PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF NURSING 2007 INDEN Board President Richard W. Redman, 2006-09 rwr@umich.edu Treasurer Lorraine Ellis, 2006-08 l.b.ellis@sheffield.ac.uk Secretary Patricia Davidson, 2007-10 p.davidson@uws.edu.au At-Large Board members Shiow-Li Hwang, 2006-09 slhwang@gw.cgit.edu.tw Hester Klopper, 2006-09 vpkhck@puk.ac.za Wipada Kunaviktikul, 2005-08 wipada@mail.nurse.cmu.ac.th Marie Nolan, 2007-10 mnolan@son.jhmi.edu Munikumar Ramasamy Venkatasalu, 2007-10 rvmunikumar@yahoo.com Shu-Fang Vivienne Wu, 2005-08 s7.wu@student.qut.edu.au Editor Catrin Evans, 2007- catrin.evans@nottingham.ac.uk INDEN Website www.umich.edu/~inden/ Inside this issue: President s Greeting 1 Letter from the Editor 2 SUPPORTING THE 2 DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS PLAGARISM IN DOC- TORAL STUDY RESEARCH NOTE 8 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEM- BERS 7 8 Volume 7, Number 2 President s Greeting Dear INDEN Members: Greetings to each of you on behalf of your elected Board! I hope this edition of the INDEN finds you well and successful in your professional endeavors. This is the time to make a note on your calendar about plans to attend our next Biennial meeting. The INDEN Board has decided that the meetings will be held on June 24-25, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The ICN meetings will be held in Durban, South Africa, from June 27- July 2, 2009 (please note that this is a change in dates from those originally published by ICN). The Board has decided that we will meet in Johannesburg as the venues are more readily available and costeffective. In addition, all travelers coming to South Africa will pass through Johannesburg on the way to Durban so stopping off in Johannesburg works well for all. Planning has already begun for our meeting so begin making your plans to attend now! Also, I want to remind you that it is now renewal time for your membership dues. Individually prepared invoices will be sent to you soon, so please renew! In addition, please encourage your colleagues and students to join INDEN. You are July 2008 aware of the benefits of membership and this is an opportunity for you to share those benefits of IN- DEN membership. In addition, you can bring them to our meetings in South Africa next year. Please help spread the word about the value of INDEN! INDEN will be holding its annual election in the near future for positions on the Board. This is a great way for you to help move our organization forward. Watch for information about the elections in the near future. If you are interested in being involved in any of the INDEN initiatives, or have suggestions for additional activities, please contact any of the Board members. We are always looking for input and active involvement from our members, and would welcome your engagement. INDEN will only be a vital organization if all members participate actively. Best regards to each of you! Richard W. Redman President, INDEN School of Nursing University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA ANNOUNCEMENTS 15 INDEN BULLETIN 18 REMINDERS 18
Page 2 Letter from the Editor INDEN COMMITTEE UPDATES Greetings to all INDEN members. In this newsletter, we have a number of contributions from Nottingham University, U.K., profiling some of the interesting work that colleagues here are doing in relation to doctoral study. From these we learn about the importance of supporting the doctoral supervision process through a range of strategies, including: peer observation, academic modules, using technology to develop academic communities, providing research career workshops and providing doctoral student workshops. In this and future newsletter issues, we will be profiling one INDEN doctoral student member, starting with a student from Scotland. We also have a short piece from a doctoral student on his experiences of using on-line surveys as a research methodology. In addition, we also have a contribution from India on preventing plagiarism in doctoral study, and, as usual, we have various highlights and news announcements from other INDEN members. Best wishes to you all. Catrin Evans School of Nursing University of Nottingham, UK catrin.evans@nottingham.ac.uk SUPPORTING THE DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS Progressing to a PhD A Mysterious and Uncertain Process? Professor Roger Murphy Dir. of Institute for Research, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Nottingham, UK Roger.Murphy@nottingham.ac.uk Even though a PhD research degree is the highest qualification available for those studying within higher education, there is much about the process of working for a PhD that is shrouded in mystery. Those who have a PhD will know something of the process that they went through, but they may have little or no idea how similar or different their experience was to that of others. Professor Even experienced PhD supervisors Roger Murphy may have developed their own approaches to supervising their own students in individualistic ways with little opportunity to participate in formal induction and/or training for this unique and demanding role. They may also know very little about how their approach is similar/ different to that used by other PhD supervisors. At a time when teaching and learning strategies within higher education are being closely scrutinised, reviewed, evaluated, and improved, it is strange that the teaching and learning involved in the process of attaining the PhD is generally given so little attention. Clearly, there are concerns about variable completion rates, and over a number of years, the UK Research Councils have made various attempts to ensure that research students receive better all-around training, not just in the range of research skills used within their discipline, but also in relation to more generic skills related to working in teams, giving presentations, problem solving and becoming good communicators. However, in the face of all these pressures, many research supervisors have ended up feeling even less well prepared to meet the considerable challenges that face them in undertaking this demanding work. In two recent research projects at the University of Nottingham (that included the School of Nursing), I, along with colleagues from the Institute for Research into Learning and Teaching in
