USF Nursing extends Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) internationally after showing promising results in the United States

Tampa, FL (Sept. 12, 2013) – The University of South Florida College of Nursing is conducting the first Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART ) study with British Armed Forces veterans suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Pilot Study of Delivery of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) by Scottish Registered Nurses in Mental Health for Treatment of Military Psychological Trauma” is funded through a grant developed as a partnership between the USF College of Nursing and University of Stirling School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health (SNMH) in Scotland.

Since the therapy has shown success in the United States, the USF College of Nursing is working with University of Stirling SNMH to extend the study abroad. Kevin Kip, PhD, FAHA, professor and executive director for the Research Center at the USF College of Nursing, and James Taylor, RNMH, MSc, teaching assistant at University of Stirling SNMH, are co-principal investigators.

“British soldiers have served in an extraordinary manner side-by-side with U.S. service members in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Dr. Kip said. “We believe these soldiers, many suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, will benefit in a parallel manner to the excellent results we are observing in treating U.S. service members and veterans with ART.”

“Through POWER with Nursing, our Partnership Opportunities for Wellness, Education and Research initiative, we can really change what happens in healthcare around the world. Partnering with the University of Stirling for this ground-breaking research study, we are beginning a transformation in health care, a transformation of people’s lives,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president of USF Health, and dean of the College of Nursing.

Kevin Kip, PhD, professor and executive director of the USF College of Nursing Research Center, is co-principal investigator of the collaborative study.

ART, a new and brief psychotherapy that treats psychological trauma and related symptoms such as depression, is studied by Dr. Kip as part of RESTORE LIVES at USF NURSING. In the psychotherapy session, the patient first re-imagines a prior traumatic experience, and then “replaces” distressing images and sensations with positive ones. This is accomplished through talk therapy with a clinician and performing sets of eye movements from left to right, a process that results in substantial symptom relief, according to findings of the first study of ART at the USF College of Nursing. The study results appeared in an on-line article published June 18, 2012 in the journal Behavioral Sciences.

“We believe that ART can be a viable and effective treatment for PTSD around the world,” Dr. Kip said. “This will be the first research study whereby the ART protocol will be delivered by nurse mental health professionals. It is our goal to train and conduct research with mental health professionals from a range of disciplines, and in diverse locations worldwide. Professional nurses with a strong mental health focus can be leaders in disseminating ART on an international basis.”

PTSD is a prevalent, disabling anxiety disorder that can emerge after experiencing life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, and physical or sexual assaults at different life stages. According to the PTSD Foundation of America, one in three troops returning from combat is diagnosed with PTSD symptoms. Of those, less than 40 percent seek help. The organization also reports that at least five active duty military members attempt suicide every day.

PTSD symptoms have also been on the rise among British Service Armed Forces personnel. The number of PTSD cases among UK troops doubled in 2012, according to the United Kingdom’s Defense Analytical Services and Advice Agency.

“The University of Stirling and the USF College of Nursing are both successful research and teaching schools who aim to transform education for nurses and the quality of healthcare for patients and their relatives,” Dr. Lauder said. “Hopefully, the ART research we are jointly conducting here in the UK will provide new support and hope for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Dr. Kip recently traveled to Scotland with Laney Rosenzweig, the founder of ART program, to provide a seminar on the therapy to students, faculty and staff. They also offered a three-day ART training to four highly skilled Scottish clinicians from National Health Services (NHS) Valley — a hospital system that provides healthcare services for Forth Valley region in Scotland.

“This is the first time ART training has been delivered and studied outside the United States, the first time mental health nurses have been trained, and the first research project using ART on a UK military veteran population,” Taylor said.

“Our partnership with the University of Stirling provides amazing opportunities for faculty to collaborate on comparative research evaluating how nursing and other healthcare interventions affect patient outcomes in the United States and Scotland,” said LaRon Nelson, PhD, RN, NP, assistant professor and assistant dean for Global & Community Affairs at USF Nursing. “This is exactly the type of global partnership that will yield innovative solutions for our rapidly evolving healthcare system.”

Through, our Partnership Opportunities for Wellness, Education and Research, the College extends the reach of collaborations that stretch across the region, nation and globe. POWER with Nursing provides opportunities to collaborate with the USF College of Nursing on important initiatives such as research, interprofessional education, and expanding USF global nursing programs.

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50^th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu.

