Grantee: Teresa H. Thomas, PhD, RN

Teresa H. Thomas, PhD, RN

Organization:

• University of Pittsburgh

Current Title
Associate Professor

Describe your scientific identity.
I am a nurse scientist researching patient self-advocacy among individuals with advanced cancer.

What are your research interests?
My research aims to equip patients with advanced cancer with self-advocacy skills to ensure they can address challenges that arise during their care. Currently, we are evaluating whether our serious game can improve patients’ self-advocacy skills including improving their communication with healthcare providers, ability to engage in decision-making, and ability to leverage their social support networks.

What is the significance of your current research project?
Our study is one of the first to evaluate a theoretically-based self-advocacy intervention among patients with cancer. It attempts to bridge the gap between saying that we want patients to speak up for themselves and actually providing them with a specific skillset to do so. Our study uses a serious game platform, which mixes educational content with motivational and engaging format. One of our aims is to investigate how the features of the serious game led to learning and behavior change, which is relevant to any intervention attempting to apply gamification or serious games within patient behavior change interventions.

What motivated you to work in health communication research?
My research has always focused on promoting patient self-advocacy, but this concept is easier said than done for most patients with cancer. That is why we decided to use a narrative-based serious game to show participants what self-advocacy looks like and how self-advocacy can improve their well-being and health. We built the content of the serious game alongside patients and advocates to ensure the stories, decisions, and consequences reflect real life situations. In this way, the intervention is realistic. Our technology is simple and accessible across ages and familiarity with technology.

Describe something that had a profound influence on your program of research or scientific interests (an "ah-ha!" moment).
My work has always been motivated by my family members’ cancer journeys, seeing the difficulty of being diagnosed, trying to manage their health, and working with the healthcare team. But the most profound influence on my program of research has been my mentors that have unfailingly supported and advocated for me throughout every stage of my career.

Selected training, awards, and honors:

• Mentored Research Scholar Grant, American Cancer Society
• Career Development Award, National Palliative Care Research Grant
• Doctoral Scholarship in Cancer Nursing, American Cancer Society

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