Beth Skelton, RN, MSN, CPNP-PC, is a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) and a member of the IFNA Student Engagement Group.  Beth is a member of Family and Down syndrome research group led by Dr. Marcia Van Riper, which includes study participants from 50 countries and focuses on studying adaptation and family management in the context of a family member with Down syndrome. Beth has worked with Dr. Van Riper on other studies funded through the University’s Dhillon Jordan Shah Innovation Fund and the School of Medicine’s Innovative Sleep Research initiative comparing family adaptation to having a child with Down syndrome, a congenital heart condition, or both. In addition to her work with Dr. Van Riper, Beth has worked as project manager for Dr. Louise Fleming on a study funded by the Pediatric Endocrine Nursing Society to create a mobile health app application to support persons with adrenal insufficiency.  The combination of these experiences contributed to the development of her dissertation study addressing care coordination needs of families of children with Down syndrome and the development of a mobile health application to support parents’ care coordination efforts. Beth is fortunate to have IFNA members Dr. Marcia Van Riper, Dr. Kathleen Knafl, Dr. George Knafl, Dr. Louise Fleming and Dr. Veronica Swallow on her dissertation committee. For more information, contact IFNA member Beth Skelton.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethskelton11

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.comin/beth-skelton-a870a14b/

Heeyeon Son, RN, MSN, is a PhD candidate and a fellow of American Cancer Society Doctoral Degree in Cancer Nursing at the Duke University School of Nursing (USA). She is also a member of the IFNA Student Engagement Group.

Her research interest focuses on helping families of children and adolescents with cancer cope with the child’s cancer diagnosis. She is particularly interested in improving parent-child communication in the childhood cancer context to foster their coping and resilience.  Her current dissertation focuses on (1) exploring parent-child communication experiences of Korean adolescents with cancer and their parents, and (2) examining the potential relationship between engaging in effective parent-child communication and better coping and adjustment of adolescents with cancer.

Heeyeon’s long-term research goal is to study “family environment,” including family communication to encourage children and adolescents with cancer and their families’ coping and better adjustment across the illness trajectory. She believes that family is one of the most potent sources of support for children and adolescents with cancer. Therefore, she is dedicated to fostering recovery of broken families of children with cancer and helping them have positive power to help children and adolescents with cancer.

For more information, contact IFNA member Heeyeon Son.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heeyeon-son-97277b100/

Lisbeth Kjelsrud Aass, MCN, RNS, is an assistant professor and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, Department of Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gjøvik, Norway. She is also a member of the IFNA Student Engagement Group. Given that young adults suffering from mental illness are reliant on support from family in everyday life, she has a particular interest in how families manage everyday life and how they are included as a unit in community mental healthcare. Her research is focused on the perspective of families living with young adults suffering from mental illness in everyday family life. She is also examining the usefulness of Family-Centered Support Conversations in community mental healthcare settings. For more information, contact IFNA member, Lisbeth Kjelsrud Aass.

Linked in http://linkedin.com/in/lisbeth-aass-256b765a

Dr. Marie Louise Luttik was recently installed as a professor of Family Care within the Research Group in Nursing Diagnostics at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen (the Netherlands). She is leading a Family Care program of research with a primary mission to contribute to the development of a more systemic approach to care across the full breadth of healthcare, in a variety of settings, and in collaboration with various disciplines based on applied scientific research, the results of which are translated into the curricula of the disciplines involved.

The research program now includes four PhD trajectories: Collaboration between nurses and family caregivers of older home-dwelling persons (Dr. Ellen Hagedoorn); The effectiveness of Family Health Conversations in primary care (Susanne Broekema); Young adult caregivers: Burden and support needs (Hinke van der Werf); and Shared decision making and the role of family in older patients with cancer (Bea Dijkman).  

Research at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences is based on a strong interrelationship between practice, research and education. Results of various studies, e.g. teaching Family Health Conversations, have already been translated into the nursing education curriculum at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences.

For more information, contact IFNA member, Marie Louise Luttik.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-louise-luttik-44925922/ 

Personal Twitter account: https://twitter.com/luttikmarie

Twitter account about the family nursing initiatives at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, the Netherlands:  https://twitter.com/hgfamiliezorg

Tyra Girdwood, RN, BSN, is a PhD candidate and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA).

Her dissertation focuses on the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare process in adolescents and young adults with Cystic Fibrosis. She is particularly interested in what may indicate a successful transition and learning more about the transition experience from the child and parent perspectives. Tyra’s long-term research goal is to follow a cohort of parents and individuals with Cystic Fibrosis over time to better understand health outcomes before, during, and after the transition to adult healthcare.

For more information, contact IFNA member Tyra Girdwood.  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyra-girdwood