Paper
Monday, November 5, 2007
412
Challenges of Conducting International End of Life Care Research
Lai Wong, BSN, RN and Marie Nolan, DNSc, RN. School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to describe the steps in conducting an end-of-life research study in China which involves human subjects. |
| Learning Objective #2: Learners will be able to describe the challenges in conducting an international study in a transcultural setting. |
International collaborative research is essential to improve the health and well-being of people throughout the world. Nursing collaborations offer possibilities for developing and generating culturally sensitive knowledge that is applicable in nursing and more broadly in health care of the global community (Callister, et al, 2006). This presentation will describe the challenges of conducting international research. The process will be discussed regarding identifying a research topic and international research collaborators, obtaining funding, obtaining institutional review board approval, and steps in the translation of research instruments and consent documents. The investigator will describe her challenges in the conduct of pilot study to assess the end of life health care decision making within a Chinese teaching hospital. The presentation will describe how persons with life-threatening disease in China prefer to involve their family in their health care decisions. Lessons learned will be provided on the need for cultural competency in carrying out a research study in another nation and the importance of collaborating with investigators who are part of the culture of the persons under study.