Recipients of ONS Foundation Funding

Terry Badger, PhD, RN, CS, Professor at the College of Nursing, The University of Arizona

Dr. Badger is passionate about the psychosocial needs of cancer patients and how research can improve the oncology nurse's skill in meeting those needs. An established researcher and Principal Investigator of the recently completed ONS Foundation CLIR Symptom Management Research Grant, "Telephone Intervention: Rural Women with Cancer and Their Partners", Dr. Badger advises oncology nurses starting out on a research career to get on a research team in some capacity - project director, data collector, etc. Then, she urges, "Find your passion!"

She began her funded research career with an interest in depression in chronic illness, and a National Institute of Mental Health grant that involved training in assessment and management of depression. From there, she expanded her interest in depression to older adults and then to various oncology populations. The ONS Foundation funded project tested the effectiveness of a telephone interpersonal counseling intervention in meeting the psychosocial needs of rural breast cancer women and their partners. The intervention group was found to have improved outcomes-both those outcomes related to symptom management, as well as mood and quality of life. Both the woman with breast cancer and her partner benefited from the intervention. In addition, patients and their partners in the intervention group liked the interpersonal intervention because it was focused on their individual needs.

She is currently involved with efforts, funded by NIH, to expand her research on this intervention to a larger sample of women with breast cancer and their partners and men with prostate cancer and their partners. This proposal followed her funding from the ONS Foundation. The Foundation's initial funding provided the pilot data for the NIH funded proposal. Future research efforts will focus on patients with other cancers, i.e., lung cancer. She has built an effective research team that continues to fuel her enthusiasm for research.

Her interdisciplinary research team consists of Co-Investigators, Dr. Chris Segrin from the Department of Communications, Dr. Ana Maria Lopez from the Arizona Cancer Center, and Dr. Paula Meek from The University of New Mexico; Project Director, Dr. Donna McArthur; Interventionist, Elizabeth Bonham, MS, APRN, BC; Data Manager, Dr. Alice Pasvogel; and Data Entry, Amelia Sieger, Nursing Student.

An ONS member for approximately six years, Dr. Badger regrets her "late" entry into oncology nursing research, and wishes she had worked with cancer patients earlier. Her vision of the priorities for future research in oncology are further investigation of psychosocial interventions, adding a cost effectiveness component, genetics and of course, a continued focus on symptom management.