Rachel Walker

Rachel Walker
University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst · School of Nursing

PhD, RN

About

42
Publications
9,569
Reads
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626
Citations
Introduction
Hi - I just joined ResearchGate and I'm still working on my profile for this site & adding my publications and conference papers, so please feel free to contact me with any questions!
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
September 2014 - present
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
June 2013 - August 2014
Johns Hopkins University
Position
  • PostDoc Position
Description
  • Inaugural postdoc for the Center for Innovative Care in Aging, working with Center Director Dr. Laura Gitlin and Postdoc Mentor Dr. Sarah L. Szanton on issues related to dignity, aging, and support for older adults living with cancer.
September 2008 - May 2013
Johns Hopkins University
Position
  • PhD Student
Description
  • Dissertation: "Understanding the 'work' of transitional cancer survivorship for rural older adults and their support persons". Co-Advisors: Marie T. Nolan, PhD RN FAAN and Jennifer Wenzel, PhD RN

Publications

Publications (42)
Article
Objectives: To evaluate the effects of social network characteristics of individuals with a family history of cancer on the use of cancer-related services (e.g., screening, genetic counseling/testing). Sample & setting: 170 family members of individuals with the most common hereditary or familial cancers. Methods & variables: Data collection o...
Conference Paper
Purpose: What constitutes innovative and high-quality curricula for research-focused doctoral study is contested and must evolve with the ever-changing landscape of nursing and health care, science, and society as a whole (Hodgson, Madigan, Mishan & Montalvo, 2021). The purpose of this redesign process was to co-create and evaluate new programmatic...
Article
Background Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, also commonly referred to as sexual and gender minorities (SGMs), live in every part of the United States and encompass all races and/or ethnicities, religions, and social classes. Major reports from various sources document higher rates of health issues (e.g., substance abuse...
Article
Full-text available
Significance: Cancer treatment impacts young adults' (YA) biological and psychosocial health, with over >50% reporting unmet needs. Physical activity (PA) offers symptom mitigation, risk reduction, and critical independence to YA (age 18-39 years) affected by cancer. When tailored to YA, PA guidelines can facilitate PA integration into survivorship...
Article
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com N u r s O u t l o o k 0 0 0 (2 0 2 1) 1 À3 www.nursingoutlook.org
Article
Problem identification: Physical activity, a precision health strategy, positively affects biopsychosocial health in adult cancer survivors. However, understanding its effects among young adult (YA) cancer survivors is limited. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore existing research on physical activity in YA cancer survivors. Literat...
Article
Full-text available
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia invests tremendous governmental resources to support the annual Hajj season, including providing free world-class healthcare for all visiting pilgrims. Nurses from around the Kingdom are encouraged to work at Makkah during this period. These nurses come from different cultural backgrounds and provide care for pilgrims fr...
Article
Aims & Objectives To disrupt conflations between “health disparities research” and critical engagement with racism, whiteness, other oppressions, and our profession’s ongoing roles in white supremacy. Background In Oncology Nursing Society’s 2019‐2023 research agenda, health disparities are highlighted as a top priority for nursing knowledge gener...
Article
Full-text available
Sensor technologies for health care, research, and consumers have expanded and evolved rapidly. Many technologies developed in commercial or engineering spaces, lack theoretical grounding and scientific evidence to support their need, safety, and efficacy. Theory is a mechanism for synthesizing and guiding knowledge generation for the discipline of...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose To determine whether there were significant differences in self-report and objective measures of physical fitness and function between women post–breast cancer (BC) treatment with and without clinically significant fatigue. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of baseline data collected from 281 postmenopausal women post–BC treatment...
Article
Human-caused climate change is a global emergency, and its harms are predicted to increase exponentially in the coming years, particularly if unsustainable practices continue unmitigated. Adverse effects of climate change on communities affected by or at risk for cancer, such as frail older adults, are already measurable and deadly. If nurse scient...
Article
Better education around the recognition of transfusion-associated adverse events is warranted. It is unknown if checklist use improves recognition by student nurses. This study examined whether using a checklist could improve transfusion-associated adverse event recognition behaviors. There was an increased frequency of transfusion-associated adver...
Article
Background: The high incidence of pain associated with end-stage cancers indicates the need for a new approach to understanding how and why patients, caregivers, and clinicians make pain management choices. Aims: To provide pilot data and preliminary categories for developing a middle-range nursing theory and framework through which to scrutiniz...
Article
Participation refers to a state of health in which a person is able to fully engage in roles and life situations. Adults living with and beyond cancer often report persistent participation restrictions that affect their productivity and quality of life. The American Occupational Therapy Foundation convened a group of scientists from seven different...
Article
Full-text available
Although cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is both subjective and multi-dimensional, eye movements known as ‘saccades’ may offer an objective, non-invasive measure of dimensions of CRF related to changes in oculomotor function. While such a measure would not replace vitally-important subjective assessments, an objective measure of CRF could provide anot...
Article
Full-text available
Approximately 1% of all breast cancer survivors are male. However, survivorship care for this population follows precedents designed for females. The purpose of this study was to describe male breast cancer survivors’ perspectives on the adequacy of survivorship care. This research was embedded in a larger study of breast cancer survivorship. Five...
Poster
Full-text available
