The purpose of the proposed predoctoral and postdoctoral program is to prepare nurse researchers with a subspecialty in the development and testing of theory-based nursing interventions to prevent and/or manage chronic illness in vulnerable populations. Nursing interventions for vulnerable populations needs to be multifaceted and include variables that characterize different vulnerabilities. These variables, such disparities in access to health care, experience with the health care system, and cultural beliefs systems about symptoms and treatment, are likely to interact with the characteristics of the subject and moderate the effectiveness of the intervention. This traineeship program will include complex conceptualizations of intervention studies to include such variables and designs to accommodate the analysis of these variables as moderators of treatment benefit. Descriptive studies will be designed to address the factors inherent in vulnerability and findings from these studies will be used to design intervention studies. The populations under study will be populations at greatest risk. Interventions will be based on theory and empirical evidence that specify the nature of treatable conditions; actions needed to attain the expected effects, the steps of the change process, and anticipated outcomes. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an important theme in both the pre-doctoral and post-doctoral programs. The predoctoral program prepares a beginning researcher with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and test nursing interventions in areas in which the assessment of the problem has been widely studied. This program builds on the current nursing doctoral program by providing substantive content in the nursing management and prevention of chronic illness, minority health issues and factors related to health disparities, advanced coursework on theories of chronic illness and intervention methodology, research experience with ongoing studies, and a 15 credit area of concentration outside nursing. A total of 20 predoctoral trainees will be supported over the 5-year project with each trainee supported for 2 years.
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