Content Analysis of Dissertations for Examination of Priority Areas of Nursing Science

BACKGROUND

Based on current and future research priorities to inform Ph.D. education, emerging and priority areas were developed through the Idea Festival Advisory Committee of the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science.

PURPOSE

The Purpose of this study was to examine the bibliographic, methodologic, study topic characteristics, and emerging and priority areas of two randomly selected samples of nursing doctoral dissertations from the Proquest Digital Dissertations and Theses database between January 2017 and September 2018.

METHODS

Using human- (N = 101) and computer-coding (N = 242), we analyzed text data using descriptive statistics and data visualization.

FINDINGS

Health behavior (32.7%) and quantitative sciences (17.8%) were the most common emerging and priority areas, and translation science and -omics/microbiome were absent. Health, practice, education, and leadership were four study topic themes.

DISCUSSION

This approach may serve as a metric for the state of Ph.D. nursing education. A replication study is recommended in three to five years.

Systematic review of the uptake and design of action research in published nursing research, 2000-2005

Action research (AR) is promoted for health care development. A systematic review was undertaken to gain insight into the uptake and designs of practice-based AR. Empirical research papers from 2000 to 2005 were extracted from CINAHL, MEDLINE and British Nursing Index, and two specialist AR journals. The initial search identified 335 papers: 38% were AR (20% were phenomenology; 32% ethnography; 10% randomised-controlled trials). Further filtering produced 62 AR papers for detailed analysis. Eighty-seven per cent of AR studies involved 'organisational/professional development', or 'educational' settings; only 13% were directly 'clinical'. Practitioners were the main participants in 90% of studies. Seventy-two per cent of all participant groups were rated 'active' in the research process, yet 70% of first (lead) authors were from an academic institution. Patients/carers were generally passive in the research process and absent from the authorship. Ninety per cent of studies used two or more methods, predominantly qualitative. Forty-four per cent of articles identified external funding sources, relatively high for nursing research. Participatory AR has a strong identity in practice-based research, with a diversity of methods. The focus reflects that of nursing research generally. A high level of participation by practitioners is evident but with little equity in authorship. Service user/carer involvement should be given more prominence by researchers.

Learning disabilities is bigger than a cursory review

With funding from the Department of Health, a small team at King’s College London (Griffiths et al, 2007) has produced a ‘rapid’ review of a decade’s nursing research about learning disabilities. Its conclusion is that

The professional doctorate for nurses in Australia: findings of a scoping exercise

This paper presents the findings of a scoping exercise to map the professional doctorate for nurses and midwives in three Australian Universities using a modified form of Illuminative Evaluation. The visit was prompted by the increase in the number and range of professional doctorates introduced in the UK over the last decade which stimulated a desire to obtain details of similar programmes in Australia. Sources of data included course documentation and course work, session content, and interviews with doctoral students enrolled on a professional doctorate. Examination of the Australian professional doctorate indicates that such programmes were developed primarily in response to the perceived limitations of the PhD and a desire to generate practice-relevant research. Programmes were designed specifically for leaders in the 'clinical' field, such as nurse consultants and those aspiring to Clinical Chairs in Nursing. One of the principal aims of the Australian doctorate was to help clinicians acquire skills in multiple methodologies to promote a patient focused research agenda. This approach has clear lessons for the UK and these are presented in the form of recommendations at the close of the paper. This paper will be of interest to those responsible for the provision of the professional doctorate for nurses, sponsors of students, researchers of education and policy makers.