A Wealth of Achievements

A: Advocacy doesn’t happen only in Washington, D.C. All of us have a responsibility to be aware of the need for advocacy and to be advocates for our patients, whether it’s with insurance companies or policy makers. We also need to help them learn to work within the system to overcome barriers to healthcare.

ARHP Award

ARHP Distinguished Scholar Award

Basia Belza, PhD, RN, FAAN

Aljoya Endowed Professor in Aging, Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, University of Washington, Seattle

Background: the 2010 ARHP Distinguished Scholar Award is Basia Belza, PhD, RN, professor of biobehavioral nursing and health systems and the Aljoya Endowed Professor in Aging at the University of Washington, Seattle. This award is presented to an individual who demonstrates exceptional achievements in scholarly activities pertinent to arthritis and the rheumatic diseases. Active in rheumatology practice for 30 years, Dr. Belza received her BSN, MSN, and PhD from Georgetown University, the University of Virginia, and the University of California, San Francisco, respectively. She has been president of the AHRP and a member of the board of directors. She was also co-editor of the first edition of Clinical Care in Rheumatic Diseases. This award is a tribute to her dedication to improving the lives of older adults.

Dr. Belza’s research targets a better understanding of fatigue in adults and older adults with chronic diseases: What are the underlying mechanisms? How can fatigue be measured? What are the best ways to manage this fatigue? When she started in this field, Dr. Belza’s patients would say that with pain, they could just find a different way to do something. But with fatigue, they felt they had no similar strategies to combat its overwhelming effects. Her doctoral dissertation included development of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) scale, which has been translated into 25 languages, with the result that awareness of fatigue in many conditions was increased among health professionals. She notes that all healthcare professionals are worried about fatigue in their patients. Physical and occupational therapists, for example, are concerned when patients are too tired to participate in therapy.

Just being able to acknowledge that fatigue is a “real thing” is helpful to patients, says Dr. Belza. There are multiple causes of fatigue, including the disease process itself, sleep deprivation, depression, anemia, and inactivity, to name a few. Because there are so many possible causes, she explains, there are multiple approaches to management. Many people find that, paradoxically, an increase in their physical activity level increases their energy level after an initial, tiring period of adjustment.