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 3 SUPPORTING THE DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS Progressing to a PhD (continued) Higher Education (IRLTHE), have looked both at the staff development opportunities, which are currently available to help individuals develop research degree supervision skills, and at the impact of getting research students and supervisors to peer-observe research degree supervisions in schools other than their own. Further reports are available from both of these projects, but in essence, the major outcomes have been as follows: Confirmation that research degree supervision processes are often idiosyncratic and generally in need of review and development improvement. A serious lack of opportunity available for supervisors to develop their supervision skills, learn from the experiences of successful supervisors, and build upon models of good practice. A general bewilderment among many research students about what is expected of them as research students and what they can expect from their allocated research supervisor(s) An over-dependence on the student supervisor relationship to fulfill all of the needs of research students, when they are, in fact, often surrounded by many other rich resources, which could if accessed intelligently, contribute a great deal to their progress and development. A realization that even an hour spent observing another research student and supervisor working together can stimulate quite a high level of critical reflection for the observer, which can, in some cases, prompt useful ideas for action, change and new approaches. Both research students and supervisors have reported considerable learning gains from a single observation of PhD supervision undertaken in another school. A widespread fear among research supervisors that centrally provided training for all research supervisors will be unhelpful, overly prescriptive and insensitive to disciplinary requirements and contexts. An over reliance on co-supervision as the major basis for inducting and training new supervisors. This approach is widely cited as the basis for supervisor training and induction, but the reality seems to be that it doesn t always work effectively and is a somewhat unpredictable and uncontrolled approach to a demanding task. Some novice junior supervisors report that they are expected to take the lead from the start and can end up carrying the major supervision workload with little guidance being provided by their more experienced partner. The importance of good communication, setting of ground-rules and expectations between research students and supervisors at the start of a supervisory relationship. In come cases, this is based upon a signed contract in order to ensure complete two-way clarity of expectations and commitments. Strategies to Promote Research Career Development: Experiences from Nottingham University Dr. Alison Edgley School of Nursing, University of Nottingham, UK Alison.edgley@nottingham.ac.uk A multi-disciplinary team from the Schools of Nursing, Education and Sociology, and Social Policy launched a series of Research Career Workshops for post graduates and contract research staff over a period of two years. Funding was provided by a Roberts grant (UK Research Council money earmarked to provide transferable skills training as recommended in a report by Sir Gareth Roberts). A number of potential attendees of the workshops were consulted at the design stage and worked with academic staff on the steering committee. Together, they designed an iterative and interactive programme to enhance awareness of research career opportunities within and beyond academia. The programme was intended to meet the specific needs of researchers working in the cognate disciplines, by drawing upon speakers with real world experience of research and research careers. The first workshop entitled From Dogsbody to Top Dog was concerned with career trajectories of the full time researcher within biographical and institutional contexts. There were 3 outside speakers (all professors from prestigious UK universities). Their contributions included the institutional context (including that of UK funding bodies such as the ESRC), as well
Page 4 SUPPORTING THE DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS Empowering Strategies to Promote Research Career (continued) as biographical accounts of their own journey. One speaker had had the experience of being a contract researcher. The second workshop entitled The Influence of Research on Policy was concerned with the use made of research findings by both public and voluntary sector institutions. Speakers were drawn from both arenas. The third workshop was called Creative Writing and Publishing and involved looking at writing styles and audiences. The number of attendees of this workshop was capped, as it involved small group exercises. Speakers were invited from the world of publishing, as well as those who themselves write for publication. The fourth workshop was called Building Research Networks and explored techniques for networking and avoiding the pitfalls of collaboration both nationally and internationally. Speakers for this