Mary Pearl Bennett- DNSc
- Professor at Western Kentucky University
Mary Pearl Bennett
- DNSc
- Professor at Western Kentucky University
After 16 years as Director of the SONAH I will be returning to full-time teaching Jan 2024.
About
27
Publications
11,610
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Introduction
Dr Mary Bennett is the former Director of the School of Nursing and Allied Health at Western Kentucky University. She conducts educational research related to nursing workforce development and student success. Her most recent project is on improving retention of diverse and first generation pre-nursing students. Her clinical research is on end of life care and use of complementary interventions such as humor to improve quality of life and immune function.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
August 2007 - present
Position
- Managing Director
Description
- Mary Bennett is Director of the WKU School of Nursing, which has programs ranging from the Associate of Science in Nursing to the Doctor of Nursing Practice.
Publications
Publications (27)
Background/Objectives: Prior studies have shown that most students seeking entry into a nursing program (also known as pre-nursing students) do not make it into the nursing profession, mostly due to failing one or more science courses in their first year of college. These students give up on nursing, dropping out of college or changing to a less ch...
Background
Nursing educational programs have been charged with increasing the diversity of the nursing workforce; however, this depends on having a diverse and qualified applicant pool to select from.
Purpose
To determine the effects of student losses over time on nursing program diversity.
Design and methods
Descriptive longitudinal study. Progr...
This article compares the aggressiveness of nursing behavioral intentions in the care of the end-of-life patient between 1989 and 2014. Using a comparison design, the effects of patient age, presence of a do-not-resuscitate order, and nursing unit norms on the aggressiveness of nursing behavioral intentions were documented in 1989 and again in 2014...
Introduction Few studies have examined the best use of admission data to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful students in a nursing program. Methods Using data from 341 students admitted over a 3-year period, the authors attempted to determine which factors best predicted student success in a baccalaureate of science in nursing, or BSN...
The Institute of Medicine report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” makes specific recommendations for removing barriers to advanced practice nursing scope of practice. The report also makes important recommendations concerning interdisciplinary teamwork. This article examines the challenges on the professional working rela...
This research reports immune function and health outcomes in women with depression, as compared with a non-depressed control group. Using Psychoneuroimmunolgy theory and a descriptive comparison design, scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to divide 40 non-hospitalized Caucasian women between the ages of 18 and 65 years into eith...
This is the final article in a four part series reviewing the influence of humor and laughter on physiological and psychological well-being. This final article reviews the evidence for the effect of sense of humor, exposure to a humor stimulus and laughter on various immune system components, with a focus on the effects of laughter on natural kille...
The use of relaxation and guided imagery to reduce stress and improve immune function has great potential benefits for patients with breast cancer.
This pilot study used a pretest-posttest experimental design with 28 breast cancer patients, aged 25 to 75 years, with the diagnosis of stage 0, 1, or 2 breast cancer. The experimental group received a...
This is part three of a four-part series reviewing the evidence on how humor influences physiological and psychological well-being. The first article included basic background information, definitions and a review of the theoretical underpinnings for this area of research. The second article discussed use of humor as a complementary therapy within...
Our results support a connection between sense of humor and self-reported physical health, however, it is difficult to determine the relationship to any specific disease process. Whereas relationships between sense of humor and self-reported measures of physical well-being appear to be supported, more research is required to determine interrelation...
Articles in both the lay and professional literature have extolled the virtues of humor, many giving the impression that the health benefits of humor are well documented by the scientific and medical community. The concept that humor or laughter can be therapeutic goes back to biblical times and this belief has received varying levels of support fr...
To identify use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for relief of symptoms and side effects among women diagnosed with breast cancer and to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with the use of CAM in these patients.
A descriptive, cross-sectional survey.
Clinics and community groups in the Tampa Bay area and community gr...
To design and test a reliable and valid instrument to determine the frequency of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies among women diagnosed with breast cancer.
A descriptive cross-sectional survey.
Women were recruited from the southeastern area and a rural midwestern area of the United States.
105 predominantly Caucasian w...
A recent survey of rural Midwestern cancer patients revealed that humor was one of the most frequently used complementary therapies. Psychoneuroimmunology research suggests that, in addition to its established psychological benefits, humor may have physiological effects on immune functioning.
To determine the effect of laughter on self-reported str...
To estimate the frequency of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies among women diagnosed with breast cancer and to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with CAM use in these patients.
A descriptive, cross-sectional survey.
A convenience sample of 105 predominantly Caucasian women (mean age = 59 years) with a...
To present barriers and strategies related to successful clinical trial participation and integrate them into a model for successful trial participation.
The proposed model was developed based on a literature review related to clinical trial participation, review of empirical studies related to clinical trials, and experiences with subject particip...
To document how people living in rural areas use of intend to use complementary therapies and to determine demographic factors related to the use of these therapies.
Descriptive, cross-sectional survey.
Three cancer treatment clinics and one support group located in the rural Midwest.
53 people with cancer, predominantly Caucasian, ages 42-91.
Nurs...
Numerous studies document the negative effects of stressors on physiological and psychological functioning. A number of complementary therapies are available to help moderate the effect of these stressors. However, there are few instruments available to help health care professionals determine what type of complementary therapies persons with cance...
This article reviews the literature on psychoneuroimmunology and its theoretical underpinnings. It also reviews research related to the immune-system-link of stress, chronic stress, depression and health behaviors to breast cancer. Although the relationship between psychological characteristics and the immune system have been documented repeatedly,...
This is part three of a four-part series reviewing the evidence on how humor influences physiological and psychological well-being. The first article included basic background information, definitions and a review of the theoretical underpinnings for this area of research.The second article discussed use of humor as a complementary therapy within v...
This paper is posted to assist graduate nursing students and others who are interested in my early PNI theory development work. The paper documents development and initial testing of a midrange theory of the effects of various nursing interventions on the psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) network. The hypothesized effects of interventions on various i...
