[Print and Web-quality images of Cynthia Corbett are available on the Web at www.nursing/corbett.]
SPOKANE, Wash. — Intercollegiate College of Nursing/WSU College of Nursing Associate Professor Cynthia Corbett has received a Pfizer Postdoctoral Fellowship in Nursing Research 2002 Innovations in Health Outcomes sponsored by U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc.
Corbett will receive $65,000 per year for two years to conduct innovative research studying the effects of treatments and policies on “Improving Self-Management and Outcomes Among Community Dwelling Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes”. Corbett’s research will involve working with persons over the age of 65 living in Spokane retirement facilities. The funding period begins July 1, 2002.
The population of older Americans with chronic diseases is expanding. The number of people with diabetes is expected to rise by 165 percent in the next five years. Corbett says for adults age 75 and older the number of persons with diabetes will quadruple, increasing than 200 percent.
“The majority of morbidity, mortality and costs associated with chronic diseases may be preventable with better provider and self-management, “ Corbett said. “Because of chronic complications associated with diabetes, it is a costly disease, both in dollars and impact on quality of life. Developing cost-effective, community-oriented and holistic nursing therapeutics is essential to the delivery of population-based health care.”
The research will measure diabetes self-management skills, health-related quality of life, physical demands of the illness, purpose-in-life assessments, lipid profiles and indicators of health care utilization.
Participants will be randomly assigned to an intervention or control group according to the retirement cohort community in which they live. Participants will receive free diabetes self-management education, including techniques for self-care that be applied to other chronic illnesses they may have, free laboratory testing (cholesterol, A1c), BP testing, a chronic disease self-care book written for the lay person and a relaxation tape.
The Pfizer-sponsored study builds upon numerous diabetes-related studies Corbett has conducted since 1998. Corbett’s fellowship team includes WSU College of Nursing Associate Dean of Research Mel Haberman, WSU College of Pharmacy Associate Dean R. Keith Campbell and Associate Professor John White, WSU Department of Economics Professor Robert Rosenman and WSU College of Nursing Research Professor and Statistician Bob Bendel. Scientists from the University of Washington School of Nursing and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will serve as “collaborating scholars” to facilitate the research and training program during the two-year fellowship.
The Pfizer Postdoctoral Fellowships in Nursing Research is an annual competition. Two applicants are selected by an independent academic advisory board composed of deans from schools of nursing.
Established in 1968, the Intercollegiate College of Nursing is the nation’s first, oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium. The College of Nursing offers baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through its four consortium partners—Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, Washington State University and Whitworth College. The College educates more than 600 graduate and undergraduate students each year and is the largest undergraduate nursing college in the state. For more information about the College of Nursing visit the Web site at www.nursing.wsu .
