College of Nursing's JungHee Kang's Research on Diet and Health Literacy Recognized at International Conference
UK College of Nursing’s Dr. JungHee Kang was selected as the winner of the Nursing and Allied Professions Investigator Award for her best research presentation at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in August 2022, which was held in Barcelona, Spain.
There were three other finalists for the award: one from Japan, one from Belgium and the other from Norway. “I was really honored to win. There were nurse clinicians and researchers as well as researchers from allied health professionals,” said Dr. Kang. “So, it was more meaningful to be recognized not only by nursing scholars but also by scholars from other healthcare fields.”
The study she presented was titled, “Sustained effect of a self-care intervention on diet quality among informal rural caregivers of people with chronic illnesses: Does health literacy matter?” and was co-authored by Drs. Yuriko Katsumata, Terry Lennie, Misook Chung, Martha Biddle, Jennifer Miller, and Debra Moser. The purpose of the study was to compare the impact of a self-care research intervention created by the RICH HEART program on 12-month diet quality in rural caregivers of people with chronic illnesses. The study compared the results between the two groups: caregivers with marginal versus adequate health literacy. Dr. Kang added that the study is related to her interest in nutrition-related interventions and social determinants of health.
Rural caregivers were taught how to adequately read food labels and to answer questions about calories, portion size and other health related issues. “We conducted this intervention to help rural caregivers to practice better self-care and teach them how to eat a healthier diet that reduces the risk of heart disease,” said Dr. Kang. “Rural caregivers of those with chronic illness have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than urban caregivers, and diet is a major lifestyle factor. However, interventions are often not constructed with health literacy in mind.” She added that the results of the study indicate that interventions that address health literacy are effective.
“The award is a very prestigious international award that comes as a result of selection of an abstract from hundreds of submissions from investigators in a variety of disciplines,” said Dr. Moser, the director of the RICH Heart program, a co-author on the study and Dr. Kang’s mentor. “Once the abstract is selected as a finalist, the winner is chosen after oral presentations by the finalists at the European Society of Cardiology.”
Not only did Dr. Kang win the award, but one of the judges reached out to ask her to present the study’s findings at the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing & Allied Professions (ACNAP) next year, which will give her the opportunity to spotlight RICH and the College of Nursing as well as to possibly collaborate with other researchers.
“We are delighted about this win for JungHee,” said Dr. Moser. “Her nutrition research is of the highest quality, and we are extremely proud of her!”
This story was written by James Hayhurst for UK NOW.
