An aging population, coupled with increased demands for access to care, are taxing the US healthcare system and helping to create shortages of health professionals, including Registered Nurses (RNs) (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2017; Jurascheck, Zhang, Ranganathan, & Lin, 2012). Further exacerbating the problem, the number of nursing faculty anticipated to retire is expected to rapidly increase in the next decade (AACN, 2017).
The Institute of Medicine has found that nursing schools need to double the number of individuals who are doctorally prepared to create an adequate pipeline of RNs (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010). In order to meet the growing need for doctorally prepared nursing faculty, nurses must be encouraged and supported to pursue the PhD. Programs aimed at increasing interest, preparation, and experience in nursing research have facilitated increased interest in graduate programs (Burkhart & Hall, 2015) and an increased number of undergraduate nursing students go on to pursue doctoral education (Mentes, Cadogan, Woods, & Phillips, 2015). However, undergraduate nursing students often find the components of research taught in traditional classes difficult and hard to grasp (Niven, Roy, Schaefer, Gasquoine, & Ward, 2013).
Hands-on research experiences can give undergraduate nursing students an opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary learning opportunities (Slattery et al., 2016). For example, an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in health promotion research that included mentors and mentees from both the biological and social sciences demonstrated high levels of student engagement and positive attitudes about interdisciplinary approaches (Misra et al., 2008). To our knowledge, no such multidisciplinary program has been developed with nursing students while also taking a community-engaged approach. Community-engaged research and learning, when combined with nursing education and practice, can provide additional benefits to nursing students. Students are able to encounter important relevant topics they might not have had the opportunity to experience in other clinical settings including: cultural-relevance, social justice issues, and community partnerships (Francis-Baldesari & Williamson, 2008). By exposing undergraduate nursing students to social science and historical methodologies, we hope to encourage undergraduate nursing students to approach communities in new ways with increased sensitivity for historical and cultural barriers that may shape disparate health outcomes.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe the student experience and educational impacts of a year-long multidisciplinary mentored community-engaged research experience on undergraduate nursing students’ learning, professional development, cultural sensitivity, and career goals.
Specific Aims:
1) To explore students’ overall experiences with the community-engaged research process.
2) To assess ways in which their involvement in community-engaged research and the community affected the ways in which they think about individual health and the broader social context in which it is shaped.
3) To assess how exposure to multidisciplinary, community-engaged research at the bachelor’s level may have encouraged the students to pursue graduate study in nursing.
4) To explore whether diversifying the research experience to include community engagement and and multidisciplinary mentoring increases, among BSN graduates, cultural sensitivity and/or a desire to work in underserved communities.
Design
This is a qualitative, exploratory study design, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with undergraduate nursing students. Student participants were involved in a year-long multidisciplinary mentored research experience based in a local African-American community.
Mentored research experience
The sample includes seven third-year, undergraduate BSN students, former students of the first author, who expressed interest in involvement in maternal-child health research projects. The students participated in a mentored research experience with two community-engaged research projects focused on maternal-child health over the course of one year. The students were trained in social science research methods including semi-structured interviewing and survey data collection. The students were then involved in every stage of the project including: initiating the informed consent process with participants, conducting qualitative interviews, collecting survey data, analyzing data, and dissemination of results through presentation of research findings in poster format at two conferences. Therefore, the students were introduced to a community-engaged multidisciplinary project. In addition to being involved in the research process, they also spent time in the local community and were able to see firsthand how health and health inequities are manifested, providing them with an opportunity to see the social determinants of health at work.
Methods
Data collection will include a brief interviewer-administered questionnaire to assess sociodemograhic information. Individual interviews using a semi-structured interview guide will be used to explore student’s experiences, attitudes, and future career goals. A trained graduate student will collect and de-identify data for the investigators. The interviews will be digitally recorded. Verbatim transcription of audio recordings will be conducted by members of the research team.
Planned Analyses
Participant’s responses to the brief questionnaire will be entered into a spreadsheet and summarized. A constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) will be used to identify emergent themes relevant to students’ overall experiences and their conceptions regarding social determinants of health (Aims One and Two). Qualitative content analysis (Elo & Kynga, 2008) will be used to assess students’ responses regarding future educational goals and desired practice settings (Aims Three and Four). This work is in progress. Data collection and analyses are anticipated to be completed by October, 2017.
Implications for Education
Results may help future efforts to foster student engagement in research and increase nursing student interest in pursuing docotoral degrees. Participation in multidisciplinary community-engaged research experiences may have the potential to stimulate interest in graduate nursing program enrollment. Encouraging students to approach communities in new ways with increased sensitivity for historical and cultural barriers that may shape divergent health outcomes is critical. This appraoch may be an important and effective strategy for improved patient care, reduction of health disparities via culturally sensitive care, and increase numbers of nursing faculty to keep up with demand.