Scholarly Nurse Faculty Spotlight
Faculty Spotlight - Jie Deng and Sheila Ridner
Vanderbilt School of Nursing faculty, researchers and collaborators Jie Deng and Sheila Ridner recently received R21 funding for a study to determine if yoga is an effective, accessible and low cost treatment option for survivors of head and neck cancer.
Recently funded R21
Feasibility & Preliminary Efficacy of Yoga in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors – (Principle Investigator: Sheila H. Ridner; Project Coordinator: Jie Deng)
Summary
Head and neck cancer survivors experience late toxicities from cancer treatment such as, weakness, deconditioning, and musculoskeletal impairment involving the neck, shoulder and chest. The long-term objective is to examine/ develop complementary, lower cost, accessible treatment options to address this impairment.
Purpose
Determine preliminary efficacy of a modified yoga program as compared to a wait-list control for range of motion, posture, pain and psychological distress. Patients will undergo an eight-week yoga intervention composed of practices of postures, breath work, relaxation and meditation. If the study’s aims are achieved, the next steps will be exploring a community-based yoga intervention.
Jie Deng, PhD, RN, OCNN
Research interests include:
- Measures of head and neck lymphedema
- Interventional studies for head and neck lymphedema
- Interventional trials for symptom burden
- Interventional trails for late effects of cancer treatment
Sheila H. Ridner, BSN, MSHSA, MSN, PhD, ACNP, FAAN
Research interests include:
- Symptom management
- Lymphedema in cancer survivors
- Psychological distress
- Expressive therapies
- Physiological based volume measurement methods