University Research Day - Student Union Visit

The first poster I viewed was on “Information Processes of Cancer Communication and Fruit and Vegetables Intake: A Multiple-Sample Analysis by Intervention Groups.” The research study focused on the decreased risk of Colorectal cancer, the third most common in the U.S., by eating an increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables eaten. The study was based on the Information Process and Theory that says people go through cognitive processes when they receive information that may or may not lead to recall or a change in behavior. In the case of this study, intervention to was made to study groups in four separate ways. The control group simply received very general information about increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables. One group received Tailored Print Communication (TPC) in the form of written information. Another group received Telephone Motivational Interviewing (TMI). The final group received both TPC and TMI. The results showed that the only group to progress through the stages of message relevance, message trust, and message recall, advancing to increased fruit and vegetable consumption was the TPC/TMI combination. One question I asked the presenter was how she chooses her research subjects. She replied that demographic information including age, gender, race, education level, and any barriers were collected in order to legitimize the findings. Overall, I found this study very convincing and well thought out. There was much more detail provided on the poster and through the presentation that I did not understand from a layman’s perspective. The experiment itself was seemed very viable because the researchers followed the instruction of Information Process and Theory.

The second poster I visited was on “Nurses Experiences with Providing End-of-life care in the ICU” and the researchers were Meg Zomordi, RN, and Mary Lynn, PhD, RN. The goal of their research was to better understand the attitudes and behaviors of ICN nurses in treatment of patients, 20% of which typically die. The researchers developed a qualitative interview to measure attitudes and behaviors as nurses describe their experiences working in ICU. In total, there were 9 critical care nurses interviewed, ages ranging from 26 to 56, with an average of 10.3 years of experience working in adult-only ICUs. They measured the responses of nurses with the assumption that they had 1-2 patients at any given time in ICU. Their responses were either classified according to Value-Behavior Congruency or Value-Behavior Incongruency. If their values and behaviors were congruent, nurses are more likely to be satisfied than if values and behaviors incongruent. The model measuring Congruence and Incongruence was based on Casual Conditions including personal, environmental, and relational, that facilitate or inhibit nurses providing optimal care. Within their findings, they found that there is a delicate balance between tending to patients dying and focusing on the ones nurses feel they can save. The researchers also found there to be a very emotional consequence to being an ICU nurse. For example, nurses are commonly left to deal wit family members after the physicians leave and the patients are taken off all treatments but pain medication. The nurses tended to focus on how the deaths affected them and their challenges with helping the families’ cope. I asked Ms. Zomordi what information she considered when picking nurses to be included in the research study, and what processes were required to recruit them. Her answer was that she sent out fliers to nurses that she knew had significant experience working in the ICU. She requested the candidates to describe what they felt was optimum care in order to get their behaviors and attitudes. To find more nurses, she had experienced nurses she had already located pass on fliers to other experienced nurses in the ICU. Overall, the poster and information from the researcher was very informative and interesting. On the poster, the researchers should have done a better job of explaining their method for analyzing the nurses’ feedback through Congruence and Incongruence of behaviors and values. The researcher says the next step is to get parts of the study approved by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses in order to complete further research into related topics. I am able to see the same vision for the future of the project.

The third poster I visited focused on “The Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Nicotine on Oxytocin Levels in Rats Postnatal Days 30 to 60.” Basically, the researchers were examining the effect of prenatal ethanol and nicotine exposure on alcohol preference and corresponding Oxytocin protein levels in brain regions relevant to social interaction and reward in rats aged 30 to 60 days. The rat subjects for this study were always receiving nicotine and ingesting 35% of calories from alcohol during the prenatal phase. The results of study after the birth of the rats found significant differences in birth weights between the two groups studied. Rats exposed to nicotine and alcohol prenatal were much smaller initially, but caught up in size within the 60 day period. The results also showed a loose correlation between high levels of Oxytocin protein and lower alcohol consumption. Therefore, it was impossible to determine what the biochemical reaction between the mom and fetus was specifically. This research study appeared to be very much a work in progress as the results as of yet are inconclusive. So I asked the researcher what the next step in the process was. She replied that they needed to look at whether Oxytocin was driving behavior and figure out whether it was prenatal alcohol or nicotine causing the biochemical reaction. I also asked how this experiment is relevant to modern medicine. She replied that it would help show whether nicotine or alcohol caused detrimental effects on offspring and give researchers insight on how they can work to provide help to mothers. Overall, I found the subject matter of this research experiment very confusing because I did not fully comprehend the underlying science. It was presented well visually on the poster, with accompanying graphs and detailed explanations of the process. However, I was not confident whether the research was worthwhile showing at this stage in the experiment because there was no conclusive evidence, only more questions to be answered.