Untitled Document

Research

Sue Heidrich

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Professor, School of Nursing
smheidrich@wisc.edu
http://www.son.wisc.edu/people/faculty/heidrich.html

Optimizing Health in Older Women

My research has had two foci: understanding how older persons, particularly older women, cope successfully with stressors associated with aging; and developing and testing an educational program to help older women cope with physical symptoms, an aging-related stressor. In trying to understand how older women cope successfully, we examined how women maintain their psychological well-being and mental health while they are experiencing changes in lifestyle and physical health. To do this, we followed about 190 women over ten years, from an average age of 73 to 81. Although in ten years these women experienced more chronic medical problems, more bothersome physical symptoms, and more frailty, most maintained a positive sense of autonomy and had no evidence of depression. On the other hand, women did experience a decline in relationships with others and in having a sense of growth and purpose in life and an increase in anxiety. What contributed most to these declines in well-being was an increase in annoying or distressing symptoms, such as joint pain, fatigue, and weakness that limited women's daily activities.

Because of these findings, we began developing an educational approach, which we have called "IRIS", to assist women to better manage physical symptoms. IRIS stands for an "Individualized Representational Intervention for Symptom management". IRIS focuses on helping women understand how they have coped with symptoms in the past and how to adapt their approach based on current medical information and treatment. We are in the process of testing this approach in a randomized clinical trial of 207 women aged 65 and over who have had breast cancer. Our hypothesis is that IRIS will decrease symptom distress and improve psychological well-being and mental health. If so, we plan to extend this work to both men and women who are experiencing any type of aging or chronic illness related symptoms.

Representative Publications
Yeom, H., & Heidrich, S.M. (In Press) Effect of perceived barriers to symptom management on quality of life in older breast cancer survivors. Cancer Nursing.

Royer, H.R., Keller, M.L., & Heidrich, S.M. (In Press) Young adolescents� perceptions of romantic relationships and sexual activity. Sex Education.

Royer, H.R., Phelan, C.H., & Heidrich, S.M. (In Press) Older breast cancer survivors� symptom beliefs: A content analysis. Oncology Nursing Forum.

Phelan, C.H., Brown, R., & Heidrich, S.M. (2008). Changes in sleep quality of community-dwelling older women over 10 years. Sleep 2008 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, Baltimore, MD, June, 2008.

Hook, M.L., Heidrich, S.M., & Mahoney, J.E. (2008). Beliefs about fall risk and fall prevention behavior in high-risk community dwelling older adults. Paper presented at the National State of the Science Conferences, Washington, DC, October, 2008.

Lin, F., & Heidrich, S. M. (2008). Does psychological well-being mediate the effects of symptoms on function in older breast cancer survivors? Poster presented at the APOS 5th Annual Conference and Workshop Training, Irvine, CA, Feb., 2008.

Thananowan, N., & Heidrich, S.M. (2008). Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) among Thai pregnant women. Violence Against Women, 14, 509-527.

Phelan, C. H., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Patterns of pain and well-being in older women: A 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Women and Aging, 19(3/4), 21-35.

Heidrich, S.M., Egan, J.J., Brown, R.L., Ward, S.E., & Vanummersen, L. (2007). A representational intervention for symptom management in older breast cancer survivors: Preliminary findings. Paper presented at the 9th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research, Hollywood, CA, Feb., 2007.

Yeom, H., Perez, O.A., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Changes in symptom distress and mood after an individualized symptom management intervention in older cancer survivors. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA, Nov., 2007.

Royer, H.R., Phelan, C.H., Ninman, N.L., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Older breast cancer survivors symptom representations: A content analysis. Poster presented at the 9th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research, Hollywood, CA, Feb., 2007.

Donovan, H.S., Ward, S.E., Song, M.K., Heidrich, S.M., Gunnarsdottir, S., & Phillips, C.M. (2007). An update on the representational approach to patient education. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 39(3), 259�265.

Batz, E.M., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). 2004 National Nursing Assistants survey: Predictors of intention to leave. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA, Nov., 2007.

