VCU School of Nursing studies longterm impact of improving quality of life for women surviving cancer

By Michael Ford
University News Services

A Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing researcher has launched a pilot study to examine how building inner strength and improving overall quality of life can affect long-term health outcomes for women who are surviving cancer and other life-changing illnesses.

The study will enroll 30 women and will evaluate the effectiveness of patient-managed interventions, including walking, at improving health outcomes for women surviving cancer. Researchers will evaluate study participants for changes in weight, levels of depression, biomarkers for immune status and will use a scientifically tested questionnaire to assess their inner strength.

“My primary area of interest has been in improving quality of life and building inner strength for women surviving chronic health conditions,” said Gayle Roux, Ph.D., R.N., the pilot study’s lead investigator. “Many of the variables contributing to quality of life are manageable and can be affected by a patient’s emotional outlook and physical activity.”

Roux, an assistant professor in maternal child nursing in the VCU School of Nursing, says successfully treating major illness is a big challenge, but survivorship is a separate challenge that also affects long-term health. Women surviving cancer and heart disease, or living with diabetes need interventions to assist them in building their inner strength, improving their symptom management and monitoring for weight gain and depression.

Roux says that patients often have a period of anguish during which they search for meaning when confronted with an adverse health event. Improving inner strength helps combat distress and can be accomplished by fighting the urge to withdraw. Movement, like walking, requires mental resolve to engage physically, she said. Reconnecting with family and friends is evidence of mental resolve to engage emotionally.

“There is value in engaging with the outside world, seeking to remain physically active and balancing work and play,” she said. “Walking will promote improved health.”

Co-investigator for the study is Diane B. Wilson, Ed.D., M.S., R.D., associate professor of internal medicine and a research investigator at VCU’s Massey Cancer Center. Massey Cancer Center is the referral site for study participants.

The VCU School of Nursing is a comprehensive nursing school recently ranked 25th in the United States in NIH-funded research. U.S. News & World Report lists it among America’s best graduate schools.

The study is funded by a grant from the NIH’s Office of Research on Women's Health through an award called Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health. The goal is to promote interdisciplinary research and the transfer of findings that will benefit women’s health.