Erika Froelicher, RN, PhD

Primary, secondary and tertiary (rehabilitation) prevention through nursing interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors (exercise, blood pressure, lipid, obesity, smoking cessation and relapse prevention) as well as depression and social isolation. I also have a strong interest in physiological, psychosocial, and economic issues relevant to Expertise in methods, design, and epidemiology.

I am also participating in the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease (ENRICHD) project at the Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center, Department  of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Women's Initiative for Nonsmoking (WINS) is a randomized clinical trial to test the short- and long-term efficacy of a nurse-managed smoking cessation and relapse prevention program for women smokers, hospitalized for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The WINS intervention is based on social learning theory ad a relapse prevention model and is predicated on maintaining abstinence from tobacco after hospitalizations of at least 48-72 hours. A similar intervention, tested in men and women recovering from a heart attack at a health maintenance organization in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990 had a bio-chemically confirmed cessation rate at one year of 71% for the intervention group and a 40% control group. In WINS, this same intervention is tailored to suit women with CVD through an assessment of smoking history, prior patterns of quit behavior, level of addiction, and efficacy to be able to establish a quit date. The study uses the American Heart Association Active Partnership: Smoking Cessation Program as the basis for addressing women's general as well as unique needs.
Pharmacological therapy is used as an adjunct to the cognitive behavioral intervention. Special consideration is given to weight control with exercise and dietary counseling provided within the context of quitting smoking. Outcomes are measured at 6, 12, 24, and 30 months with nonsmoking confirmed by saliva cotinine measures. A set of co-variates (demographics, smoking history, nicotine dependence, self-efficacy, alcohol use, co-morbidity, weight, exercise, depression, stress, well-being, and function, psychological distress, social support, smoking cessation, and adjunct therapy) are being studied to identify risk factors that predict relapse in CVD women.