- February 19, 2021

The Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation PhD Seed Grant Program awarded grants to doctoral students, Nana Jiao, MSN and Jennifer Mattingly, MPH, to support their research. Both projects examine how the COVID-19 pandemic influences health behaviors with one focused on sleep and the other on physical inactivity.

“Although we all hope that the greatest impacts of the pandemic will subside, the reverberations of its effects on work-family life are likely to stay with us for quite some time,” stated Dr. Megan E. Petrov. “We hope that these projects will be able to capture some of these repercussions as they are unfolding so they can be addressed in future interventions.”

Congratulations to both Nana and Jennifer for their awards!

 

Factors Associated with Infant Sleep during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Jiao)

Infant sleep patterns are highly dependent on biopsychosocial factors including parenting and parent-child interaction. The COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders have disrupted family life, which may contribute to sleep problems. This project aims to identify factors that may affect the sleep patterns of infants under current pandemic circumstances. The research team includes mentor, Dr. Megan E. Petrov, and Co-Investigator, Dr. Elizabeth Reifsnider.  

 

Gender Differences in Minutes of Daily Sedentary Time Among Adult Dyads (Mattingly)

The pandemic has increased the number of Americans working from home, which may be associated with greater sitting and screen time. Time spent sitting (sedentary behavior) is directly associated with poor health but the effects may be different for men and women. This project examines associations between gender roles and behaviors, daily sedentary time, and the context and conditions in which sedentary behavior occurs among employed, man-woman co-habitating couples with children. The research team includes mentor, Dr. Megan E. Petrov.