Marie Fongwa, PhD, MPH, RN, professor in the School of Nursing, teaches wellness promotion and health maintenance, health disparities and vulnerable populations, and social ethics and health policy in the doctorate programs. She also teaches nursing research and theory and bioethics and healthcare policy in the masters program. Since starting as a faculty member at APU in 2010, Fongwa has used her passion for cultural sensitivity in healthcare to connect with and encourage her students.
Originally from Cameroon, Fongwa planned to become a pharmacist so that she wouldn’t have to work with blood but was encouraged by others to study nursing. Fongwa passed the Cameroon exam to study nursing and graduated with a State Registered Nurse Diploma. She went on to complete a two-year State Certified Midwifery program. After emigrating to America, she worked towards her PhD and postdoctoral studies. Fongwa was then prepared to become a professor. “I am able to promote the work of God through teaching,” she said. “I believe in excellence and doing everything the best way I can, so I bring that into the way I plan and execute my lessons to give my best to my students.”
In 2009, Fongwa was offered jobs at both APU and a secular school. What drew Fongwa to APU was the university’s faith statement. “Before, I prayed behind closed doors, so it was different when I came to APU and could pray openly with my coworkers and students,” she said. “Connecting my faith with my work is critical for the service I do, and promoting God’s work through my actions is my mission.”
As a professor, Fongwa is passionate about research in quality of patient care and
cultural sensitivity. Quality is a subjective standard, but Fongwa believes that it
is a desirable concept. Her quality of care research focuses on building relationships
with patients to find out what factors could prevent them from healing such as patient-provider
relationship or system factors and how to create a plan that will meet their needs.
After providing treatment to patients, it is important to follow-up with how satisfied
they are with the care they received. Fongwa has used focus groups to understand what
factors matter most in the care of patients, and the information is then incorporated
into care plans.
Fongwa pays particular attention to cultural sensitivity in her work and research, especially with African American women. “When working with diverse groups of people, it’s important to pay attention to what seem like little things but are actually very important,” she said. She talks to her patients about their faith and what that means for their medical treatments as well as their experiences with system factors such as discrimination.
In her research on care, quality, and cultural sensitivity, Fongwa specializes in adherence to recommended treatment for hypertension in African American women, 58 percent of which have uncontrolled high blood pressure compared to 43 percent in white women. “If a patient and provider are not in a good relationship, the patient will not take their medication or trust their provider,” she said. “A good provider would follow up with a patient and have them return for more care.” Through interviews with patients and established literature evidence, Fongwa is able to tell if lack of adherence is due to patient, patient-provider, or system factors. This allows her to create better care plans that patients will actually follow through with.
Fongwa encourages PhD students looking to work with ethnic minority groups and learn about culturally sensitive and competent care to join her in her research at APU. “As a behavioral scientist, I am interested in people’s behaviors and how they enhance their health outcomes,” she said. “There is not a lot of research done within minority populations, so I am delving into where there is a great need for research. I’m happy to work with students who want to work with hypertension, adherence to treatment, quality of care, and patient satisfaction.