Hendrika is a communication scientist who studies the development, implementation and evaluation of health promotion and/or health communication interventions. She has worked in areas such as: recognition of and responses to heart attack symptoms among seniors, bystander CPR education for limited English proficient populations, fall prevention; screening for hypertension and emergency preparedness. Most of her research is in partnership with Public Health Seattle-King County, Emergency Medical Services Division. More recently, her research also includes the investigation of occupational health and safety issues relevant to 911 telecommunicators (stress) and EMS providers (injuries).
Research/Teaching areas: Health communication; health promotion; theory development
Current Projects: Reducing pre-hospital delay in patients with acute myocardial infarction: this is a multi-site randomized trial to determine if a focused education and counseling intervention makes a significant difference in reducing delay times in patients at risk for myocardial infarction. Heart Attack Survival Kit project: a public education campaign, delivered by King County fire fighters, which is intended to increase response to symptoms of heart attacks among seniors in all fire districts in King County Washington. WIRES: a randomized trial to investigate the effectiveness of an interactive, internet-based intervention to reduce excessive perceptions of breast cancer risk and worry and to increase quality of life, among a general population sample of women in the Seattle/KC area.