 -RESTORE LIVES at USF NURSING-

Through ‘RESTORE LIVES AT USF: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families’, USF College of Nursing faculty develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of the military, veterans and their families. The ART study is an example of type of innovative research that the USF College of Nursing is developing to improve the health of our honored service members and veterans.

Media contact:
Ashlea Bailey, College of Nursing Communications 
(813)396-964, or ahudak@health.usf.edu

The NIA-funded study focuses on those who care for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease at home

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Tampa, FL (July 9, 2013) – The University of South Florida College of Nursing is conducting research to improve sleep in those caring for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, with the aim of determining if better sleep affects heart health. The $1.9-million, four-year study funded by National Institute on Aging (NIA), “Improving Dementia Caregiver Sleep and the Effect on Heart Disease Biomarkers,” is led by USF College of Nursing Professor and Endowed Chair Meredeth Rowe, RN, PhD, FGSA, FAAN.

Fifteen million Americans provided an estimated 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care to people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2012, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Recent studies indicate that caregivers, unpaid family members or friends who assist people with Alzheimer’s with daily activities, may experience sleep loss from the constant demands of caregiving.

The College of Nursing study tests the relationship between caregiver sleep and heart disease to help understand what negatively affects caregiver health.

USF College of Nursing’s Dr. Meredeth Rowe places one of the monitoring device’s sensors beneath the mattress. The sensor detects movement and sounds an alarm to alert the caregiver if the person with Alzheimer’s disease starts to get out of bed.

“Caregiving and lack of sleep each separately increase the risk of heart disease,” Dr. Rowe said. “We want to discover whether improving sleep in caregivers lowers that risk.”

According to the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem,” the cumulative effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of adverse health consequences including increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke.

“The College of Nursing at the University of South Florida is transforming lives through research to improve the health of patients and their caregivers,” said Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president of USF Health and dean of the College of Nursing. “We’re making life better by transforming the health care of the family members who provide essential home care for persons with dementia. These caregivers fill an often unrecognized role in the healthcare system.”

The primary focus of Dr. Rowe’s research is finding an effective and easy-to-use treatment that can improve sleep in Alzheimer’s caregivers to increase their overall health and reduce the nursing home placement of people with dementia.

“When I was working on ways to provide caregivers better quality of sleep, I looked for technologies that might help and there were none,” Dr. Rowe said. “I realized that unless I invented a system that allowed them to sleep well, I was never going to have an impact on improving their sleep.”

Dr. Rowe explains to a caregiver how the integrated nighttime monitoring system tracks the bed occupancy and movement patterns around the house of a loved one with dementia. The goal is to allow the caregiver to rest easier through the night while maintaining the safety of the person with dementia.

A number of sensors can be placed around the house, including doorways, to analyze movement patterns and provide customized, specific alerts.

CareAlert, a new night monitoring system designed by Dr. Rowe and Caregiver Watch, LLC, provides reliable alerts to caregivers whenever a person with dementia leaves the bed and wanders through the house. The system helps the caregiver rest easier through the night, and improves the overall safety of the person with dementia. The findings of a study testing the effectiveness of CareAlert were published by Dr. Rowe and colleagues in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, in 2009. The researchers reported that use of CareAlert reduced nighttime injuries and unattended home exits by 85 percent over a period of 12 months.

“Dr. Rowe’s research seeks not only to improve caregiver sleep, but also to better understand the relationships between sleep and changes in heart health,” said Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAAN, professor and associate dean for research and innovation at the USF College of Nursing.

In the latest research, Dr. Rowe is evaluating whether a combined intervention using  CareAlert and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia improves sleep in individuals who care for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s who wake up at night. The study, conducted in the USF College of Nursing Caregiving Laboratory, will include as many as 100 participants. All will receive the CareAlert device and one of two sleep therapies assigned at random.

Dr. Rowe, a national expert in caregiver-related issues, worked with a company to design an evidence-based monitoring system with technology responsive to caregiver needs.

Rita F. D’Aoust, PhD, ACNP, ANP-BC, CNE, FAANP, FNAP, associate professor and associate dean of academic affairs and interprofessional initiatives at the USF College of Nursing, and Maureen E. Groer, RN, PhD, FAAN, Gordon Keller professor, are study co-investigators. Dr. D’Aoust studies the associations between vigilance and sympathetic nervous system activity, and Dr. Groer leads the design and analysis of biologic markers for heart disease. Others contributing to this research project include Brandi Mallek, research project manager; Taujihana Brown, research assistant; Glenna Brewster, predoctoral fellow; Milora Morley, undergraduate public health honors student.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency and the leading supporter of biomedical research in the world. NIA, one of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH, helps understand the nature of aging and supports the health and well-being of older adults. Dr. Rowe has received many NIH grants throughout her research career to study people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and their caregivers. The USF College of Nursing ranks first in Florida and 24th in the nation in NIH funding, for both public and private schools of nursing.

