Elizabeth A. Schlenk

Dr. Elizabeth A. Schlenk is an academic researcher with a PhD in nursing who focuses on behavioral science to promote healthy lifestyle behavior changes and adherence to treatment regimens in adults with chronic disorders. Her master’s in nursing focused on adult health, and older adults have been the population of interest in several of her studies. She has over 30 years of experience in research, grant funding, and interdisciplinary investigative teams. She pilot tested a self-efficacy based physical activity intervention in older adults with osteoarthritis of the knee, half of whom had hypertension (K01 NR008121).

Additionally, she completed a study of physical activity assessment methods in older adults funded by the NIA Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center; these results guided selection of measures in a later clinical trial. Her clinical trial tested the ability of an intervention guided by self-efficacy theory and modified to address comorbid hypertension to affect lower extremity exercise, fitness walking, functional status, fatigue, blood pressure, quadriceps strength, pain, and health-related quality of life in adults aged 50 years or older with osteoarthritis of the knee and hypertension (R01 NR010904). Technologies used in this clinical trial included e-diaries on smartphones for outcome assessments and self-monitoring during intervention, electronic ActiGraph accelerometers, electronic hand-held dynamometers, and electronic digital pedometers.

She is a Senior Mentoring Faculty and Internal Advisory Board member on the School of Nursing training grant, Technology: Research in Chronic and Critical Illness (T32 NR008857) and Associate Director of the Aging and Gerontological Nursing Research Hub. She is the site principal investigator for the Teaching Nursing Home Collaborative funded by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation. She has over 80 publications, for which she is first author on 16% and senior author on 39%.