Researchers Heleen Westland

Heleen Westland

Assistant Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Dr. Heleen Westland is assistant professor at the Julius Center, University Medical Center Utrecht. She worked as a (senior) registered nurse (2001-2008) and a clinical nurse leader (2008-2012) at the cardiology/cardiothoracic surgery department. She obtained her Master of Science Degree in Nursing Science (2009, cum laude) and Epidemiology (2018) at the Utrecht University. In 2019, she obtained her PhD at the Utrecht University focusing on self-management support by nurses of patients with a chronic condition.
She continued her scientific career as an assistant professor focusing on understanding and optimizing patients’ self-management of their chronic condition to improve personalized support and patients’ outcomes.

Currently, dr. Westland is investigating how to optimize the support of patients with heart failure in monitoring and managing their symptoms (senior scientist Dekkerbeurs, Dutch Heart Foundation, 2023).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heleen-westland-7561b310/

Strategic program(s):

Contact

h.westland@umcutrecht.nl

Pure profile

Research groups

Nursing Science in Cardiovascular Disease

Research aim

We aim to reduce the impact of cardiac disease on the lives of patients, their caregivers and on society. We focus on increasing the ability of patients to maintain their self-care, to monitor their symptoms and take appropriate action.

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Nursing Science

Research aim

Our mission is to innovate and improve nursing care. Our solutions help patients optimize their health, independence and well-being across care settings.

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Recent publications

All publications

Use of virtual reality in preoperative education of cardiac surgery patients – A feasibility study Michelle M. van Rijn, Linda M. de Heer, Jenny Nieuwenhuis-Wendt, Niels P. van der Kaaij, Eveline G.E. Moolenaar, Daan Halle van der Ham, Lars van der Plank, Heleen Westland, Saskia W.M. Weldam
Patient Education and Counseling, 2024, vol. 129

How do patients with rheumatoid arthritis perceive their self-care and self-care support? Heleen Westland, Stefan Kuiper, Cheryl van den Bovenkamp, Etienne Blaas, Tiny Jaarsma
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2024, vol. 80, p.4310-4322

'What Happened?' Sara Soldan, Corien Flint, Tiny Jaarsma, Heleen Westland
European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 2024, vol. 23, p.912-918

Optimizing support before and after Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy implantation in co-creation with patients with heart failure, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals Heleen Westland, Michelle van Rijn, Mathias Meine, Tiny Jaarsma
European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 2024, vol. 23, p.886-894

Symptom characteristics, perceived causal attributions, and contextual factors influencing self-care behaviors Barbara Riegel, Shayleigh Dickson Page, Subhash Aryal, Christopher S Lee, Andrew Belfiglio, Kenneth E Freedland, Anna Stromberg, Ercole Vellone, Heleen Westland, Michelle M van Rijn, Sara Pettersson, Douglas J Wiebe, Tiny Jaarsma
Patient Education and Counseling, 2024, vol. 123

Lessons learned from the MOMENT study on how to recruit and retain a target population online, across borders, and with automated remote data collection Andrew Belfiglio, Shayleigh Dickson Page, Sara Pettersson, Michelle van Rijn, Ercole Vellone, Heleen Westland, Kenneth E Freedland, Christopher Lee, Anna Strömberg, Douglas Wiebe, Subhash Aryal, Barbara Riegel, Tiny Jaarsma
PLoS ONE, 2024, vol. 19

External positions

Editorial Board member - Reviewen van aangeboden manuscripten op geschiktheid voor publicatie in het journal, board meetings - European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing