The National Institute of Nursing Research has awarded the UNMC College of Nursing a five-year, $1 million grant to create and fund a Healthy Heart Center.
The center expands research at the college through five pilot studies to promote health in Nebraskans in rural areas with, or at risk, for heart disease.
The funding also enables faculty to build successful research programs that later can help them secure major funding.
“This center is vital to developing research that improves the cardiovascular health of those living in rural Nebraska,” said Carol Pullen, Ed.D., principal investigator of the grant and professor in the UNMC College of Nursing. “Nebraskans in rural areas are at higher risk for heart disease and engage in fewer things that promote healthy lifestyles such as exercise and other health promotion activities.
“We need better interventions to help engage them in lifestyle behaviors that have an impact on improving cardiovascular health.”
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Carol Pullen, Ph.D. |
- Health outcomes in spouses who are caregivers of older adult coronary artery bypass surgery patients;
- Weight loss in cardiac rehabilitation patients;
- Physical activity after coronary procedures; and
- Breath retraining in heart failure patients and weight maintenance for rural women who have lost weight.
One of the major strengths of the center, she said, is its focus on reducing rural health disparities by using technology to overcome distance barriers. Communication tools will include computers and cell phones. Some studies will use podcasts and blogs to deliver study interventions to rural study participants.
With the center, the college also will collaborate with faculty from other health disciplines, including the Colleges of Medicine and Public Health.