The 2022 recipient of the Rivara Endowment Injury Research Grant award is PhD candidate, Wonkyung Jung, MSN, RN for her project titled, “The role of social integration in cognitive functioning after traumatic brain injury in older adults.”
Jung’s cross-sectional study aims to determine if social integration factors (productive activity, social relationships, community engagement, and leisure activities) are associated with cognitive function in older adults at year 1, year 2, and year 5 post-traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study will also examine interrelationships among injury severity and social integration factors with cognitive function at 1, 2, and 5 years after TBI in older adults.
The inspiration for starting this project came from working in Korea as a nurse.
“During my tenure as a nurse in Korea, I cared for patients with brain injuries. Almost half of them were over 65 years old. I wondered how the older patients live after being discharged, and that led me to want to do this project,” says Jung.
Jung is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington’s School of Nursing. She will be mentored by HIPRC Education & Training Co-Director, Dr, Hilaire Thompson. Her ultimate goal career is to become a nurse researcher who can improve the quality of life for individuals who suffer from TBI.
