Dissertation on “Cervical Dystonia and the Black Community.”

February 15, 2012

My Life with Cervical Dystonia!

My name is Karen Chandler and I have cervical dystonia. I was born in Panama (Afro-Hispanic and I do not speak lick of Spanish, lol) and raised sin California, Michigan, and Florida. I was diagnosed with CD while I was in the Navy in 1998, when I was 27 years old. I was fitness fanatic, always at the gym. Then CD hit me like a ton of bricks, it just came out of no where, and I had to fight excruciating pain, severe depression, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, and not wanting to go outside. But things finally started to get better for me. In 2001, I had mybilateral DBS surgery done, but not at one time; every three months I get my botox injections into my neck muscles and left shoulder, and I take medication (clonazepam), and pain medication. I still have limitations because of my CD, for instanceI cannot run anymore and I tend to stutter when I get nervous or excited. However, I do yoga and pilates to keep my muscles limber. But one day I got sick of watching the world go by me and I wanted to live again. So I went back to school and got my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Healthcare Management and now I am working on my PhD. Who knew?

My dissertation will be a quantitative research design with the cross-sectional methodology. Moreover, I will be using quasi-experimental because I do not have to do a random sample along with non-probability sampling. I will be sending questionnaires out on stigma, depression, cervical dystonia impact profile-58 (CDIP-58), and demographics. What will be recorded are the responses concerning stigma, pain, depression/anxiety, and quality of life.

Right now I am a full time student at Walden University with my major being in Public Health – Epidemiology, where I am doing my dissertation on “Cervical Dystonia and the Black Community.” I am looking for 200 Black or African-American, Afro-Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean (basically anyone who is Black) men and women from ALL over the United States with only primary late onset cervical dystonia who are between 27 and 70 years of age. I am offering an incentive, as well. Because of what I am still going through with cervical dystonia I want to know how other Black or African-Americans are dealing withtheir condition and how their quality of life is with CD. It is imperative that the Black community gain knowledge of whether there is a history of movement disorders in their families and how to prepare for it.

My contact information for those who want to participate is:
Name: Karen Chandler; Email address:Zmb31@aol.com and/or Karen.Chandler@waldenu.edu; Cell: 619 768 3768.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!