A Triad of Research Roles: Experiential Learning in an Undergraduate Research Course

Internationalising Research Methods Teaching of Undergraduate Health Professionals

OBJECTIVE

The project aims were: (1) identifying the pedagogical impact of collaborative student experience on student understanding of research methods and (2) evaluating the perceived value of providing students with an international perspective on their professional practice.

METHODS

Student cohorts from year 1 of the University of Liverpool (UoL) (n = 80) and year 2 of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) (n = 128) undergraduate Medical Radiation Science degree programmes participated in the intervention as part of their teaching. Students were tasked with designing, deploying, and analysing data from survey-based research projects and invited to provide feedback via an anonymous and voluntary online survey (UoL students) or an equivalent paper-based survey (RMIT students), comprising both quantitative (Likert) and qualitative (open) questions.

RESULTS

Responses were received from 83% of RMIT and 31% of UoL students. Over 42% of respondents enjoyed the opportunity to interact with overseas peers, while 14.7% did not; 40% of respondents felt the intervention helped in their understanding of research methods, whilst 28% indicated it had not. The main positive themes were learning the research process, team working skills, networking opportunities, and understanding cultural differences. Interpreting data were invaluable; only a minority valued the engagement with their overseas counterparts. There was poor engagement with social media.

CONCLUSIONS

Students reported clear value of the innovation for learning research skills and process. The extent of research skills learning supports changes in research activity and culture in the past 10 years. With internationalisation becoming increasingly important in today's health care economy, the degree to which the students identified this aspect of the research as a key learning point highlights the benefits of the active approach. The negative appraisal of the social media support was interpreted as a response to the platform (WhatsApp) and privacy issues with sharing phone numbers.

Awareness and attitudes of Turkish nursing students towards research and development in nursing

BACKGROUND

The research course in nursing is included in almost all nursing curricula in national and international scales.

PURPOSE

To compare awareness and attitudes of Turkish nursing students towards research and development in nursing.

METHODS

This study had descriptive and cross-sectional research design. The research sampling is consisted of 390 senior students studying during the 2013-2014 academic year in six schools of health in six different geographical regions in Turkey. The Personal Identification Form and Nursing Students' Attitudes to and Awareness of Research and Development within Nursing Scale were utilized in data collection.

RESULTS

It was determined that there is difference between awareness and attitude scores of nursing students from six different schools towards research and development in nursing according to their schools and background.

CONCLUSION

It can be suggested that initiatives to increase awareness of students at nursing schools towards research course must be planned.

Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Research Activities and Utilization: A Turkish Sample

Objetivo: analizar el estado de la investigación en salud en Colombia, Ecuador y en Latinoamérica; sus implicaciones, la importancia de esta para tratar de impactar en políticas y estrategias de salud que mejoren el nivel de vida de las poblaciones y los asentamientos urbanos. Método: se realizó una revisión de la literatura en las bases de datos latinoamericanas Scielo, Redalyc, Bireme y Pubmed en los últimos 8 años. Resultados: se evidencia la trascendencia de las universidades como instituciones, que tienen la obligación de influir en lo social, lo humano y lo cultural, y transformen en entornos ligados a programas sociales y de gobierno en pro de una comunidad. Igualmente, se hace un análisis de las políticas de investigación, de organismos rectores y sus implicaciones en las instituciones formadoras de recurso humano a nivel superior. Conclusiones: es necesario fortalecer la reflexión crítica en los espacios académicos comprometidos con la transformación de las condiciones colectivas de la comunidad en los procesos de salud, enfermedad, promoción, prevención y atención, que tocan los hilos de la conciencia, afirmando que el individuo y la colectividad son responsables de “cuidar su salud”, mediante el abordaje transdisciplinario, teniendo en cuenta la normatividad ética que rige las investigaciones; fortaleciéndola mediante la consolidación de redes, divulgando los hallazgos.

Engaging students in an undergraduate research course

Nursing educators must be creative and dynamic in course design and seek to adopt pedagogical strategies that promote learner outcomes. Using multiple teaching strategies and experiential methods, the author describes one such attempt to engage students enrolled in an undergraduate nursing research course.

Attitudes of Jordanian nursing students towards nursing research

Attitudes towards research are significant indictors that connect practice to research and enhance nursing evidence-based practice. This correlational study was conducted to assess the attitudes of Jordanian nursing students towards nursing research. A self-administered questionnaire received from 612 senior nursing students at one of the largest universities in Amman, Jordan, was carried out. The results showed that nursing students had positive attitudes towards research. The majority of them believed that research has a role in developing the nursing profession, and that nurses must learn how to read and utilise research findings in practice. The majority also realised the value of research in improving quality of care, expressed the need to learn about nursing research, appreciated the necessity of research for the development of the nursing profession and had a willingness to conduct nursing research in clinical settings. Four attitude domains were identified, including research abilities, usefulness of research, personal interest in research and using research in clinical practice. The highest scores were observed on items related to ‘usefulness of research’ and the lowest were related to ‘research abilities’. Providing students with information and strengthening their research abilities might enhance their positive feelings and increase their involvement in research activities after graduation.

