Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012 - (Page 23)

Second sidebar coming on healthcare research initiative. 250300 words.

Geraldine Britton, assistant professor of nursing, hopes that showing pregnant women a new video will lead them to quit smoking or cut down on cigarettes.

Having analyzed the themes from the focus groups, ITURP contracted with White Knight Productions of Vestal, N.Y., to shoot the video. The researchers then returned to groups of pregnant women and nurses for ideas about content. To provide maximum impact, focus-group participants decided that the video should feature real people, not actors. For example, in one vignette, a woman who smoked during her pregnancy describes how she and her family resuscitated her weeks-old infant, who had stopped breathing — and then cautions pregnant women against smoking. “Her little girl is 4 years old and has severe asthma now,” Britton says. Recruiting women to participate was easy, Manktelow says. “The women feel that they’re helping other people quit.” Even when the crew filmed a newborn howling his way through nicotine withdrawal, the mother didn’t hesitate to let ITURP use the footage, she says.

Along with mothers from participating hospitals and clinics, Manktelow and several other nurses, including Lucy Keith from Arnot Ogden Medical Center’s MOMS, appear in the video. The producers also used children to talk about the dangers of smoking. “The pregnant women felt that this message was probably better delivered by children,” Britton says. With production complete, members of ITURP are seeking funds to help them test the video. They plan to show the segment, which runs about 10 minutes, to pregnant women during their prenatal visits. Researchers will measure whether women who see the video, compared with a control group, are more likely to quit or cut down on cigarettes and less likely to resume smoking. Besides producing a new smokingcessation intervention, the project has helped to solidify ITURP’s partnership with community healthcare providers. Such alliances are crucial

for developing effective solutions based on real-world evidence, Britton says. “I like to call it the ‘triple helix’ — practice, research and theory,” she explains. “You need to start in practice in order to develop questions, design effective interventions and conduct research to test and build theory. Then you must return the findings to practice.” — Merrill Douglas

Binghamton University • BINGHAMTON RESEARCH • Spring/Summer 2012

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Geraldine Britton pairs clinical experience with research to craft interventions that may reduce the percentage of pregnant women who smoke.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012

Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012
Contents
About Binghamton Research
Welcome
Briefs
Digital defenders
Jockeying for genetic advantage
The unfiltered truth
Spring awakening
Wall Street watchdog
Principles of the universe demand principled engineers
Engineering and Science Building
Graduate research
Undergraduate research
A piece of the puzzle
Crossword puzzle

Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012