workshop were drawn from the con- tract research staff within the three schools, as well as an academic who has written reflectively upon researching within research teams, as well as from within special interest networks. The fifth workshop entitled Research and Society looked at the role for social researchers in think tanks, NGOs, political parties, and social movements. Consideration was given to the similarities and differences between academic research and work in these fields. Speakers for this workshop were drawn from a think tank, journalism and an academic-turnedentrepreneur. The final workshop was entitled Moving On/Staying In. This workshop invited speakers from the careers advisory service, as well as an emeritus professor who made an impassioned case for the enterprise of pursuing a career connected to social research. Apart from the formal sessions, the workshops also provided an opportunity for researchers to meet one another across the three schools (over a free lunch) and to share experiences. All workshops were evaluated and it was shown that they were a resounding success, attracting high praise from delegates across the three schools. How Do Part-time Doctoral Students Benefit from Having Pocket PCs? Dr. Cathy Gibbons Graduate School, University of Nottingham, UK Cathy.gibbons@nottingham.ac.uk The Graduate School of the University of Nottingham seeks to improve the generic skills and student experience of all research students at the University. Schools from across the University have reported a concern that part-time students, particularly those who are based at a distance from their supervisor and central services, may feel isolated and lacking in support. Maximising inclusion for these students is an ongoing project for the Graduate School and its partners in the UKGrad Midlands Hub. To this end, we approached the School of Nursing with an invitation to explore the presumed benefits of mobile visual learning for this group. University of Nottingham All six of the participants were nursing lecturers who were registered part-time for doctoral studies. They were all supervised for their doctorates centrally, but worked at one of the many satellite locations of the School or for another regional university. Hence they had frequent contact with the academic functioning of nurse training as part of their professional life, but were physically distanced from the culture and support mechanisms of their doctoral studies. The participants were given a HTC TyTN Pocket PC for six months. The TyTN had the usual Microsoft programmes one would find on a PC. It also had camera, video and sound recording
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 5 SUPPORTING THE DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS How Do Part-time Doctoral Students (continued) functions, as well as being a standard SIM card-free mobile phone. It further promised access to the Internet via WiFi or phone network. They were supported with a face-to-face training session with the device, and had access to advice and blogging activities on an intra-net blackboard learning system. Findings were evaluated using a questionnaire and a face-to-face exit interview. The central question was: How has having this device changed your learning? Findings From the outset, it was important to distinguish between the usability and suitability of the material provided/available, the expectations and characteristics of the user, and the primary purpose of the project, i.e., the functions and usability of the device as a tool for learning. There was a range of overlapping expectations about how the device would be used, and these were largely met. These included: Using PC programmes on the device whilst on the move between locations for work and study (synchronised with home or work PCs), keeping notes about research, accessing and responding to emails, and mobile storage of data and documents. Learning preferences were for active discovery and play. There was a great deal of attention given to the functions and usability of the device, or to be precise, its lack of consistent function and usability in giving WiFi and Internet access, as half of all the devices inexplicably failed in this function. Even when this aspect was a success, much discussion concerned the physical quality of the device, e.g., the likeability or otherwise of the small buttons, the camera quality, the keyboard layout, the size and weight of the device. There was little focus from participants on the device as a tool for learning or communicating about research, and no discussion about their research. The visual and sound functions were used as bolt-on devices with social functions, and rarely combined with research or work activities. For most, the project involved the incorporation of technology into current behaviours rather than the generation of new behaviours. As a result, an online learning conference was developed using the intranet blackboard learning system WebCT. It has been designed to stimulate discussion around the participants research, to provide a supportive platform for that discussion, and to provide supportive examples of use of technology to enhance communication. It has been modelled on the School of Nursing s Research Cafe activity, where research students and staff get together to share presentations and discussions in a supportive and informal setting. Piloting with this group has indicated interest and support. The School of Nursing and the Graduate School hope to develop the online Research Cafe as a model to engage and support all part-time and distance-based doctoral students in their learning and research behaviours in the future. Despite this lack of progress in understanding the device as a learning tool, the device