The assessment of goals for managing end of life cancer pain is an area of nursing research lacking attention. In our poster, we present related social processes for managing cancer pain within the hospice caring triad.
Article
Background: Qualitative pain research for hospice patients with cancer and their caregivers involves recruiting and retaining participants with multiple vulnerabilities and ethical and logistical challenges. These have been reported for studies of individuals or dyads. However, there are no reports of the related challenges and outcomes where the...
Article
Rural-dwelling cancer survivors face multiple socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental barriers to achieving recommended exercise levels. Many older cancer survivors also report that symptoms of cancer and other chronic conditions interfere with functioning, leading to more time spent sitting or lying down. These prolonged periods of inactivity...
Article
Purpose: Hospice cancer patients experience poorly-controlled pain in spite of widely-disseminated evidence-based guidelines for use by hospice care practitioners. Pain management occurs in the context of the interdisciplinary team, centered on a caring triad in the home: the person with pain, their caregiver, and their nurse. This review: 1) Summ...
Article
Background: Exercise, light physical activity, and decreased sedentary time all have been associated with health benefits following cancer diagnoses. Commercially available wearable activity trackers may help patients monitor and self-manage their behaviors to achieve these benefits. Objectives: This article highlights some advantages and limita...
Article
Background: Falls at home are common and potentially fatal for disabled older adults. To address this problem, we created an academic–community partnership involving disabled, urban-dwelling older adults and their families, the housing authority, a Tai Chi master, and a university. Objectives: We conducted a pilot to assess safety, acceptability, a...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose/objectives: To develop a better understanding of how older adult survivors of early-stage breast and prostate cancer managed the work of recovery. . Research approach: Multiple case study design embedded in a larger randomized, controlled trial of a nurse-led patient navigation intervention. . Setting: Community-based research condu...
Article
In 2000, the John A. Hartford Foundation established the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Program initiative, acknowledging nursing’s key role in the care of the growing population of older adults. This program has supported 249 nurse scientists with pre- and post-doctoral awards. As a result of the program’s success, several Building A...
Article
Full-text available
Activity is associated with health among older adults yet older adults' favorite activities have rarely been investigated. We analyzed the community dwelling, cognitively-intact sample of NHATS, a nationally representative sample of adults ≥65, who had named their favorite activities (N = 5247). Logistic regression models estimated the odds of choo...
Article
Full-text available
Aging with independence benefits individuals, family, and society. To achieve independence, older adults must be able to function in their homes. This function is determined both by their abilities and by the environment in which they maneuver. This article describes a promising program that intervenes with both older adults and their home environm...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Excellence in teaching and learning (ETAL) constitute important aims of nursing schools. At present, these aims are measured by course evaluations, students’ passing rate of NCLEX exams (in the United States), graduate’ students’ employment rate, and positions, and graduates’ continuing with post-graduate education. In order to continue...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose/Objectives: To examine and refine the Illness Trajectory Framework, and to address transitional cancer survivorship. Data Sources: CINAHL®, PubMed, and relevant Institute of Medicine reports were searched for survivors' experiences during the year following treatment. Data Synthesis: Using an abstraction tool, 68 articles were selected from...
Article
Full-text available
Older African Americans face substantial barriers to state-of-the-art cancer care. Implementing culturally appropriate support throughout cancer therapy is critical to improving cancer outcomes and quality of life for this vulnerable population. The purpose of this study was to obtain experiential data regarding cancer diagnosis and treatment, and...
Article
Rural African American (AA) seniors may experience significant challenges during cancer treatment. Previous research suggests community health workers (CHWs) can provide effective cancer patient navigation (CPN) support. To develop a Train the Trainers (TTT) program for CHWs in rural Central Virginia who would navigate local AA seniors with cancer...
Article
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurse volunteers caring for children after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010. This descriptive qualitative study using in-depth interviews focuses on the experiences of 10 nurse volunteers. Four themes emerged: hope amid devastation, professional compromises, universality of children, a...
Article
In each volume of the Journal, the editors select one article for our Beyond the Manuscript post-study interview with the authors. Beyond the Manuscript provides the authors the opportunity to tell listeners what they would want to know about the project beyond what went into the final manuscript. The associate editors who handled the articles cond...
Article
Full-text available
To obtain experiential data regarding African American older adult survivors' perceptions of and recommendations on the role of community health workers (CHWs) in providing a cancer navigation intervention. Focus groups. Rural Virginia and urban Maryland. 48 African American solid-tumor cancer survivors, aged 65 years or older, with Medicare insura...
Article
To determine facilitators and barriers to managing patient loss from the combined perspectives of oncology nurses and to extract essential components of a supportive intervention. Qualitative, descriptive. The comprehensive National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center of a mid-Atlantic university teaching hospital. 34 nurses from inpatient an...
Article
Full-text available
Cancer survivors in the United States often encounter significant challenges in obtaining and paying for medical care. Multiple research studies have examined these issues in Medicare and Medicaid populations and the underinsured, but very little is known about insurance-related challenges encountered by cancer survivors enrolled in private insuran...

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