Egan, J.J., Perez, O.A., Pe-Romashko, K., Moe, A., Len, F., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Successfully implementing a telephone intervention with older women. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 17, 2007.

Hook, M.L., Mahoney, J.E., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Exploring relationship between risk representation, prevention, and falling in high risk elders using the Common Sense Model. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA.

Phelan, C. H., Brown, R.L., & Heidrich, S.M. (2007). Sleep quality of community-dwelling elderly women: Trajectories over ten years. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA, Nov., 2007.

Heidrich, S.M., Egan, J.J., Brown, R.L., Ward, S.E., Vanummersen, L. (2007). A representational intervention for symptom management in older breast cancer survivors: Preliminary findings. Oncology Nursing Forum, 34(1), 194.

Heidrich, S.M., Egan, J., Hengudomsub, P., & Randolph, S. (2006). Symptoms, symptom beliefs, and quality of life older breast cancer survivors: A comparative study. Oncology Nursing Forum, 33(2), 315-322.

Plach, S.K., Heidrich, S.M., & Jeske, L. (2006). Fatigue representations in women with chronic heart failure. Research in Nursing and Health, 29, 452-464.

Plach, S.K., Stevens, P.E., & Heidrich, S. M. (2006). Social roles and health in women living with HIV/AIDS: A pilot study. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 17(2), 58-64.

Heidrich, S.M., & Wells, T.J. (2004). The effect of urinary incontinence on psychological well-being and distress in older community-dwelling women. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 30(5),47-54.

Heidrich, S.M., & Powwattana, A. (2004). Self-discrepancy and health in older women with chronic illnesses. Journal of Adult Development, 11, 251-259.

Heidrich, S. M., Ward, S. E., Julesberg, K., Miller, N., Donovan, H., Gunnarsdottir, S., Davis, S., Hughes, S., & Serlin, R.C. (2003). Conducting intervention research through the Cancer Information Service: A feasibility study. Oncology Nursing Forum, 30(1),131-134.

Plach, S.K., Heidrich, S.M., & Waite, R.M. (2003). The relationship of social role quality to psychological well-being in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Research in Nursing and Health, 26, 190-202.

Lauver, D.R., Ward, S.E., Heidrich, S.M., Keller, M.L., Bowers, B.J., Brennan, P.F., Kirchhoff, K.T., & Wells, T.J. (2002). Patient-centered interventions. Research in Nursing and Health, 25(4), 246-255.

Plach, S.K., & Heidrich, S.M. (2002). Role quality and well-being in women after heart surgery. Research in Nursing and Health, 25, 189-202.

Plach, S.K., & Heidrich, S.M. (2001). Women's perceptions of their social roles after heart surgery and coronary angioplasty. Heart and Lung, 30, 117-127.

Leske, J.S., & Heidrich, S.M. (2001). Family responses to critical care of the elderly patient. In T.T. Fulmer, M.D. Freeman, & M. Walker (Eds.), Critical care nursing of the elderly (2nd Ed.). New York: Springer.

Nesbitt, B.J., & Heidrich, S.M. (2000). Sense of coherence and illness appraisal in older women's quality of life. Research in Nursing and Health, 23, 25-34.

Heidrich, S. M., Forsthoff, C. A., & Ward, S. E. (1999). Adjustment to cancer: The self as mediator. Reprinted in R.M. Suinn & G.R. VandenBos (Eds.), Cancer patients and their families. New York, NY: American Psychological Association.

Heidrich, S.M. (1999). Self-Discrepancy across the life span. Journal of Adult Development, 6, 119-130.

Heidrich, S.M. (1998). Health promotion in old age. Annual Review of Nursing Research, 16, 173-195.

Heidrich, S.M. (1998). Older women's lives through time. Advances in Nursing Science, 20, 65-75.

Heidrich, S.M., & Ryff, C.D. (1993). The role of social comparison processes in the psychological adaptation of the elderly. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, 127-P136.

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