Monique Ridosh, PhD, RN, is an Associate Professor in the Family and Community Health Nursing Department/Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago (USA). Her research has focused on the intersection of family functioning, self-management, and quality of life across the lifespan primarily in the spina bifida population. She has published on factors associated with parent depressive symptoms and family quality of life, the meaning of quality of life for families with and without adolescents, and young adults with spina bifida, transition, and self-management in spina bifida. In her work, she has used the Family Inventory of Resources for Management, the Family Environment Scale, and the Global Family Quality of Life Scale. Currently, Monique is most interested in understanding self-management trajectories, predictors of self-management, health status, and quality of life outcomes over time.

Dr. Ridosh recently received a highly competitive K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research. This career development award will support training in advanced statistical methods under the mentorship of Grayson Holmbeck, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychology at Loyola University Chicago. She is also supported by a scientific advisory committee that includes Drs. Sue Penckofer, Ramon Durazo, Kathleen Sawin (Nurse Scientist at Children’s Wisconsin and Professor Emerita in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), and Martha Daviglus (Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Institute for Minority Health Research, University of Illinois at Chicago).

For more information, contact IFNA member Monique Ridosh

Twitter: @MoniqueRidosh

Naiara Barros Polita, PhD, MN, RN, is an Adjunct Professor at State University of Londrina, Brazil. She teaches undergraduate nursing students about family nursing approaches by incorporating families’ needs in pediatric case studies and simulations. She also supervises pediatric nursing students who are caring for children and their families in a variety of health care settings. Dr. Barros Polita promotes family nursing skill development through case studies, family theories and concepts, family assessment instruments, and nursing interventions centered on families’ needs. She developed permanent education activities for staff nurses of a public hospital (Hospital Dr Eulalino Ignácio de Andrade) that focus on increasing family nursing skills. 

In addition, Dr. Barros Polita’s research focuses on family experiences with pediatric oncology. She is interested in examining fathers’ experience and developing strategies to promote fathers’ involvement in the child’s life. She is a member of the Nursing Research Group on Child and Adolescent Care (GPECCA) and a collaborator of the Fatherhood, Family and Society Team.

For more information, contact IFNA member Naiara Barros Polita: [email protected]

LinkedIn URL:  linkedin.com/in/naiara-polita-5bbb19124

Melissa Dunn, PhD, RN is an assistant professor in the School of Health and Natural Sciences, Fitchburg State University (USA). She shares her knowledge of family nursing science with undergraduate students in the courses she teaches including Community Health Nursing and Pediatrics. She is a recent graduate of the Graduate School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Medical School. Her research explores social determinants of health and contextual influences affecting family management of childhood asthma. The findings of her recent study were presented at the 15^th International Family Nursing Conference (IFNC 15). Findings of her study suggest that in addition to the contextual influences described in the Family Management Style Framework, work-life conditions, environment, and emerging threats to health are factors affecting family management of childhood asthma.

Dr. Dunn is a member of the IFNA Research Committee.

For more information, contact IFNA member Melissa Dunn.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-dunn-83435b52

Twitter: @themelissadunn

Angela Afua Quaye, MSc, is currently a PhD student at Lund University, Sweden. Her research focuses on how a child’s best interests are considered in the hospital environment. Using non-participant observations and family interviews, her study aims to provide insight into how the child’s best interest can be part of knowledge translation for the development, evaluation, and implementation of care practices. Children with various types of diagnoses, ages, and hospital visits are included in the study. Angela is interested in gaining deeper insights into the child’s and parent’s perceptions about the child’s participation in care and best interest during a hospital visit. Angela recently presented her research at the 15^th International Family Nursing Conference (IFNC 15).

For more information, contact IFNA member Angela Afua Quaye.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-afua-quaye-2b3374163/