Barbara Stewart, Ph.D.

"I am accepting up to two Ph.D. students for whom I would have the role of committee member. As a retired faculty who works part time, I would enjoy being a committee member for students conducting quantitative studies focused on family care, especially family care for frail elders. I am especially interested in serving on committees of students doing measurement, longitudinal or intervention studies.

I have been very fortunate, as a psychologist and methodologist, to work together with nurse researchers for more than two decades. Family care for frail older adults has been the focus of research that Dr. Patricia Archbold and I have done collaboratively since 1983 with other members of our research team (faculty colleagues, postdoctoral fellows, doctoral and master's students, nurses and other clinicians). Frail older adults in our studies have included elders after hospital discharge, elders receiving home health care, elders with Parkinson's disease and elders with Alzheimer's disease. Our studies have used both qualitative and quantitative methods, and have incorporated descriptive, correlational, longitudinal and experimental designs.

Our goal in this research has been to improve the health and well-being of frail elders and the family members who care for them. The concepts that we have found most important in our studies of family care are: mutuality (the positive quality of the care receiver – caregiver relationship); preparedness for, predictability in, and rewards of family care; the nature and quality of family care; multiple dimensions of caregiver role strain; physical health, mental health, and cognitive functioning of elders and their family caregivers; use of health services by elders and their family caregivers; and the economic costs of such services for families and the healthcare system. In our research, we strive to improve our understanding of the family care process, including how nurses and other health care providers can assist elders and their family caregivers in this important process of caring."

TEACHING

1981-present Associate Professor (1981-1984), Professor (1984-2001), Professor Emerita (2001-present) OHSU, School of Nursing, Portland, OR.

Current teaching areas

• Statistical consultant to NUR 503e, the master’s course focusing on evidence-based practice.
• I work with two PhD students on analysis of research data from the Family Care Study.
• I am sponsor for one postdoctoral fellow who is doing research on family care for frail elders.

RESEARCH

Current funded research

R01 AG 17909
Patricia G. Archbold (PI), my role is co-principal investigator
Dates of project: 09/15/99 - 08/31/03 (unfunded extension to 08/31/05)
Funding agency: NIH / NIA, AHRQ, NINR
Title: PREP: Family-based Care for Frail Older Persons.
Description: The Family Care Study is a randomized controlled trial of an intervention referred to as PREP, which is designed to increase Preparedness, Enrichment, and Predictability in family care for frail elders. A new model of home health care, PREP is designed to improve access to care to assist families at times of problematic transitions and help families manage everyday problems associated with frailty and chronic illness.

Center for Family Care in Oregon (CFCO)
(This is an OHSU funded Center of Excellence in Human Research, Pat Archbold, PI): I have been a member of Workgroup A, which is planning to submit a grant application in December for a consensus conference.

SERVICE ACTIVITIES

External boards and committees, journal reviews and editorships

• Editorial Board, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
• Alternate member. Kaiser Permanente, Northwest Region, Center for Health Research IRB.
• Chairperson, NIH Special Review Group-ZRG1 NURS Study Section (Phone) (March 2003).
• Ad hoc reviewer for Nursing Science: Adults and Older Adults (NSAA) Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, NIH (February 2004).
  

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Li, H., Stewart , B. J., Imle, M. A., Archbold, P. G., & Felver, L. (2000). Families and hospitalized elders: A typology of family care actions. Research in Nursing & Health, 23, 3-16.

Schumacher, K. L., Stewart , B. J., Archbold, P. G., Dodd, M. J., & Dibble, S. L. (2000). Family caregiving skill: Development of the concept. Research in Nursing & Health, 23, 191-203.

Archbold, P.G., Stewart, B. J., & Lyons, K.S. (2002). Annual Review of Nursing Research, Vol. 20; Focus on geriatric nursing research. New York: Springer.

Messecar, D. C., Archbold, P. G., Stewart , B. J., & Kirschling, J. (2002). Home environmental modification strategies used by caregivers of elders. Research in Nursing & Health, 25, 357-370.

Metheny, N. A., & Stewart , B. J. (2002). Testing feeding tube placement during continuous tube feedings. Applied Nursing Research, 15, 254-258.

Lyons, K. S., Carter, J. H., Carter, E. H., Rush, K. N., Stewart, B. J., & Archbold, P. G. (2004). Locating and retaining research participants for follow-up studies. Research in Nursing & Health, 27, 63-68.

Hansen, L., Archbold, P. G., & Stewart, B. J. ( 2004 ). Role strain and ease in decision-making to withdraw or withhold life-support for elderly relatives. The Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 36(3), 233-238.

Lyons, K. S., Stewart, B. J., Archbold, P. G., Carter, J. H., & Perrin, N. A. (in press). Pessimism and optimism as early-warning signs for compromised health in Parkinson's disease caregiving. Nursing Research.