self-Care
  • The Individual and Family Self-Management Theory
  • Theory of Self-Regulation
  • Transtheoretical Model

 

  • Health Belief Model
  • Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms
  • Theory of Symptom Management
  • Transtheoretical Model

 

  • Various depending on domain
*Active research includes: proposal development/submission through dissemination.
 

Methodological approaches to urban health research at the College of Nursing

Quantitative Methods/Analyses

Research Faculty

Qualitative Methodology/Method

Research Faculty

Survey design

Zimmerman

Ethnography

 

Observational design

Multiple faculty

Phenomenology

Peters, George

Quasi-experimental design

Peters

Grounded Theory

Benkert

RCTs

Yarandi

Descriptive Qualitative

 

Multivariate analysis/repeated Measures

Yarandi, Zimmerman

Qualitative interpretive

N/A

Psychometric evaluations and instrument development

Yarandi, Peters, Blair

Case Study/Case Series

N/A

Structural equation modeling

Peters, Zimmerman, Yarandi

Focus Groups

Peters

Online surveys

Zimmerman, Peters, Choi

In-depth interviews

Benkert

Economic analysis

Yarandi

Applied Thematic Analysis

N/A

Discrete choice experiment

Choi

Community Based Participatory/Community-Engaged Approach

Schutte

Analysis of complex sample surveys

Blair

N/A

N/A