2024 Research Grant Recipients
Dorothy Otto Research Award
Project Title: Nurse Mentors’ Experiences of an Apprenticeship Model for Students in an Accelerated Undergraduate Nursing Program
Abstract: Aim The aim of this study is to describe and explore the experiences of nurse mentors participating in an Apprenticeship model to support clinical learning for accelerated undergraduate nursing students. Background: Amidst a persistent nursing shortage within the United States, innovative strategies are needed (e.g., accelerated nursing programs) to produce more nurses to meet workforce demand. At a university in a southern state, an accelerated undergraduate nursing program was developed and initiated to meet the needs of the profession using an Apprenticeship model. The experiences of the nurse mentors will be explored as the nursing program works to foster collaborative and growing relationships with the nurse mentors participating in this learning experience. A gap in the literature exists in understanding the experiences of nurse mentors teaching accelerated undergraduate nursing students through an Apprenticeship model. Design: This study will be facilitated using a descriptive, exploratory phenomenological design. Methods: Ten nurse mentors will be interviewed using a purposeful sampling approach, and the data will be analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological methodology. Results: The results of data analysis will facilitate the emergence of themes through the analysis of the mentors’ experiences. Conclusion: This study will provide insight into the lived experiences of nurse mentors facilitating an Apprenticeship model to facilitate clinical learning. As accelerated nursing programs continue to emerge and expand, fostering collaborative relationships with healthcare facility partners is critical. The focus of this study aligns with the NLN research priority focused on fostering clinical partnerships.
Ruth Donnelly Corcoran Research Award
Project Title: Nurse Faculty Workforce: An Investigation for Enhancing Capacity to Expand Equity and Advancement
Abstract: Faculty of color (FOC) are significantly underrepresented among nursing educators. The purpose of “Nurse Faculty Workforce: An Investigation for Enhancing Capacity to Expand Equity and Advancement” is to identify barriers to equity in recruitment, retention, tenure, and promotion of FOC in nursing academia. The proposed research will identify (1) unique barriers and challenges encountered by underrepresented FOC in the nurse faculty workforce, (2) strategies for addressing the barriers and challenges encountered by underrepresented FOC to promote equity and expand representation and advancement opportunities, and (3) interventions for optimizing equity in recruitment, retention, tenure, and promotion along with capacity-building strategies for transitioning clinical nurses into academic roles to foster diversity, inclusivity, and advancement within nursing education. Framed by Social Equity Theory, we will conduct survey research (that includes limited open-ended prompts to elicit qualitative data) to primarily examine dimensions of faculty equity in schools, colleges, and other units for nursing education. The 12-month project will encompass conduct of web-based survey research with samples of 90 institutions and 4,472 individual participants. The inquiry will be multilevel: data will be collected and analyzed at both unit and individual levels. Our resulting data will also allow us to describe diversity in these environments and draw implications for inclusivity and advancement based on our assessment of equity.
Nancy Langston Research Award
Project Title: Addressing the Nursing Faculty Shortage: Exploring Effort-Reward Imbalance among Full-Time Nursing Faculty
Abstract: The national nursing faculty shortage impacts the ability to enroll enough students to fill nursing workforce shortages. Potentially compounding the faculty shortage problem, nearly 50% of current full-time nurse faculty are considering leaving the nursing faculty role. Work efforts (e.g., number of hours worked) and rewards (e.g., salary) are associated with both burnout and intention to leave in other disciplines, but the magnitude of the relationships vary between disciplines. Identifying key effects of work efforts and rewards on intention to leave the faculty role among full-time nursing faculty will inform impactful and efficient interventions to improve retention and meet the National League for Nursing goal of building a nursing faculty workforce to meet healthcare nurse workforce demands. The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the relationships between work efforts and rewards with intention to leave the nursing faculty role within the next three years, and to explore burnout as a potential mediating variable. We will recruit a national sample of at least N=463 United States full-time nursing faculty to measure work efforts and rewards, burnout, and intention to leave. We will use structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships. Findings from this study will inform future interventions and policy recommendations to prevent intention to leave the nursing faculty role.
NLN Foundation Research Award
Award: $28,000
Abstract: Nursing students find it challenging to acquire competency in medication administration which may account for medication errors after students graduate. The thought processes associated with cognitive and metacognitive strategies and decision-making of undergraduate nursing students as they complete a task of medication administration are unknown. Therefore, this study aims to investigate undergraduate nursing students' decision-making in medication administration using verbal protocol analysis within the DP-MC framework based on Dual Processing Theory. A concurrent mixed methods design using an audio video recorded simulated scenario on medication administration using a think-aloud method and a post-simulation interview will be used to investigate undergraduate nursing students' decision-making in medication administration using verbal protocol analysis within the DP-MC framework. The think-aloud data will be entered into NVivo 12, and a verbal protocol will guide the analysis. Data will be coded using the cognitive and metacognitive strategies and these codes will be tallied, and nominal data will be entered into the SPSS database for statistical analyses. The observation and interview data will be coded into categories and subcategories using direct content analysis. Examining medication safety and clinical decision-making aligns with the NLN Research Priorities in Nursing Education of building the science of nursing education through the generation and translation of innovative teaching and learning strategies. Aligning with the NLN research priority of building faculty teaching practices, the findings will inform pedagogy and the nursing curricula with the aim of improving the decision-making and practices of undergraduate nursing students.
