The University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative and Supportive Care has awarded UAB School of Nursing alumna and postdoctoral trainee Rachel Wells, PhD (2019), a $15,000 grant to study the impact of a palliative care intervention on caregiver experiences.
Through the Palliative Research Enhancement Project (PREP) grant, Wells will explore advanced heart failure caregivers’ experiences with the early palliative care intervention ENABLE CHF-PC (Educate, Nurture, Advise Before Life Ends Comprehensive Heartcare for Patients and Caregivers). Wells’ study will include how caregivers experience and engage with the intervention and what impact their participation has on quality of life, burden and global health.
“As a cardiac nurse for almost the entirety of my nursing career, I’ve witnessed the distress, suffering, and poor quality of life of those living with advanced heart failure and their family caregivers,” Wells said. “The burden on family caregivers to help with the everyday heart failure-related tasks is immense. Yet, many of these family caregivers receive little to no training and often report high levels of distress, perceived burden, and poor quality of life and we know palliative care can help.”
Wells is a two-time graduate of the School of Nursing. She received her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a Clinical Nurse Leader concentration in 2010. She is continuing her career at the School of Nursing as a postdoctoral trainee, funded by a T32 grant. She is mentored by Marie L. O’Koren Endowed Chair in Nursing Marie Bakitas, DNSc, NP-C, FAAN, a world-renown expert in palliative care, and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Preventive Medicine Raegan Durant, MD, MPH.
