Associate Dean Susan Riesch welcomes international Egyptian nursing scholar through global network

It is not a highly publicized fact that UW-Madison is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) … but Associate Dean Sue Riesch and her research team are doing their part to support and expand WUN’s visibility through a learning opportunity for scholar Shewikar Farrag, MSc.

WUN is an international alliance of higher education institutions that provides support for student and faculty exchanges, building partnerships to further interdisciplinary research and learning. Riesch and her research program, titled “Strengthening Families Program” (SFP), have teamed with WUN to host J-1 scholar Farrag, an assistant lecturer in paediatric nursing at Mansoura University in Egypt and current doctoral candidate at the University of Sheffield in the United Kindgom.

Farrag, an awardee of WUN’s exchange program, is interested in learning about the SFP, a family intervention model for adolescents engaging in health risk behaviors—and directly aligned with her dissertation research on behavioral management and multi-modal treatment approach for families who have children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To-date, she has had dramatic results with Egyptian families who have participated in behavioral management techniques. For three months, effective April 11, 2004, Farrag will collaborate with the Riesch research team to observe and train in the SFP.

The SFP is a cooperative endeavor between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the UW-Madison School of Nursing, with the Indiana University School of Nursing as a subcontractor. Affectionately known in Wisconsin as “SUP?” (Kids United with Parents), its counterpart in Indiana is “Mission Possible: Parents and Kids Who Listen.” SPF posits that capacity building among families through participation in this theory-based intervention will improve parent-child communication, thereby preventing the child’s initiation of health risk behaviors—use of tobacco, alcohol, or drugs.

Riesch and colleagues propose a busy schedule for Farrag while she is in the United States. Farrag will attend the WUN’s Nursing Conference in Chicago on May 21-23, 2004. She will visit the University of Minnesota to consult with Dr. Ann Garwick about children in families with special needs and then continue on to Indiana University, where she will train and observe at the SAMHSA research site.

Look for the opportunity to meet Farrag, who will present as a guest speaker at UW Pediatric Grand Rounds (to be announced) as well as conduct a School of Nursing research colloquium (to be announced).

WUN’s Web site: http://www.wun.ac.uk/