Research priorities for nursing and midwifery in Southern Ireland

Prioritisation of future research topics in paediatric palliative care in Ireland: a Delphi study

This paper reports the findings from a Delphi Study undertaken to identify the research priorities in children's palliative care in Ireland. Palliative care for children is a small and highly specialised field of healthcare that focuses on improving the quality of life of children living with, or dying from, a life-limiting condition. Ideally, support for children requiring palliative care begins at the time of diagnosis, which for many children with life-limiting conditions can be from birth. There is a notable overlap between the needs of children requiring palliative care and those with disabilities and other complex care needs, resulting in care being provided by a range of voluntary and statutory agencies. As a new specialty, there is a need to develop an evidence-based approach to providing children's palliative care. In order to do this in a systematic way, identification of the research priorities in children's palliative care within Ireland is required.

Global Midwifery Research Priorities: An International Survey

PURPOSE: This exploratory project aimed to provide an up-to-date list of global midwifery research priorities to inform the International Confederation of Midwives’ (ICM) research strategy for development of its research agenda.

DESIGN: An online survey conducted in 2014 asked ICM Research Advisory Networking members (who then disseminated it to a wider midwifery research interest group) to grade the importance of research priorities and provide further suggestions. Research priorities listed were based on those identified in previous scoping exercises and a recent literature review.

FINDINGS: Two hundred seventy-one respondents from 37 countries completed the questionnaire including midwifery practitioners, researchers, lecturers, and service providers. Promotion of normal birth, prevention of maternal and fetal/neonatal morbidity and mortality, and psychosocial aspects of maternity care were identified by the respondents as the top three important themes. Subanalysis by country, region, and continent found promotion of normal birth the greatest priority in more resourced regions, whereas prevention of maternal and fetal/neonatal morbidity and mortality was the most important research priority in less resourced locations.

CONCLUSION: This study provides a systematic global mapping of research priorities from midwives’ perspectives which will inform the ICM research agenda. Geographical variation in key research priorities reflect midwives working in very different settings with specific local health and resource related challenges such as staff shortages, human immunodeficiency virus, or obesity. Future research should aim to address these priorities to improve maternal and infant health. Limited number of respondents from some geographical areas should be borne in mind when interpreting the global implications and further research with an optimized scoping for inclusion is required to ensure adequate representativeness from all countries.

Identifying research priorities for midwifery in Ireland

OBJECTIVE

to identify research priorities for midwifery in Ireland in the short, medium and long term.

METHOD

a three-round Delphi survey design was used to identify midwifery research topics. Issues identified through content analysis formed Questionnaires 2 and 3. Participants rated the importance of each topic (1=low importance to 7=high importance), and a mean score of 6.0 or more was considered a priority issue. A final discussion group set short-, medium- or long-term timeframes for the research topics.

PARTICIPANTS

334 midwives were recruited from a national invitation to all midwives. Response rates were 43% (Round 1; 142/334), 85% (Round 2; 121/142) and 81% (Round 3; 98/121). Nine consumers of maternity services were included in the discussion group workshop.

FINDINGS

participants identified 11 clinical, eight management, and seven education midwifery research topics with six high-priority issues: promoting woman-centred care (management), promoting the distinctiveness of midwifery (education), satisfaction with care (clinical), care in labour (clinical), preparation for practice (clinical), and promoting research/evidence-based practice (education).

KEY CONCLUSIONS

this research sought to achieve consensus amongst a representative sample of midwives on the priorities for midwifery research in Ireland. Midwives can now select topics for graduate or other research studies of importance to practice, management and education. Funding agencies can confidently direct the allocation of national and local funding for priority areas of midwifery research within Ireland.

The clinical role of lecturers in nursing in Ireland: perceptions from key stakeholder groups in nurse education on the role

The clinical role of lecturers in nursing has been a focus of debate since the integration of nurse education into higher education institutions. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from the preliminary phase of a study, undertaken to investigate the perceptions of key stakeholder groups in nurse education, regarding the current clinical role of nurse lecturers in Ireland. A descriptive exploratory design was used involving focus group and individual interviews, soliciting views of purposefully selected educationalists, clinicians, policy formulators and students. The issue was examined from a policy perspective, aiming to collectively represent views of all participant groups. This approach facilitated a more complete picture of perceptions of the role to emerge, to better inform future decision making. Twenty two focus group interviews and twenty one individual interviews were conducted. Content analysis was used to identify themes. All groups were in agreement that role definition was urgently required to dispel ambiguities surrounding what the clinical role should involve. Conflicting views were evident among groups regarding lecturers' clinical credibility, visibility and teaching effectiveness. Findings highlight the essential nature of nurse lecturers engaging with clinical areas to maintain their skills, demonstrate a value for the practice component of the role and provide a link between education and practice.

Research development in a university nursing school in Southern Ireland

AIM

The aim of this paper is to present the strategies used in one newly established university School of Nursing and Midwifery in Southern Ireland to develop research capacity.

BACKGROUND

The case study was guided by an agreed strategic plan which included changing the research culture; providing focused and appropriate research training; mentoring of junior staff, employment of an external consultant; provision of funding for PhD progression; and institutional support at all levels.

CONCLUSION

Success is profiled in relation to establishment of research themes, publications, research funding awarded, and numbers of students registered for PhDs. Challenges in further improving research productivity are also discussed.

A review of nursing and midwifery education research in the Republic of Ireland

This literature review aims to (a) provide a summary of the research conducted in the Irish nurse/midwifery education field, (b) identify key recommendations from the research reviewed and (c) examine the policy, theory and methodological implications of the research conducted. The electronic databases of CINAHL (EBSCO host 1982-2006) and PubMed (1950-2006) were searched for the relevant literature. Sixty-one studies satisfied the criteria for inclusion which were based on; quality of research design, sampling, data analysis, scientific merit, and authorship (registered nurse/midwife who conducted research in the Republic of Ireland). Findings demonstrated diversity in relation to aims, methods and results highlighting a need to formulate a collaborative research agenda in nurse and midwifery education.