Edmund J.Y. Pajarillo Doctoral Research Award
Project Title: Technological Competency as Caring in Prelicensure Nursing Students in the United States – A National Survey Using the TCCNI-R
Abstract: Background: Prelicensure nursing students lack informatics competencies due to a lack of resources and educational opportunities. There is a need to prepare these students to utilize technology to provide patient-centered care guided by Locsin’s technological competency as caring in nursing theory. Purpose: The purpose is to assess the psychometric properties and establish the reliability of the English translation of the TCCNI-R through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and validity via structural equation modeling to see if the instrument applies in U.S. academic nursing education in the population of prelicensure nursing students. Methods: The proposed study will utilize a descriptive, cross-sectional design. Approximately 1,000 nationally accredited prelicensure nursing programs in the U.S. offering Associate and Baccalaureate degrees will be contacted. Systematic sampling with a minimum of 250 nursing students will be recruited using REDCap. Results: Data will be analyzed using Bartlett test of sphericity, Cronbach’s alpha, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test to determine suitability for factor analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Conclusions. The research question aims to explore the validity and reliability of the English translation of the Japanese version of the TCCNI-R instrument. The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and the National League for Nursing (NLN) recommend that NI competency be taught across all levels of nursing programs. It is the goal of the researcher to establish these recommendations by conducting this national survey through scientific methods.
Mary Anne Rizzolo Simulation Research Award
Project Title: Virtual simulations to support responding to racism in clinical settings
Abstract: Discrimination and racism are barriers to delivery of equitable healthcare. Nursing students and clinical educators may encounter or witness racism towards patients in the clinical setting; however, nursing students may feel afraid or powerless to confront a nurse who displays overt or covert racism, and a clinical instructor may similarly feel unprepared to assist a nursing student to respond. It is unclear what nursing education strategies would be most feasible, acceptable, and effective in preparing nursing students and their clinical instructors to respond to racism directed towards patients in the clinical setting. Thus, we propose to develop a virtual simulation educational module and evaluate its impact on cultural humility and perceived competence to respond to racism in the clinical setting. We will also evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of two methods of debriefing the virtual simulation: synchronous online vs. in-person debriefing. A non-randomized pre-test/post-test survey with a qualitative component will be administered to nursing students and clinical instructors to evaluate the virtual simulation and debriefing strategies. This study aligns with NLN Research Priority 1: to build the science of nursing education through the generation and translation of innovative teaching and learning strategies. This study will primarily contribute to advancing the science of nursing education as it relates to using virtual simulation as an educational strategy to promote cultural humility and anti-racism among nursing students and clinical instructors, and providing insight into the benefits, challenges, and perceived psychological safety of debriefing virtual simulations through virtual platforms versus in-person.
Co-sponsored Grants
NLN/Sigma Foundation for Nursing Diane Billings Research Award
Project Title: Exploring Anxiety and Noticing within Virtual Reality Nursing Simulation
Abstract: Various types of anxiety can affect professional noticing or the ability to recognize cues in patient situations for nurses. Noticing what is salient through keen observation and questioning is foundational to protecting patients from complications and deterioration. Current nursing literature has focused on reducing simulation anxiety using a variety of interventions. However, research on the effects of simulation anxiety on learning outcomes has been mixed, leading to calls to further understand the effects of nursing student anxiety on learning outcomes. This includes differentiating the constructive role of anxiety to enhance learning (i.e., facilitating anxiety) from the deleterious counterpart that hampers performance (i.e., debilitating anxiety). With a growing need for nursing education to develop clinical judgment, increasing levels of anxiety reported among students, and calls in the literature to tie simulation to practice outcomes, this study seeks to address the gap in understanding how anxiety can affect students’ noticing of key information within a virtual reality nursing simulation. This pilot study specifically aims to address the dearth of research on this topic by describing the relationship between facilitating and debilitating anxiety and noticing among undergraduate nursing students in virtual reality (VR) > simulation.
NLN/Southern Nursing Research Society Doctoral Research Award
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of SDOH on SOI in first-year nursing students and compare the differences between ADN and BSN students. Methods: A quantitative descriptive-bivariate correlational design was conducted using ANOVA, two independent sample t-tests, and multiple linear regression to examine and compare a convenience sample of first semester nursing students from twelve Oklahoma state colleges and universities. SDOH was measured using the Kaiser Permanente Your Current Life Situation Survey. SOI was measured using the Pretz Types of Intuition Survey, Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Pluess Highly Sensitive Person Survey, and Foronda’s Cultural Humility Instrument. Findings/Outcomes: First Year ADN and BSN students in rural Oklahoma were significantly impacted by SDOH and SOI. The analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between race/ethnicity and degree program type (.000). Significant differences in SDOH categories and degree program were found in caregiving (.011), and violence/abuse (.036). Poverty (.006), food scarcity (.033), lack of transportation (.000), violence/abuse (.001), ability to obtain medications/medical supplies (.042), financial abuse (.004), managing medical conditions (.000), and loneliness also appeared as SDOH factors impacting students. Significant differences in SOI categories and ethnicity were found in empathy (.015), sensitivity (.027), and cultural humility (.022). Implications for Practice: Oklahoma nursing students are contending with unmet social needs. Nurse educators need to understand how SDOH impacts SOI on nursing students to transform the delivery of nursing education to include a curriculum that addresses SDOH and SOI. NLN Research Priority Alignment: Research Priority I. e. Build capacity for nursing practice with a focus on health promotion, illness prevention, and community engagement with leading-edge curricular models and the delivery of nursing education through – population health care, social determinants of education, and social determinants of health.
Partial funding for these grants was thanks to donations to the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education.