USF College of Nursing PhD student, Marian Hardwick, receives APNA award to study PTSD and Sleep Disturbance

University of South Florida College of Nursing BS-PhD student, Marian J. Hardwick, MS, RN, received an award from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA)Foundation to study “Accelerated Resolution Therapy for PTSD and Sleep Disturbance.”

Hardwick was one of the only two scholars who received a $5,000-award for two years to study the effects of before and after treatment of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) focusing on sleep disturbance. Through this research, Hardwick’s goal is to increase rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and quality of sleep in people, mainly veterans, with PTSD. USF College of Nursing Professor and Executive Director, Research Center, Kevin Kip, PhD, FAHA, will guide and mentor Hardwick throughout the study.

“Hardwick will be advancing our research and the evidence base on ART, a revolutionary new treatment for PTSD,” Dr. Kip said. “Her research will add to the evidence base by quantifying objective changes in sleep quality and function before and after treatment with ART for symptoms of psychological trauma.”

ART is being studied as an alternative to traditional PTSD treatments that use drugs or lengthy therapy sessions. The talk therapy uses back-and-forth eye movements as the patient fluctuates between talking about a traumatic scene, and using the eye movements to help process that information to integrate the memories from traumatic events. The findings of this first study of ART appear in an on-line article published June 18, 2012 in the journal Behavioral Sciences.

ART is one of the five sub-studies of the USF College of Nursing’s RESTORE LIVES: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members, and their Families, a grant funded and administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at Fort Detrick, MD.

APNA, founded in 1986, gives this award to members who aid scientific research and contributions which add to the knowledge and practice of psychiatric-mental health nursing. Since its start, the organization, has committed itself to the specialty practice of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nursing and wellness promotion, prevention of mental health problems, and the care and treatment of persons with psychiatric disorders, according to APNA’s website.

Along with the award, Hardwick received a complimentary registration to the APNA 27^th Annual Conference, which will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center  in San Antonio, Texas on October 9 through 12, 2013.

“Getting funding from this grant means Dr. Kip and I are on the right track and on to something that looks to be innovative to the field of psychology,” Hardwick said. “I’m excited and look forward to this pilot study.”

Read about this award on the APNA website here.

For related stories in Marian Hardwick click here.

For more stories on the USF College of Nursing’s ART study and PTSD click here.

-RESTORE LIVES at USF Nursing –

Through ‘RESTORE LIVES: 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 treating veterans and service members with innovative solutions, and conduct research specific to veteran and military health issues through training nursing leaders within military, and educating nurses at all levels in the special needs of the military, veterans and their families. For more information on RESTORE LIVES or the other priorities  at the USF College of Nursing visit  health.usf.edu/nursing/priorities