For Immediate Release
Mary C. McGeachy (Rodheim Marketing Group)
mary@rodheim-marketing.com
917.334.6813

February 6, 2007, Santa Barbara, CA…The Unihealth Foundation has awarded a grant of $95,794.00 to Joseph P. Bush, PhD, associate dean in the School of Psychology at Fielding Graduate University, it was announced today by Dr. Judith L. Kuipers, president of Fielding.

The grant will support Dr. Bush's research on the "Effects of Online Peer Support in Improving Psychological Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Disease." He will be assisted in this research by clinical psychology graduate student, David Raffle. This is the second UniHealth grant awarded to Fielding for Bush's research.

The study will be conducted in conjunction with Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, which hosts an online community for children with chronic illnesses, called Starbright World. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a painful, chronic, incurable illness with onset almost exclusively in late childhood and adolescence, often resulting in anger, anxiety, depression, and social isolation in teens. Over a million US residents have IBD. Past research has shown that peer social support helps teens manage their illnesses and maintain better psychological adjustment. To date, however, there have been no controlled treatment research studies investigating the therapeutic impact of online social support in this population. It is anticipated that results of this study will help document the value of online support networks such as Starbright World and contribute to improvements in their quality and accessibility to children in need.

"Health psychology continues to gain strength as an emerging specialty here at Fielding and we are delighted to be recipients of the second Unihealth grant to continue this important work," stated Ronald Giannetti, PhD, dean of the School of Psychology at Fielding.

Fielding Graduate University was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA. Fielding is an accredited, non-profit graduate university offering programs within three schools: Psychology, Human & Organization Development, and Educational Leadership & Change. The Fielding community enables students to participate effectively from anywhere in the world and is dedicated to lifelong learning; social justice and change; and innovation in organizations, communities, and society. For more information, visit online at www.fielding.edu.