Biomedical subjects

Sharon Coon

Publications and source records attributed to Sharon Coon.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Women's inhibitors and facilitators associated with making behavioral changes after myocardial infarction.

The researchers interviewed 40 women 6 to 24 months after their first myocardial infarction to determine facilitators and barriers to making desired health behavioral changes. Nurses at the bedside are in a unique position to discuss the importance of attending cardiac rehabilitation with women after myocardial infarction, assist them to assess their individualized barriers and facilitators to attending, and help them develop strategies to overcome barriers to promote attendance.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Feasibility of exercise during treatment for multiple myeloma.

Fatigue and insomnia are problems for patients with cancer. Research findings show that aerobic exercise decreases cancer-related fatigue. Because patients with cancer who have skeletal muscle wasting may not obtain maximum benefit from aerobic exercise training, exercise programs may need to include resistance training. Thus far, testing exercise as an intervention for fatigue has focused on patients with breast cancer and excluded patients with bone metastasis. There is a need to test the feasibility and effectiveness of exercise for patients with other types of cancer and with bone involvement. The effect of aerobic and strength resistance training on the sleep of patients with cancer has not been tested. A pilot/feasibility study with a randomized controlled design was conducted to investigate home-based exercise therapy for 24 patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation as treatment for multiple myeloma. None of the patients injured themselves. Because of the small sample size in the feasibility study, the effect of exercise on lean body weight was the only end point that obtained statistical significance. However, the results suggest that an individualized exercise program for patients receiving aggressive treatment for multiple myeloma is feasible and may be effective for decreasing fatigue and mood disturbance, and for improving sleep.

Depression↗

PubMed2003

Strategies for increasing physicians', nurses', and mammography technicians' participation in research.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer screening in physicians' daily practices needs greater emphasis. Increasing provider participation in research in this area can be a challenge as demonstrated in our study to test interventions targeting rural health care providers. METHOD: Recruitment methods for the randomized controlled trial involving 27 counties in the Mississippi River Delta region of Arkansas included the following: introductory letters and return postcards, mailed questionnaires, telephone calls, attendance at local medical staff meetings, and telephoning the primary care offices to set a time to meet the providers at their practice sites. This final recruitment strategy of telephoning the primary care offices and arranging with the office manager to bring a CME/CEU credit program included an on-site demonstration of a CBE technique and a free lunch. RESULTS: Only the final strategy yielded provider participation for the study and was more successful in the experimental than the control counties. Providers in the control group could not receive the education program until after their post-test. CONCLUSION: Successful approaches to enrolling physicians and nurses in a study involve careful use of their time and providing benefits.

Allied Health Personnel↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Facilitating exercise adherence for patients with multiple myeloma.

Physical exercise is becoming an accepted part of therapy for many patients with cancer. Exercise may alleviate patients' fatigue and improve physical performance and psychological outlook. Much of the research is limited to women with breast cancer and excludes patients with bone metastases. This article reports on the authors' work in facilitating exercise adherence for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and bone lesions while they were enrolled in a feasibility/pilot exercise study as they were receiving treatment for their disease in an outpatient treatment program. The exercise program for these patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation consisted of aerobic and strength-building components. The program was home based, and patients performed exercises without direct supervision. On average, the patients completed the six-month exercise prescription 75% of the time. Overall trends showed that all 14 patients in the exercise group improved in several areas of testing, and the test results of all 10 patients in the usual-care group declined. Flexibility and simplicity are essential when designing exercise programs for patients, and encouragement and support also are needed to help patients adhere to prescribed exercise.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Developing and testing lay literature about breast cancer screening for African American women.

Written materials about breast cancer screening for African American women with low literacy skills are needed. Available materials were not at or below third-grade reading levels, were not culturally sensitive, and were not accurate in illustrating correct breast self-examination (BSE) techniques. Focus groups representing the target population helped the authors design a pamphlet describing how to perform BSE and a motivational picture book to help women overcome barriers to screening. The authors chose a food theme for the cover of the pamphlet written at a third-grade level and suggested a photographic version. In the motivational book, two women address barriers to screening and replace myths and fears with facts and actions. Data from 162 women showed that they learned from both the photographic and illustrated versions. Women in the photographic group found significantly more lumps in the silicone models, so the authors chose that version to use in final testing. Finally, nurses pretested a group of patients before they reviewed the materials and post-tested another group after they reviewed them. The group who had reviewed the materials had greater knowledge of and intent to follow the guidelines and received higher scores on BSE techniques.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Delta project: increasing breast cancer screening among rural minority and older women by targeting rural healthcare providers.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To test a multimethod approach designed for rural healthcare providers to increase breast cancer screening among low-income, African American, and older women. DESIGN: Two-year experimental pretest/post-test with random assignment by group. SETTING: Primary healthcare providers' offices. SAMPLE: 224 nurses, physicians, and mammography technicians. METHODS: Standardized patients to observe and record healthcare providers' performances, followed by direct feedback, newsletters, posters, pocket reminder cards, and lay literature about screening to use in clinics. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Healthcare providers' knowledge and attitudes as measured by survey responses, skills as measured by a checklist, and the provision of breast cancer screening as measured by mammography facilities' data. FINDINGS: Healthcare providers significantly improved in demonstration of breast cancer screening practice after the intervention. Nurses performed significantly better than physicians on the breast examination during the post-test. More women older than 50 received mammograms in the experimental counties than in the comparison counties. Culturally sensitive lay literature is needed for African American women with low literacy. CONCLUSIONS: Successful interventions included use of standardized patients to teach healthcare providers in their office settings, prompts such as posters and pocket reminder cards, and easy-to-read newsletters. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Physicians and nurses play a powerful role in motivating women to have mammograms and clinical breast examinations and to practice breast self-examination. Interventions that help these providers fulfill that role should be implemented.

Adult↗