Dr. Maureen Groer, a co-investigator for the caregiver sleep and heart disease risk study, watches as research lab technician Nicole Williams drops processed blood into a machine that will identify biomarkers of heart disease.

Dr. Rowe is currently enrolling participants for this study. For more information, contact USF College of Nursing Research Project Manager Brandi Mallek, at (813) 974-1827 or bmallek@health.usf.edu.

USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50^th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu.

Media contact:
Ashlea Bailey, College of Nursing Communications 
(813)396-9642 or  ahudak@health.usf.edu

All photos with Dr. Rowe taken at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute’s Center for Memory C.A.R.E  by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications
Video by Andy Faza, USF College of Nursing Communications & Marketing

The interventional trial, led by the USF College of Nursing Dean, demonstrated the benefit of a risk reduction exercise tailored to girls

Tampa, FL (Oct. 9, 2012) — Adolescent girls participating in a sexual risk reduction (SRR) intervention study were more likely to practice abstinence and, if sexually active, showed substantial decreases in unprotected sex, number of partners, and unintended pregnancies,   reports a research team led by principal investigator Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, senior associate vice president of USF Health and dean of the University of South Florida College of Nursing.  Results of the study demonstrate the value of risk-reduction interventions tailored to girls, who are at a greater risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than boys.

The findings appear in the online article, Reducing Sexual Risk Behavior in Adolescent Girls: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial, published August 29 in the Journal of Adolescent Health full article available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.07.005.

“While teen pregnancy has been on the decline, it still costs an estimated $10.9 billion annually and carries an elevated risk both for the young mothers and babies. These data highlight the need for continued research into effective interventions such as our program,” said Dr. Morrison-Beedy. “According to a June 2011 report from the National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, between 1991 and 2008 there have been approximately 454,978 teen births in Florida, costing taxpayers a total of $11.7 billion over that period in direct health and welfare support for the children and mothers, and lost revenue in part due to decreased earnings and spending.”

Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, dean of the USF College of Nursing, led the randomized controlled study.

 The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an SSR intervention targeting low-income, urban, sexually-active teenage girls at elevated risk for HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancies. The SSR intervention used age appropriate games and interactive group activities to provide information, motivate and teach skills to reduce sexual risk behaviors. Study results demonstrated significant increases in sexual abstinence, and decreases in unprotected sex and pregnancy rates over the 12-month study period.

The researchers recruited 738 girls, ages 15 to 19, from several venues, including youth development centers, adolescent services and school-based centers, to participate in the randomized controlled trial. The participants initially attended four weekly two-hour sessions, then two 90-minute booster sessions three and six months after the initial intervention. A non-intervention control group following the same schedule and process received information on general health promotion topics such as nutrition, breast health and anger management.

The study demonstrated that a female-tailored intervention helped girls reduce their sexual risk behavior over one year. The reduction in pregnancies was especially impressive considering that the intervention did not specifically address pregnancy prevention or contraception, the researchers concluded.

“Our findings underscore the benefit of gender-specific prevention interventions for adolescent girls, yet there is more work to be done to continue refining these interventions to ensure they are feasible, appealing, and successful in reducing risky sexual behavior,” said senior study author Michael P. Carey, PhD, Director of the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I. and Professor at Brown University.

The study was funded with a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research to the University of Rochester.

 -USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50^th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities.

 –The Miriam Hospital-

The Miriam Hospital (www.miriamhospital.org) is a 247-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. It offers expertise in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, men’s health, and minimally invasive surgery and is home to the state’s first Joint Commission-certified Stroke Center and robotic surgery program. The hospital, which received more than $23 million in external research funding last year, is nationally known for its HIV/AIDS and behavioral and preventive medicine research, including weight control, physical activity and smoking cessation. The Miriam Hospital has been awarded Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services four times and is a founding member of the Lifespan health system. Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/miriamhospital) and on Twitter (@MiriamHospital).

Media contact:
Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications
(813)396-9642, or ahudak@health.usf.edu