Symptom Management in Life-Threatening Illness

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DESCRIPTION:(from applicant's Abstract): Symptom management is an important component of nursing practice across care settings, client populations, and type of practice. Although the value of symptom management is widely recognized, the research base supporting practice is uneven with extensive research on pain and pain management and little research addressing symptoms like constipation, thirst, itching, hot flashes in men, and fatigue in chronic heart failure. Symptom management research is quite broad in scope. It includes identification of previously uncharacterized symptoms, examination of approaches to symptom reporting, describing symptom appraisals and symptom interpretation, documenting the pattern of a specific symptom or examining the patterns of relationships among a variety of symptoms, testing interventions designed to prevent or ameliorate a symptom or those aimed at modifying responses to symptoms, and the systematic evaluation of strategies for translating knowledge about symptom management into practice. The experience of life-threatening illness is especially relevant to the science of symptom management because symptoms are a key element of the illness experience. The aims of the proposed exploratory center are to advance the state-of-the-art for knowledge development and utilization on symptom management in life-threatening illness (cancer, cardiac disease, and end-of-life care), establish a new methodologic standard for symptom management research, develop an infrastructure to symptom management research at the OHSU SON, and enhance the existing research environment. The Center will provide funding for three pilot/feasibility studies each year for three years and provide shared resources to support these pilot studies in the areas of Statistical Analysis, Methodologic Support, and Logistical Support. The Center is built on a strong research base that includes two NIH-funded R01's and additional NIH funded symptom management studies as well as foundation funded projects. The leadership team includes two senior level and one experienced mid-career scientist, all of whom address aspects of symptom management in their own programs of research.