University of Pennsylvania - School of Nursing
420 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6096
Phone: 215-898-2992
Fax:     215-573-7492
Email: tew@nursing.upenn.edu

PhD, 1990, University of Pennsylvania

Research Interests: Outcomes of Treatment for Sleep Apnea; Self-Efficacy; adherence to treatment; sleep in the elderly; outcome measurement.

Biographical Sketch

Terri E. Weaver, PhD, RN, CS, FAAN is recognized nationally and internationally for her research on the effect of illness on the conduct of daily behaviors and assessment of treatment outcomes. Dr. Weaver has developed a program of research that has produced two notable disease specific functional status measures. Initially working in the field of pulmonary disease, Dr. Weaver developed the Pulmonary Functional Status Scale (PFSS) to measure functional status in chronic pulmonary disease (Weaver, et al., 1998a). This measure has been used nationally and internationally in research and practice. Employed in over 100 rehabilitation programs throughout the United States, the PFSS was selected to measure functional status outcomes associated with pulmonary rehabilitation programs throughout the state of Michigan and has been a key variable in the ongoing Connecticut Consortium Rehabilitation research project involving 12 sites throughout that state. This work, supported by the National Institute for Nursing Research, lead to the identification of factors associated with functional status and the development of an explanatory model of functional impairment in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Weaver et al., 1992, 1997a).

Dr. Weaver's current interdisciplinary research focuses on characterizing outcomes associated with sleep disorders and their treatment. She developed the first instrument to measure functional status in disorders of excessive sleepiness (Weaver et al., 1997b). This measure has been employed in outcomes research and clinical trials both nationally and internationally. Dr. Weaver is the Principal Investigator of an international multi-center study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA). This protocol goes beyond the traditional outcome measures of physiologic sleep and daytime sleepiness by including the evaluation of functional status and the utilization of an extensive neurobehavioral test battery (Chugh et al., 1997). This study will be one of the largest studies to furnish evidence of the impact of OSA on quality of life (Weaver et al., 1997c; Weaver, in press) and to document the effectiveness of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)(Weaver et al., 1997c; Weaver et al., 1998b; Chugh et al., 1998; Weaver et al., 1998c). Dr. Weaver and colleagues (Weaver et al., 1997d) were the first to characterize the acute decline in adherence observed over the first week of CPAP treatment. This work is currently being extended in a study designed to isolate factors contributing to this non-adherence, in which Dr. Weaver serves as the Principal Investigator. This work is being conducted as part of a Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grant in collaboration with the Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, School of Medicine, and the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Weaver's current research is supported by the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr Weaver is Co-Director of the Center for Urban Health Research, member of the Hartford Center of Geriatric Excellence, the Center for Gerontological Nursing Science, School of Nursing, and a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics, and a member of the Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, and the Institute on Aging, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Awards and Honors

1972 Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing

1983 ANA Certification Clinical Specialist in Medical Surgical Nursing

1988 - 90 National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship, National Center for Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health

1990 Marion R. Gregory Award, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Awarded for the doctoral dissertation proposal that holds significant promise as a contribution to nursing knowledge.

1993 Fellow, American Academy of Nursing

1996 Outstanding Faculty Award, University of Pennsylvania Sorority & Fraternity System

Selected Publications

Weaver,TE. & Narsavage, G. L. Physiological and psychological variables related to functional status in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nursing Research, 41, 286-291, 1992.

Weaver TE. Obstructive sleep apnea: physiological and functional issues. In Medical-Surgical Quarterly Volume 4, Lowery B (ed.), Springhouse Corp, Springhouse, PA, 1992.

Narsavage, G. L. & Weaver, TE. The relationship of physiological status, coping, and hardiness to patient outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nursing Research, 43, 90-94, 1994.

Weaver TE, Maislin G, Smith P, Schwartz A, Pack A, Gillen K, Dinges D. Determining the functional impact of sleepiness from sleep disordered breathing. Am J Respir Crit Care Med , 151, A748, 1995.

Weaver, T.E., Richmond, T. S., Narsavage, G. L. An explanatory model of functional status in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nursing Research, 46, 26 - 31, 1997.

Weaver TE, Chugh DK, Maislin, G, Schwab RJ, Samuels S, Georeno A, Hessler J, Smith PL, Schwartz , AR, Mahowald M, Kader G, Bloxham T, George C, Pack AI, Dinges DF. Comparison of CPAP nightly duration to nocturnal sleep time. Am Journal of Resp & Crit Care Med, 155, A304, 1997.

Weaver TE, Chugh DK, Maislin G, Schwab RJ, George CFP, Kader GA, Bloxham TJ, Pack AI, Dinges DF. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on the conduct of daily activities. Sleep Research 26, 530, 1997.

Chugh DK, Weaver TE, Dinges DF. Neurobehavioral consequences of arousals. Sleep, 19(10) 198 - 201, 1997.

Weaver T E, Laizner A, Evans L K, Maislin G, Chugh DK, Lyons K, Smith PL, Schwartz AR, Redline S, Pack AI, Dinges DF. An instrument to measure functional status outcomes for disorders of excessive sleepiness. Sleep, 20(10): 835 - 843, 1997.

Weaver TE, Kribbs NB, Pack AI, Kline LR, Chugh DK, Maislin G, Smith PL, Schwartz AR, Schubert NM, Gillen KA, Dinges DF. Night-to-night variability in CPAP use over first three months of treatment. Sleep, 20, 278 - 283, 1997.

Weaver TE, Narsavage GL, Guilfoyle MJ. The development and psychometric evaluation of the Pulmonary Functional Status Scale (PFSS): An instrument to assess functional status in pulmonary disease. J Cardiopulmonary Rehabil, 18: 105 - 111, 1998.

Weaver TE, Chugh D, Maislin G, Schwab R, Mahowald M, Kader G, Bloxham T, George C, Greenberg H, Younger J, Pack A, Dinges D. Changes in functional status after 3 months CPAP treatment. Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 157, A53, 1998.

Weaver TE, Maislin G, Chugh D, Schwab R, Mahowald M, Kader G, Bloxham T, George C, Greenberg H, Younger J, Pack A, Dinges D. Change in OSA Symptoms after 3 months CPAP use: A multisite study. Sleep, 21 (Supplement), 94, 1998.

Weaver TE, Gooneratne N., Maislin G., Pack F, Arner H, Dinges D, Pack A (1999) Daily Functioning of Sleepy and Non - Sleepy Elderly. Sleep, 22 (Supplement #1), S223, 1999.

Weaver, TE., Maislin, G, Pack, AI, Dinges, DF. Improvements in OSA Outcomes Relative to Hours of Nightly CPAP Use. Sleep 23 (Supplement 2), A81, 2000.

Umlauf, MG, Weaver, TE (2000) Daytime sleepiness. In MD Mezey, M. Bottrell, B. Berkman, CM Callahan, TT Fulmer, EL Mitty, GJ Paveza, EL Siegler, NE Strumpf (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Elderly Care: The Comprehensive Resource on Geriatric and Social Care. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Weaver, T. (in press) Adherence to CPAP treatment and functional status in adult obstructive sleep apnea. In A. I. Pack (ed.) Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea. New York: Marcel Dekker.

Weaver,TE. The importance of valid outcome measures in sleep medicine practice and research. Part 1: Assessment of OSA symptoms, subjective and objective daytime sleepiness health-related quality of life, and functional status. Sleep Medicine Review, 5(2), 103-128, 2001.

Weaver,TE. The importance of valid outcome measures in sleep medicine practice and research. Part 2: Assessment of neurobehavioral performance and mood. Sleep Medicine Review, 5(3), 2001.