Is the humanistic view of the nurse role still alive--in spite of an academic education?

AIM

This paper is a report of a study exploring what 'being a good nurse' means by following nursing students during their pre-registration education and for some years after graduation.

BACKGROUND

There have been few studies focusing on the nurse role in the transition from student to experienced nurse. Studies with a qualitative design, in particular, are limited in number.

METHODS

A longitudinal survey design was adopted, using an open-ended questionnaire at the beginning of education (n = 164), just before graduation (n = 123), and 3-5 years after graduation (n = 77). The participants were students in the nursing programme at a Swedish university. The data were collected during the period 1993-2002. Latent and manifest content analyses were used.

FINDINGS

Four categories were identified in the data. 'To do good for others', with the sub-category 'to care for others', was most frequent over time and quite stable. The category 'to be competent and skilled' was frequent and increased over time. 'To have professional courage and pride' and 'to seek professional development' were mentioned to lesser extent and showed a slight increase over time. The meaning of being a good nurse grew in complexity over time and informants' professional awareness seemed to increase, especially concerning 'to be competent and skilled'.

CONCLUSION

Attention needs to be paid both to nursing education and practice. Clinical supervision given by nurses with Master's degrees is suggested in order to convey positive attitudes towards nursing development and research into practice. Further studies are needed to compare what 'a good nurse' means to graduate nurses and how they actually behave when performing good nursing care.

Active Participation in a Research Study

As nurse educators, it is necessary to make the connection between nursing theory and nursing practice. By implementing a new teaching strategy in a nursing research course, faculty researchers were able to accomplish 3 goals: (1) get students excited about the research process and view its relevance to nursing practice; (2) understand how all nursing and medical interventions begin with research; and (3) enlist student help on a faculty-sponsored research project. The authors discuss the project and its outcomes.

A Worksheet for Critiquing Quantitative Nursing Research

Teaching an introductory course in research methods and critique to baccalaureate nursing students can be challenging for both students and instructor. One of the difficulties is teaching students to critique research while simultaneously learning basic terminology and research processes. A critique worksheet was developed to help students extract complex information from a research report for analysis and critique.

Utilization of research findings by graduate nurses and midwives

BACKGROUND

There is mounting pressure on nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom to use research findings to inform their practice. However, many still find research difficult to understand and are poorly prepared by education to make use of it. Hence, there is a pressing need to evaluate the research education included in nursing and midwifery curricula.

AIM

This paper reports a study assessing the impact of research education on the attitudes towards research and use of research findings in practice by graduate nurses and midwives.

METHOD

A cross-sectional survey using a self-completed postal questionnaire was conducted with a sample of 340 nurse and midwife graduates in the South East of England.

FINDINGS

A response rate of 51% was obtained. A large number of respondents stated that their critical appraisal (96%) and search skills (87%) had improved following graduation and they reported using research findings in practice (16.8% all the time, 50.5% frequently and 32.6% sometimes). Furthermore, the majority expressed positive attitudes towards research and these were related to the research education received. However, a significant number reported finding statistics difficult to understand, lack of time to read research and limited access to research findings at their place of work. Also, a number of respondents would still like more help with searching the literature, implementing research findings in practice and developing their critical appraisal skills further.

CONCLUSION

It is crucial that some of the major barriers to research utilization are addressed at both individual and organizational levels if evidence-based care is to become a reality. Also, health service managers should consider a number of strategies suggested by respondents to increase the use of research findings in clinical settings.

Establishing Student Competency in Qualitative Research: Can Undergraduate Nursing Students Perform Qualitative Data Analysis?

Many undergraduate nursing programs require some level of research competency of their graduates. However, the competency level may vary depending on program goals and often is focused on quantitative methodologies. The purpose of this research was to determine nursing students' ability to perform qualitative data analysis. Twenty-eight undergraduate students enrolled in a data analysis course in the junior year of their baccalaureate program participated. After selecting the research question, students collected interview data from each other and posted it using a Web-based program. The students and instructor then performed a content analysis. After reviewing the instructor's analysis, which revealed three core themes, students' written analyses were read to determine their congruence with the instructor-generated themes. There was 89% agreement on the first theme, 96% agreement on the second theme, and 61% agreement on the third theme. Because of the high agreement rates between the instructor and student analyses, the author concluded that undergraduate nursing students, when provided with appropriate instruction, are capable of performing qualitative data analysis.

