RESEARCH FOCUS: DIABETES
According to Diabetes Canada, approximately 3.4 million Canadians, or 9.3% or the population, had diabetes in 2015. What’s more, one of ten deaths in Canadian adults was attributable to diabetes in 2008/09. These are alarming figures. And diabetes rates are growing.
Here at McMaster’s School of Nursing, several faculty members are contributing to the important work of finding better treatment and prevention solutions.
Dr. Diana Sherifali is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Diabetes Care and Research Program, Hamilton Health Sciences and an Associate Investigator at the Population Health Research Institute. Her work focuses on self-care strategies for patients and providers to prevent, manage and treat diabetes and its complications. She recently completed a study that looks at the effectiveness of year-long diabetes coaching for adults living with type 2 diabetes. Sherifali is also involved in 3 large pan-Canada trials that test diabetes coaching with other strategies (behaviour modification and medicine) to induce diabetes remission. Sherifali is the Co-Methods lead for Diabetes Canada’s upcoming 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Methods lead for the Canadian Obesity Network’s 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines. She works with the McMaster Evidence Review and Synthesis team to create opportunities for research related to diabetes, obesity and evidence reviews. Bio page: Dr. Sherifali
Dr. Maureen Markle-Reid holds the Canada Research Chair in Person Centred Interventions for Older Adults with Multimorbidity and their Caregivers and is a director of ACHRU, the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit. She is a member of the McMaster Institute of Research in Aging (MIRA) and Diabetes Action Canada. She creates and tests new ways to support aging at home for older adults with chronic conditions, including diabetes. Markle-Reid recently co-led a research study that evaluated the effects of a 6-month program for older adults with Type 2 diabetes and multiple chronic conditions. The program included home visits by nurses and group wellness sessions. The adults who participated in this study experienced greater improvements in health-related quality of life compared to those who received usual diabetes care. These improvements were achieved at no additional cost to the health care system. Bio page: Dr. Markle-Reid
Dr. Kathryn Fisher is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and member of ACHRU, the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit. She conducted the statistical analysis of the intervention effects of ACHRU’s recent 6-month study that offered home visits and monthly group wellness sessions to older adults with Type 2 diabetes. Bio page: Dr. Fisher
Dr. Rebecca Ganann is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, a researcher with ACHRU, the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit, and a member of MIRA, the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging. She is working on research relating to community-based health care of older adults (65+) living with two or more chronic conditions, including diabetes. One of her current interests is finding ways to engage patients and their caregivers in research teams. Bio page: Dr. Ganann