IOWA INVESTIGATOR: Anne Ersig

What is the focus of your research? What questions are you trying to answer? What problems are you attempting to solve?

My research focuses on understanding individual and family responses to actual or potential health problems from a biopsychosocial perspective. Currently, I am pursuing two lines of research related to this overall goal.

In one area, I explore causes of and responses to stressors among teens (and their parents) with chronic medical conditions. Thanks to new investigator funding from the Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) and a KL-2 training grant from the University’s Institute for Clinical & Translational Science, I’ve been able to examine a diverse group of risk factors for high anxiety in this population including genetic, biologic, familial, and social network risk factors. As a new investigator, these grants are essential for launching a program of research. I intend to use the results from these studies as the basis for larger grant applications.

My other area of research focuses on families who are at an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), which stems from my dissertation with families at risk of an inherited form of CRC. Pilot grants from the Social Sciences Funding Program at the university and the American Cancer Society are funding research to explore how CRC patients and their at-risk family members communicate about a CRC diagnosis over time and their thoughts about risk for disease. The unique insights gained from these pilot studies will also facilitate larger studies.

What led to your interest in this topic? 

My clinical experience as a pediatric nurse practitioner led to my interest in teens with chronic conditions. Before I went back to school for my PhD, I was the nurse practitioner/coordinator for an ongoing study of children and teens with a genetic condition. I saw how the patients I cared for, and their parents, approached adolescence and the impending transition to adulthood in many different ways. There was a wide variance in stress levels, including what caused stress and how they responded to it.

My interest in families at risk of CRC comes from my dissertation research. I received a Graduate Partnerships Program fellowship from the National Institute of Nursing Research to conduct my dissertation research at the National Institutes of Health, and was fortunate to be placed with a group studying families at risk of an inherited form of CRC. I completed my dissertation work with a subset of those families. Seeing how people with and without a personal diagnosis of CRC responded to their increased risk made me realize just how important it is to include multiple family members in studies such as these.

What impact (on citizens, practice environment, educational opportunities, funding, etc.) do you predict coming from this research?

Results of both lines of research will have an impact on the populations of interest, as well as others. I hope to identify a sufficiently large number of risk factors for elevated stress and anxiety levels, and to be able to identify those who are at risk earlier in life. Chronically elevated stress in those with existing medical conditions can lead to emotional and physical health problems later in life; being able to identify and intervene with those who are at risk could mitigate these effects for the individual with the chronic condition as well as his or her family members. Clearly, these results would apply not only to teens with chronic medical conditions, but others, as well. In my studies with families at risk of CRC, I hope to have a significant impact on the health behaviors of at risk relatives. Studies show an increased risk of CRC in relatives who don’t follow screening recommendations. Developing family-level interventions to improve participation is one avenue I hope to pursue in the future. These types of interventions could be applied to families at risk of multiple diseases, not just CRC.

How does the research integrate into education/practice/service?

Advancing knowledge in these areas will have an impact on the education of nursing students, as well as the clinical practice of nurses and nurse practitioners. I’ve had the opportunity to share insights from this research with multiple groups, including the methodologies used to gather the data. Both lines of research will ultimately influence nursing practice. A profile of individuals at an increased risk of chronically elevated stress levels could be used in clinical practice to not only identify those at risk, but to intervene and reduce stress and anxiety. Nurses will also be central to identifying and intervening with family members who are at increased risk of CRC and to improve their screening behaviors.

As I develop as a researcher, my goal is to become more involved with community groups and organizations that serve families affected by chronic medical conditions and various forms of cancer. Interacting with individuals and families provides me the opportunity to learn more about their perspectives and experiences, which in turn will shape my future research endeavors.

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