Symptoms, subjective perceptions of alterations in normal bodily function and sensation or cognition can precipitate severe psychological and physical distress and adversely affect quality of life. These detrimental effects have led to ethical imperatives from patients, clinicians, researchers, and funding agencies to build a strong scientific basis for symptom assessment and management at all phases of the illness trajectory. Previous symptom research has often focused on the frequency and severity of a single symptom within the context of a specific illness. However, recent evidence suggest that symptoms are complex, multi- dimensional phenomena and that studying the interactions between symptoms is also critical to developing evidenced-based, cost-effective interventions to reduce the negative impact of symptoms on health outcomes. For example, a meta-analysis conducted by Malone and Strube (1988) of 109 studies related to the non-medical management of pain led them to suggest that more effective pain management may lie in the reduction of fear and depression associated with pain rather than in reducing the actual pain. In addition, other researchers have documented significant relationships between a variety of symptoms while others have found that the experience of symptom clusters has a significant impact on illness appraisal, coping abilities, and perceive self-efficacy (Bower, 2000; Liao & Ferrell, 2000; Protenoy, 1997; Shaw, 1999). Thus, there is a compelling body of scientific literature which suggest that addressing that addressing symptom interactions may lead to a more comprehensive approach to symptom management. However, actual research in this area is very limited (NINR, 1997). Therefore, the purpose of this project is to establish is to establish an exploratory research center entitled the Center for Research on Symptoms, Symptom Interactions, and Health Outcomes w within the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSON) at Emory University that is designed to facilitate the examination of symptoms at a new and more complex level.
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