SPECIAL SESSION: Interventions to Improve Physical Functioning and Psychological Adjustment in Advanced Heart Disease

Description/Overview: In developing a program of research in advanced heart disease, this session overviews the development of a body of knowledge related to human responses to sudden cardiac arrest both for survivors and their family members and the development and testing of nursing interventions to improve health outcomes after sudden cardiac arrest and advanced heart disease. The results of this research program are enhanced physical and psychosocial health and to reduced health care costs in persons with advanced heart disease and their family members. Within the program of cardiovascular nursing research, four foci will be addressed: Nursing intervention models to enhance adjustment, exercise interventions to improve function, cardiovascular disease management interventions, and end of life care in severe heart disease.