Making Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) “Real” in Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Nursing Education

Implementation of “High Impact Educational Practices (HIEP)” has been shown to positively impact critical thinking, expands inquiry, and promotes life long learning in undergraduate students (Seifert, et al, 2014).  Furthermore, faculty needs to expand learning beyond the confines of the classroom to link knowledge to the larger educational mission (Wawrzynski & Baldwin, 2014), thus in nursing, professional practice.   The HIEP (Kuh, 2008) exercised in this project were: undergraduate research, collaborative assignments/projects, diversity/global learning, and service/community based learning.

            Baccalaureate prepared nurses should graduate with a basic understanding of research process (AACN, 2008).  Undergraduate students have been shown to have success in meeting this objective by participation in faculty mentored community-engaged research (Kronk & Weideman, 2014).

            Garner (2014) describes photovoice is an “innovative teaching and learning strategy that promotes awareness and stimulates critical thinking” in nursing students.   This qualitative research methodology can also stimulate social change as well as cultural awareness (Garner, 2013).   Photovoice methodology provided the research foundation for this faculty mentored research project.

 Aims:  Systematic HIEP has been shown to positively influence student cumulative learning (Kuh, 2008).   Undergraduate research, collaborative projects, diversity, and service learning are all examples of HIEP reflected in this research project.  The photovoice methodology was utilized to assist faculty-mentored interdisciplinary students with exploring barriers to healthy eating and active learning with high-risk community stakeholders.

Methods:  Four senior interdisciplinary (2 nursing and 2 Spanish) undergraduate research assistants were recruited to participate in a faculty-mentored photovoice research project designed to explore barriers to healthy eating and physical activity using photography.  Cameras were distributed and photos collected 2-3 times during the project.  Stakeholder participants met with the research team several times over a period of 10 weeks.  During each meeting participants shared and viewed each other’s photos and explored common barriers.  Once all identified barriers were exhausted, the participants selected the photos they felt best expressed their community barriers to healthy eating and active living and recommended possible solutions for community/policy change.  The two nursing student research assistants, faculty mentor, and an outside qualitative research expert in the nursing discipline reviewed the transcripts pertaining to participant identified barriers and solutions and then conducted a thematic content analysis.  Results were shared with the community stakeholders and community leaders.  Students were involved in all aspects of the research process from recruitment to dissemination of the research findings.

Findings:  Community stakeholders identified sixteen barriers and possible solutions through their selected photos.  A thematic content analysis was conducted from translated transcript data and 3 emerging themes were identified.  Research findings were shared with the community, participants, and their families.  A second sharing of research findings was presented to community leaders to stimulate social and policy change.

Implications:  “Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice” is essential in baccalaureate nursing curriculum (AACN, 2008).  Active student involvement in systematic investigation and research will provide students with a basic understanding of the research process and its translation into practice.   Faculty mentored community-based research as a “HIEP” has implications for transforming learned classroom pedagogy into actual practice.