Catherine (Kit) Chesla, DNSc, RN, FAAN

Dr. Kit Chesla is Professor at University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. In 2008 she was named Thelma Shobe Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality. Dr. Chesla's scholarship explores and illuminates how families, through their relationships and caring practices, heal and hold the chronically ill family member. Her work is also directed at articulating the ways in which health care services and structures support or impede families’ ways of coping with everyday challenges of chronic illness.

Dr. Chesla is also dedicated to working with persons and families from diverse backgrounds (African American, Chinese American, European American and Latino). Recently, she led a large multi-method study of the personal, family and provider factors in well-being of persons with type 2 diabetes in African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, European-Americans and Latinos. The studies included a community-based sample of people with diabetes and their spouses with an interpretive study of their illness understandings and practices of living with diabetes. Dr. Chesla is currently the principal investigator on a 4-year Community Based Participatory Research Project to develop and test a family-focused behavioral intervention for Chinese immigrants with type 2 diabetes and their families. In partnership with two community agencies in San Francisco Chinatown, her team is working improve patient health and behavioral outcomes.

Her teaching focuses on the topics of family health, chronic illness, and research methods. Dr. Kit Chesla has numerous publications in nursing, family nursing, psychology and research journals.

http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/ffchesk.htm
http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/public/shobe/index.shtml