Teaching nursing research to undergraduates: a text analysis of instructors' intentions

Reviews of teaching strategies for undergraduate nursing research have been organized according to (a) the type of learning to be achieved, such as learning by doing, or (b) the specific teaching strategy, such as a poster session. For this text analysis, a new tack was taken to reveal the intentions of undergraduate nursing research instructors for student learning. Giorgi's (1985) descriptive phenomenological method was used to analyze 77 narrative reports of instructors about research teaching strategies. Seven intentions were identified, including desensitizing negative perceptions about research and stimulating collaborative learning about research. The intentions were contrasted in scope and relevance to frameworks organized according to learning goals or teaching techniques. The relevance of the intentions was considered in relation to critical trends influencing nursing education.

Swedish nursing students' attitudes to and awareness of research and development within nursing

BACKGROUND

Nurses' attitudes towards research have been illuminated in many studies. However, there is still a need for more knowledge about the attitudes and awareness of undergraduate nursing students.

AIMS

To investigate Swedish undergraduate nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development within nursing, and to illuminate factors that may have an impact on their attitudes and awareness.

METHODS

A questionnaire consisting of three parts: demographic data, attitude scale, and research awareness was used. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were used. Two hundred and one students participated in the study and the response rate was 77%. Cronbach's alpha test on the seven factors was between 0.52 and 0.80.

RESULTS

Most of the students had positive attitudes towards nursing research. More than half (60%) of the students expected to make use of nursing research sometime in the future and about 25% had never read any of the scientific nursing journals. The majority (77%) of the students were acquainted with at least one Swedish researcher, but few had attended a doctoral dissertation. Students with an interest in some particular development or research area in nursing were significantly more positive and expected to make use of nursing research more frequently. Other variables that were found to have some impact upon attitudes were gender, age and additional academic studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Nursing students had an overall positive attitude towards nursing research and their interest in a particular development or research area was the most important variable for their attitudes and expected use of nursing research in the future. Therefore, it would seem to be important to encourage the students' interest in specific development/research areas of nursing during their education. In spite of the nursing students' positive attitudes to nursing research, the study demonstrates the theory-practice gap is still present to some degree.

Putting the pieces together: teaching undergraduate research from a theoretical perspective

PROBLEM/PURPOSE: Baccalaureate graduates are expected to utilize research across a wide variety of practice settings. While the literature reports a variety of teaching approaches, few studies examine baccalaureate students' comprehension of research content. Teaching techniques that focus on a conceptual or theoretical approach may foster research comprehension. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate teaching/learning outcomes of an undergraduate nursing research course designed from a conceptual or theoretical approach.

PROCEDURE/FINDINGS

Two classes of senior baccalaureate nursing students (n = 47) at a private institution, whose curriculum was based on the Roy adaptation model, were surveyed in 1990 and 1991 at the end of their undergraduate research course. The survey tool consisted of seven three-point Likert scale questions, four open-ended questions, and one unstructured comment. Findings showed that 72% strongly agreed that they would continue to read nursing articles in their practice field, 57% disagreed that they were intimidated by research language, and 55% agreed that they trusted their ability to use and utilize nursing research in practice. The most helpful learning activity was the research critique (34%) followed by group work (28%). The support of the teacher and Instructor's use of own research examples was also seen as most helpful (36%), while abstract cards (8%) were least helpful. Nonetheless, 23% requested more group activities, 13% wanted more class examples, and 11% asked for more time to comprehend definitions.

IMPLICATIONS

Students who approached research from the perspective of a nursing conceptual framework indicated that they put the pieces of the research puzzle together by working in groups, being supported by the Instructor, and learning from a variety of teaching methods.

Mentoring students and junior faculty in faculty research: a win-win scenario

The concept of mentoring in nursing has focused primarily on moving novice nurses to a more advanced level of expertise in the clinical setting. With the growing emphasis on expanding evidence-based practice in nursing, however, mentoring within the context of research is becoming increasingly important. This article describes the many reciprocal benefits of research mentoring for students, junior faculty, and senior faculty researchers as well as for colleges of nursing and nursing science. Suggestions for implementing processes that facilitate successful mentoring within a research setting also are offered.

Using collaborative research to facilitate student learning

Developing research partnerships between academia and the service sector is an innovative way to meet the demand for high-quality, cost-effective, and clinically oriented research. Undergraduate student participation in clinical research is an educational strategy to facilitate positive mindsets toward research. This article outlines the methodological steps in recruiting and training undergraduate students for clinical research teams to benefit nurse educators, nurse researchers, students, and institutional partners. Student volunteers collected data for a study examining patient satisfaction with pain management practices. The research proposal was used to demonstrate principles of the research process and to familiarize the students with the study. A detailed study protocol guided the entire team through the project. Student sensitivity to pain assessment and management was enhanced. Learning the research process and the students' appreciation for the rigors of research were reinforced using this experiential model. Student evaluation of the research experience is presented.