Research News

Nursing professor secures NIH grant with initial proposal

By CHARLES ANZALONE

Published May 27, 2020

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“There is a critical need to discover new approaches for preparing persons with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias and their caregivers in making informed, in-the-moment decisions, to ensure high end-of-life and quality-of-life care, and to support appropriate transitions in care as circumstances change over time. ”
Suzanne Sullivan, assistant professor
School of Nursing

In her first submission to the National Institutes of Health, a School of Nursing faculty member has received a two-year grant from the National Institute on Aging to develop approaches to prepare persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers to make end of life decisions.

Suzanne Sullivan, assistant professor of nursing whose research specializes in end-of-life care, will develop a predictive model of factors related to end-of-life quality-of-life that aim to reveal insights in end-of-life care transitions. She is a 2018 graduate of the School of Nursing’s PhD program.

Sullivan’s study is a critical first step in developing an approach for personalizing care to guide persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers in making these end-of-life care decisions. Sullivan’s grant is for $159,000 for two years.

Marsha L. Lewis, professor and dean of the School of Nursing, praised the study, as well as Sullivan’s success in securing the grant in her first NIH application.

“The end-of-life process is a unique experience for each person, coming in its own time and its own way,” Lewis says. “Knowing what to expect during this difficult time can lessen some of the fears and apprehensions that family members and people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease may be feeling.”

Lewis notes Sullivan’s research will help find ways to alleviate some of the burden that these individuals are experiencing.

“We are particularly proud that one of our own PhD graduates has been successful on her first attempt to garner NIH funding,” she says.

Sullivan’s proposal defines older adults with Alzheimer’s disease as high-risk individuals because they experience “burdensome care transitions, avoidable hospitalizations and poor end-of-life quality-of-life.” These patients endure multiple chronic illness, which puts escalating demands on caregivers, Sullivan explains. These conditions can lead to what she calls significant personal and public socioeconomic burdens.

Decades of research have focused on improving the rates of advance care plans for those with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias, she says.

“There is a critical need,” Sullivan wrote in her proposal, “to discover new approaches for preparing persons with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias and their caregivers in making informed, in-the-moment decisions, to ensure high end-of-life and quality-of-life care, and to support appropriate transitions in care as circumstances change over time.”

Sullivan’s study will provide a predictive model of factors related to longitudinal changes in end-of-life quality-of-life and reveal insights into predictors of end-of-care transitions. SON officials said this is a critical first step for the future development of an approach for personalizing care to guide persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers in making end-of-life care decisions.

“When a person with Alzheimer’s disease is in the very late stages of the disease, it is critical to focus on quality-of-life and comfort, rather than on getting more treatments that may not be beneficial,” says Yu-Ping Chang, associate dean for research and scholarship at the School of Nursing. Chang, along with Chin-Shang Li and Wenyao Xu from UB’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, are co-investigators of the study.

“Understanding the contributing factors of quality of life at the end of life is a critical step,” Chang says. “This important research will help to develop new approaches for preparing persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their families to ensure that the best possible quality-of-life decisions are being made for this vulnerable population.

“I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Sullivan on this important and meaningful study.”

READER COMMENT

Congratulations and very appropriate to be awarded this NIH grant during the year of the nurse and midwife. Dr Sullivan is also a Sigma Theta Tau international nurse honor society member at the UB chapter, Gamma Kappa! Go UB!

Lana Pasek