2015_07_15_ENF_narvarta

Mª Victoria Narvarta, a doctoral student at School of Nursing at the University of Navarra, completed a research stay at the University of Southampton (UK), ranked 132nd in the latest Times Higher Education world university ranking.

For three months Narvarta worked on the design of an intervention multidisciplinary to improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) and their family caregivers. For this she joined the School of Health Sciences, under the tutelage of Professor Anne Rogers, whose team has extensive experience in the area of health strategies for people with chronic processes. From her research in the United Kingdom she extracts that "the development and implementation of social and health interventions to improve coping, adaptation and self-management of chronic disease is essential for promote the quality of life of people with chronic conditions and their families". The analysis of these results has been incorporated into the development of his thesis that he plans to defend in the coming months.

Its programs of study are framed within the ReNACE Program, a research that integrates several projects focused on the living process of patients, family members and/or caregivers with a chronic disease such as Parkinson's disease. Through the design, implementation and assessment of interventions led by nurses, together with multidisciplinary and multicenter health teams, the program aims to promote a translational and participatory research in various contexts and with patients with different chronic diseases. The goal is to offer individualized self-care strategies.

The program, highlighted by the Spanish Parkinson's Federation, is funded by the Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness and by the University of Navarra's research Plan, is expected to deliver the first results by 2016.