An interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship model: Opportunities for nurse PhDs.

Interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships can provide rich opportunities for nurses to receive additional training and develop diverse professional academic and research partnerships. They provide a structure for learning in which team science is emphasized and complex health issues are addressed. This paper presents an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship model and highlights the development of one nurse fellow's network during the program. The fellowship curriculum is outlined and the three focus areas (education, research, and experience) are further explained. A social network analysis approach was used to illustrate the growth in one nurse fellow's network during a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. The first year of the fellowship showed an increase in the number of professional connections, while in the second year the relationships deepened as collaborations were established and strengthened.

Newer Forms of Tobacco Products: Characteristics of Poly Users Among Adults Living in Colorado-A Secondary Data Analysis of the Attitudes and Behaviors Survey on Health 2015.

AIMS: Data from The Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (TABS) conducted in 2015 were used to investigate the prevalence of different forms of tobacco use and marijuana use among adults in Colorado. METHODS: A secondary analysis of TABS on health data was conducted. A representative sample of 8616 adults 18 years and older participated in the survey, with sample weights used to adjust for oversampling. RESULTS: Lifetime prevalence of cigarette-only use was 25.8%, compared with 10.6% for hookah use, 7.0% for both hookah and cigarettes, 12.6% for anything except cigarettes, and 43.0% for marijuana. The typical hookah user was a single/living alone (15.9%), English-speaking (11.6%), male (16.7%), age < 30 years (24.2%), with some college education (13.0%), and income less than 35 000 per year (14.3%). Hookah users, whether or not they also used cigarettes, were similar to those who used any other noncigarette tobacco products. The typical marijuana user was a single/living alone (50.2%), white (46.0%), English-speaking (46.7%), male (48.5%), age < 30 years (50.1%), with a graduate degree (40.8%) and salary of at least 50 000 per year (43.4%). IMPLICATIONS: In Colorado, in 2015, cigarette use was still highest among all forms of tobacco, but the use of other tobacco products such as vaping and hookah is on the rise, especially among young adults. Marijuana and hookah users were demographically similar to each other, and different from the typical cigarette user. These results indicate the need for further study of alternative tobacco product use, especially among young adults.

Tobacco Use Among Arab Immigrants Living in Colorado: Prevalence and Cultural Predictors.

PURPOSE: The authors determined the prevalence of smoking among Arab immigrants living in Colorado. The authors also evaluated the relationship between acculturation and tobacco use, including both cigarettes and hookah among Arab immigrants. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of 100 adult Arab immigrants living in Colorado was carried out. RESULTS: The results revealed that 19% of the study participants were current cigarette smokers and 21% were current hookah smokers. Participants who were more integrated into Arab culture were more likely to use tobacco products ( p = .03) and to have family members ( p = .02) and friends who use tobacco products ( p = .007). CONCLUSIONS: Acculturation plays a major role in affecting the health habits of Arab immigrants living in Colorado, especially in the area of hookah smoking. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Understanding some culturally relevant predictors of tobacco use might assist health care providers in designing successful smoking cessation programs.

Telephone nurse counseling for medication adherence in ulcerative colitis: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE: Adherence is challenging in episodic chronic conditions that require medication during both symptomatic and quiescent periods, such as ulcerative colitis (UC). Adherence for these conditions is under-studied. This study was a preliminary test of telephone nurse counseling to address cognitive and emotional barriers to adherence in UC. METHODS: 524 people taking mesalamine for UC were referred by their health care providers, and 278 (53%) enrolled. There were no demographic differences between program participants and nonparticipants. Participants reported multiple comorbidities and concomitant medications. All participants received telephone follow-up (M = 2.1 calls) from a registered nurse who used cognitive-behavioral and motivational interviewing counseling techniques. Adherence measured by structured interview was compared to a population baseline using a binomial test. RESULTS: Attrition was 51% over 6 months but was unrelated to adherence. Participants had better adherence than the expected population rate, with a significant dose-response effect. Reasons for nonadherence were primarily psychological or efficacy-related. CONCLUSION: Adherence following intervention was better than typical mesalamine adherence. Self-efficacy predicted adherence, but demographic and clinical variables did not. Adherent participants reported more adverse events. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Attention to patients' cognitive and emotional reactions may help to improve adherence in episodic chronic diseases such as UC.

Effects of telephone counseling on antipsychotic adherence and emergency department utilization.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether ScriptAssist, a telehealth nursing program using psychological techniques, reduced emergency department (ED) utilization and improved adherence among Medicaid health plan members with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). STUDY DESIGN: Nonrandomized controlled trial. METHODS: Of 210 eligible Medicaid health plan members with SPMI, 59 (28%) were contacted by phone and 51 (86%) participated. Participants received an average of 3.5 calls over 9 months, with 2.1 attempts per completed call. Participants had clinically significant levels of impairment; medication switching, polypharmacy, and medical comorbidities were common. Intervention group participants' results were compared with those of nonparticipants to rule out regression to the mean, history, and maturation effects. Intervention group participants' results also were compared with baseline data to rule out selection bias. RESULTS: Program participants had fewer ED visits during the intervention than a comparison group, and reduced their ED use and hospitalization rate compared with the previous year. Participants also had better medication adherence based on pharmacy and interview data. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive-behavioral and motivational-interviewing techniques can improve antipsychotic medication adherence. Telehealth may be a useful strategy for disseminating these evidence-based techniques. Lessons learned included the importance of real-time referral data, a need to address polypharmacy, and a need to overcome contact difficulties resulting from disease processes and "unknown caller" IDs. Despite these difficulties, using a disease management model, the program was feasible, and the reduced number of ED visits indicated potential cost-effectiveness.