February 14, 2017

Using the Internet for good

Terrah Foster Akard is helping children facing serious and life-threatening illness create a digital record of their lives, and measuring the impact the practice has on their emotional wellbeing.

Terrah Foster Akard, associate professor of nursing, is halfway into a four-year study to recruit children with advanced or relapsed cancer via Facebook and test a web-based tool that helps children create stories about who they are. The research is in partnership with the Palliative Care Research Cooperative, and is supported by a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health.