Nursing Research and Responsible Partnership in the Global Setting

Purpose: Low- and middle-income countries experience unique, and often dire, health care needs that are not typically experienced in higher-income countries. Areas of maternal and newborn health or infectious and non-communicable diseases have instigated the development of global health goals, e.g. the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, “Ensure healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages.” In addition to global health priorities, funding for technological innovations in health has grown in recent years. That National Institute of Nursing Research has included “Technology to Improve Health” in their strategic plan, understanding the role such innovations play in today’s health environment. With funding priorities focusing on innovations to meet health care needs, the presence of international research utilizing technological approaches has spread substantially. Most commonly, healthcare providers and researchers from high-income countries partner with lower-resource settings with the goal to improve quality of life from a variety of perspectives. The prevalence of funding to investigators for international projects has resulted in many graduate-level students conducting their studies among low-resource communities where their advisors have ongoing projects or connections. The ethics of international research and the importance of cultural competency has been much discussed, but little work has been done to assess the practical application of such ideals in the research context of low-resource settings. In light of the increased research priorities set forth by both national and global funding sources, the goal of this project is to take a step towards deeper understanding of the responsibility of high-resource nurses conducting research in low-resource environments. A secondary goal is to understand the role of local collaboration partners in the development and implementation of research in their setting.

Methods: Two approaches will be utilized to address this objective. First, a scoping analysis will be performed of recent nursing research where the primary investigator was from a high-income setting, but the research took place in a low- or middle-income setting. This literature will be examined for two areas of interest: 1) the presence of local partners as authors, and 2) the role of local partners in development of the research question and study design. This analysis will be performed in tandem with the personal analysis and reflection of the primary author regarding her experiences as an American doctoral student conducting research within a sub-Saharan African context.

Results: (Not yet available)

Conclusion: The outcomes of this endeavor will provide enhanced understanding of the responsibility of nurses conducting research in the global context and identify roles of international partners in advancing health outcomes in their local context.