Predictors of the intensity of symptoms in a cluster in patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: To examine the influence of selected demographic and clinical variables on the intensity of symptoms in two previously identified symptom clusters (psychoneurological and upper gastrointestinal) across the treatment trajectory for breast cancer.

Design: A secondary analysis was conducted with a sample of 282 female breast-cancer patients who were receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy in two American cancer centers. Data were collected three times across the treatment trajectory: baseline (before chemotherapy or radiation treatment) and two follow-up times after treatment initiation.

Treatment-related symptom clusters in breast cancer: a secondary analysis.

This study investigated treatment-related symptom clusters and the influence of selected demographic/clinical variables on symptom clustering in breast cancer patients across a treatment trajectory. A secondary analysis of 282 breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy was done to determine the clustering of oncologic treatment-related symptoms at selected time points of treatment. Two distinct clusters were identified: a psychoneurological cluster and an upper gastrointestinal cluster.

Development and testing of the Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum Questionnaire.

The 31-item Blueprint for Integration of Cultural Competence in the Curriculum Questionnaire (BICCCQ) was developed to measure student reports of components of content on cultural competence taught in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. BICCCQ items were derived from the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training, which was developed to measure faculty report of components of content on cultural competence in medical school curricula. Additional items were added by a task force of members of a nursing faculty.

Promoting research partnerships to reduce health disparities among vulnerable populations: sharing expertise between majority institutions and historically black universities.

This chapter focuses on promoting cultural competence in research and the care of vulnerable populations by establishing inter-university nursing partnership centers for health disparities research between historically Black universities and minority-serving institutions and research-intensive majority institutions. The Hampton-Penn Center to Reduce Health Disparities (HPC), an inter-university collaborative center funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) P20 funding mechanism, is discussed as the exemplar. The mission of the Hampton-Penn Center is to promote culturally competent research on health promotion and disease prevention and the examination of how culture, race and ethnicity and their interactions with the health care system and the larger society influence health outcomes and the occurrence of health disparities.