was a huge success for most of the participants as an information management tool. Involvement with the project had given them an affirmation of the high level of their technical abilities and an appreciation of just how committed the Graduate School and the School of Nursing of the University of Nottingham are to supporting doctoral researchers. Acknowledgements The HTC TyTNs were purchased with a grant from the Visual Learning Laboratory of the University of Nottingham. www.visuallearninglab.ac.uk For more information on activities to support part-time researchers, go to www.grad.ac.uk/midlandshub and follow the link to part-time researcher. Doctoral Nursing Students Views of The Philosophy of Social Science as Part of their Research Training Dr. Stephen Timmons School of Nursing, Nottingham University, UK Stephen.timmons@nottingham.ac.uk This article reports on a qualitative research project which set out to investigate the views of research students in nursing who had completed the Philosophy of Social Science module either early on in or in preparation for embarking on their own research, either as part of a Doctor of Health Science (DHSci), MA in Research Methods (MARM), or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The aims were: (i) to explore from the multi-national students perspective whether the module adequately fulfilled its purpose, (ii) to examine the ways students did or did not use their knowledge of philosophy in the research process, and (iii) to gather suggestions for improvements to the module.
Page 6 SUPPORTING THE DOCTORAL STUDY PROCESS Philosophy of social science and doctoral study (continued) Fifteen students, including five international students, were involved in 30-45 minute interviews, which were recorded. Data from transcripts of the interviews were coded and analysed for recurrent themes with the help of NVivo 7. The students were a mix of full-time and part-time. Most had also taken modules other than Philosophy, and the students represented all stages of the research process. Their research topics covered prevention of and patient experience with injury or specific disease, palliative care, lifestyles, diagnosis and nurse education. Findings For some, being lost in lectures was the norm, while others were highly engaged. The tutorial and its greater flexibility, however, rescued many students. Being able to question, share and learn from others gave greater access to philosophy. However the module s application to their research often became a reality when an appropriate lecture topic or the assignment forced them to explore the relationship between philosophy and their own topic. Students valued the ways in which participation in the module had prompted changes in their abilities, often not immediately, but on reflection. These included: Having a range of relevant philosophical stances from which students were able to choose for their research Greater breadth of reading and thinking - learning how to explore and investigate, probe and consider options Development of critical thinking challenging students thinking and encouraging them to be more critical both in their research and reading Appreciating the absence of right and wrong. Students realised their task was to provide and justify the rationale for the particular philosophical stance adopted in their thesis Increased understanding and insight. Exposure to (wider) philosophical thinking, reading, discussion and sharing ideas in and out of tutorials expanded students perspectives and enabled them to be more perceptive Making linkages between philosophical ideas and research. This affected proposals, the approach to a project, methodology, claims and conclusions. Students were clear that only they could discern and make such links. Key lectures during which some had a light-bulb moment resulted in students increased interest as they realised that philosophical knowledge was appropriate Influence on their writing and other areas of life - being more perceptive and cautious in relation to claims and generalities An overriding philosophical approach gave their projects both a basis and coherence. Students valued the way that learning philosophy helped writing the different sections. As a result, the philosophy was described as permeating the whole research process and thesis The assignment, which for some could be used in their thesis, and associated presentation which enabled discussion and feedback was also a challenging but valued exercise. Conclusion Although some students had understood the relevance of the module to their research, others did not make this link. For most students, recognizing a link came towards the end of the module. Although students found the assignment difficult, it made students think, talk (in preparation for and during their presentation) and write about how to apply philosophical thinking to their work. Only when having to put their learning into a context did they begin to understand why they had been obliged to experience the Philosophy of Social Science module. The students interviewed had, on reflection, all benefited from the experience of philosophy either through the module or their own reading. They recognised that it facilitated the justification of their research approach, thereby resulting in greater awareness and depth to the research, increasing its credibility. They also indicated greater insight into drawing research claims and conclusions. Students pointed to the value of the philosophy module by expressing a desire not to miss the experience, despite not always finding it enjoyable. It was described as being quite relevant despite the terminology, confusing but necessary and existed in stark contrast to their previous more pragmatic and practical experience.
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 7 PLAGARISM IN DOCTORAL STUDY Eight Thoughts on Avoiding Plagiarism in Doctoral Programs Dr. T.R. Udaya Kumar Associate Professor, SRMM College of Nursing, India ukumar2001@gmail.com Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism, George Moore 1. 1. Plagiarism means to offer as one s own work the words, ideas or arguments of another person, without appropriate attribution by quotation, reference or footnotes. Plagiarism occurs both when the words of another are reproduced without acknowledgement and when the ideas or arguments of another are paraphrased in such a way as to lead the reader to believe that they originated with the writer. 2. The purpose of a research paper is to synthesize previous research and scholarship with your ideas on the subject. Therefore, you should feel free to use other persons words, facts and thoughts...but the material you borrow must not be presented as if it were your own creation. 2 3. The growth of electronic media has created an opportunity to collect information and a few researchers fail to acknowledge the work of others by ignorance. This is the time to create awareness among nurse researchers to prevent plagiarism in nursing research. 4. Lack of time management may result in unintentional plagiarism, so researchers need to plan their work and work their plan. 5. Mentors need to continuously monitor the action plan and make necessary corrections in the formative stages. 6. First and foremost the researcher needs to adhere to the steps in nursing research and if adequate material or supportive data is not found in the area of research, the topic can be changed in the conceptual phase. This, in turn, can prevent plagiarism. 7. The dwindling in the reading of books and journals has made some researchers look into ready reckoner (websites/electronic media) for their required materials. This is laziness. Researchers must be motivated to read books, journals, etc., so that they have a broad scope about the topic to be researched. 8. Stress is another factor that contributes to plagiarism. This hampers creativity among researchers, and thus mentors should motivate doctoral students and provide them guidance about how to de-stress and achieve their goals. 1 cited in: http://community.lyndonstate.edu/library/libraryresearchguides/citingsourcesavoidingplagiarism/plagiarism/ tabid/1211/default.aspx 2 Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6 th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003.
Page 8 RESEARCH NOTE Note on Method: Online Surveys - A Useful Research Tool John Rolley PhD Candidate, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University of Technology, Australia john.rolley@postgrad.curtin.edu.au Communication and information technology is evolving rapidly. The online survey has had a meteoric assent, particularly in market research. However, health and social sciences are also benefiting from this evolution. I would like to briefly advocate the consideration of online surveys as productive research tools in healthcare research. My supervisors and I embarked on a project late last year to survey cardiovascular nurses on their opinions, beliefs, values and practices when caring for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions. Australia, like so many other countries, suffers from the tyranny of distance (Australia has a similar land-mass to the continental USA), yet has a small population (21,000,000). Communication via post, therefore, becomes financially prohibitive and is notoriously inefficient with small return/participation often being reported in the literature. Given the increased penetration of internet services into the Australian and New Zealand markets, it makes sense to utilise the online environment to generate research participation. The particular service we are using, SurveyMonkey, is one among many such services and it provides a secure, data-encrypted service that is acceptable to most ethics committees or internal review boards. The annual subscription is nominal in comparison to mail distribution rates and the need for manual data entry is eliminated reducing the level of error from third party data handling. In addition, it generates reports on-demand and these can be downloaded in several formats. One downside has been the translation of data from the MS- Excel format to an SPSS format. While this takes some extra time, it is saved at the user interface end of the process. In the current social climate where environmental concerns are also at the forefront of healthcare professionals minds, the reduced need for printing, mailing (physical transportation) and data entry means a reduced drain on our planet s resources. This demonstrates the positive impact evolving technologies can have on research resource consumption: Particularly as globalisation increases our need to gather information from geographically larger areas. On the whole, our team reports a positive experience using the online survey method for data collection and analysis. I believe researchers who are contemplating survey-based data collection methods requiring the input of participants from a wide geographical area should seriously consider using these dynamic and evolving technologies. If you have any questions or comments about our experience, please feel free to contact me. UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Doctoral Student Profiles R.V. Muni Kumar School of Nursing, Nottingham University, UK rvmunikumar@yahoo.com The INDEN student board member R.V. Muni Kumar has proposed that we profile one student member of INDEN in each newsletter as a way of getting to know each other a bit better. In this newsletter, a PhD nursing student from Scotland starts us off. The narrative below is in response to the following list of questions: About You & Your PhD Journey 1. Tell us a bit about yourself. 2. What made you enroll for doctoral education? 3. Tell us about your research topic and why you wanted to investigate this issue? 4. In what ways do you hope that your doctoral project will contribute to nursing knowledge and practice? 5. What are the key challenges that you have faced so far during your doctoral programme? How did you handle these challenges? 6. What have you enjoyed most so far and why? 7. Can you tell us your views on what makes a good supervisor? (and not such a good supervisor?) 8. Where do you want to be in 5-10 years time?
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 9 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Doctoral Student Profiles (continued) Your Views on INDEN 9. What is your expectation of IN- DEN as a student member? 10. How can INDEN be useful for student members? 11. What is your view about the variety of doctoral programmes for nursing worldwide? 12. How do you want to contribute to INDEN? Introducing Maureen Crowley My name is Maureen Crowley and I am in the third year of a parttime research PhD at Napier University in Edinburgh. I am also a full-time lecturer at the University of The West of Scotland, in Dumfries a town in the mainly rural area of south west Scotland. I am 48 years old and live with my partner who is also a healthcare professional. Before teaching, I was a specialist nurse in the emergency department. Enrolling for a PhD was something that was always at the back of my mind. Completing my master s degree helped me realise that academically I could probably do it, and becoming involved in nurse education and teaching clinical skills exposed me to a topic that I wanted to explore further. Patient safety is the most important aspect of nursing education and I want to add something to the body of knowledge with respect to simulation as a way of helping with skills acquisition, i.e., I wanted to determine if simulation was a credible tool to help ensure that newly qualified nurses were fit for purpose. My research topic concerns the use of simulated environments and simulation technology within nurse education and the impact this has on facilitating the transfer of skills to clinical areas. Much has been documented about the fact that newly qualified nurses do not always have the same level of skills competency as the more traditionally trained apprenticeship students and simulation is viewed as a way of addressing this. Sadly, not all students are exposed to the same menus of experience in clinical areas in terms of clinical skills, and this can impact their levels of competence. Simulation allows students to practice not only psychomotor skills acquisition, but can also help to consolidate theory and engender professionalism in terms of attitude and behaviour. I am collecting qualitative data over a two year period and it is hoped that by carrying out a longitudinal study, data from the study will help to show how these skills are developed and what, if anything, is influential. PhD student Maureen Crowley I hope that this research will help to determine whether learning in a simulated environment helps in the acquisition and transfer to practice of clinical skills in the psychomotor, cognitive and affective domains. If it does show this link, then it may help to ensure that all nursing schools include simulation into curriculum and ultimately, patient safety will be enhanced A number of challenges have arisen throughout the course of this study. First of all, there are not enough hours in the day and I find it very difficult to fit significant periods of study time into my week. My university is a newly merged institution and academic staff are currently writing a new curricular programme, a lengthy and labour intensive process, and that makes it increasingly difficult to stay motivated in the face of it all. Another challenge is maintaining self-belief in the face of sometimes-fierce criticism. However, it is important to remember that this is all part of the doctoral process, and that one will be stronger on completion. I manage these challenges as well as I am able and there have been peaks and troughs. I think it s important to prioritise, and as a former front-line nurse, I believe I have the ability to know what needs to be done now and what can wait. Keeping a perspective on things parents get sick, good friends die - realising that sometimes the train will steam ahead and at other times it will crawl along because there is a cow on the track! There have been times when I have felt quite isolated but talking to colleagues who have been through this is a boon. The important thing is to keep moving and realise that you cannot, and indeed do not, need to control everything that s the tricky bit!! Despite the challenges, I have and am enjoying the journey I am doing what I want to do. I most enjoyed the INDEN conference in Tokyo, for two reasons. First because I got to meet some amazing people who will serve as positive role models
Page 10 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Doctoral Student Profiles (continued) for the road ahead. I regret that I have not kept in touch or contacted those who were kind enough to give me their cards due to pressures of time initially and then to the passage of time. Secondly, it afforded me the opportunity to experience a different culture. A good supervisor is essential to keep you on the straight-and-narrow. They should be supportive and offer constructive guidance, be knowledgeable about aspects of your research, be it the methodological approach or the subject area, and be willing to share that with you. A good supervisor should be someone who will recognise when to push you on and when to give you some space. I am extremely lucky - I have three and they are all these things. I m not sure where I see myself in 5 10 years time (I am open to possibilities), but presumably I will have a doctorate degree. I would like to have more involvement in research, be recognised as an authority in my area of expertise with a string of published research, and possibly a book. A professorship would be nice!! I was introduced to INDEN by one of my supervisors and encouraged to submit an abstract for the conference in Japan. I m not sure if I had any preconceived expectations but I believe that it is a great portal for doctoral students. It offers exposure to an international network of research-active nurses from clinical and academic environments. It also offers the chance to present your research to an international audience. I was unaware, really, of the full extent doctoral programmes worldwide and of the challenges faced by some of the students in terms of access and funding. I am fully supportive of the efforts of INDEN to support these students. I would like to contribute to INDEN by, first of all, bringing it to the attention of other doctoral students and this I have done. Also, perhaps in the future, I would like to present at a student conference or serve on the committee. For further information, please contact: maureenmacmo1@btinternet.com A PhD Day Event: Experiences from Organising a Mini-Doctoral Students Conference for Students of the Sue Ryder Care Centre for Palliative and End of Life Studies, University of Nottingham, UK Munikumar Ramasamy PhD Student, School of Nursing, University of Nottingham, UK Ntxmr3@nottingham.ac.uk The Sue Ryder Care Centre for Palliative and End of Life Studies was created in 2006 and supports a broad programme of research and teaching that is focused on palliative and end of life care. The PhD students in the Centre organised a PhD Day event that took place on May 13 th, 2008 at the University of Nottingham. The aim of the day was to bring together PhD students from across the country whose research is focused in this field and to provide an opportunity to present and share information. The idea was conceived by Professor Jane Seymour, Head of the Sue Ryder Care Centre, and we have been supported by Dr. Kathy Almack, Senior Research Fellow. The event attracted 13 PhD students from various universities across the UK whose work focuses on palliative and end of life care. The event was structured informally in order to create a supportive and inclusive atmosphere. In order to make the day relevant for all the students who attended, presenters were asked to identify a methodological or practical issue that they had found particularly challenging or successful to raise with the audience. These issues sparked interesting and lively debate amongst the group. The organisers also wanted to encourage people from all stages of their PhD programmes to get involved and feedback from the conference demonstrated that those who attended found this to be helpful and
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 11 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS A PhD Day Event (continued) supportive of their own process. It was a busy programme with 6 presentations, a discussion topic and time during lunch to network within the group. The presentation topics included End of Life research in the emergency department, the impact of early parental death on adult life, living with frailty, and the use of weblogs as complementary therapy. Discussions addressed a range of methodological and practical issues around data collection, ethics and searching the literature. We have received feedback which was extremely positive with people particularly liking the range of topics covered, the opportunity for discussion, networking and listening to people at different stages of their PhD and research process. As PhD students, we had opportunity to learn about organising, publishing and conducting such conference event. Students at PhD Day, University of Nottingham, UK. Newsnotes from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (SoN), USA Compiled by Dr. Marjorie Muecke, Assistant Dean Geri Grosso, Associate Director, Global Health Affairs Office Kathleen M. McCauley, Associate Dean for Academic Programs Deborah A Chyun, Associate Professor and Director Student Successes The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing would like to congratulate five doctoral students in receiving National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Awards (NRSA). The students are: Viola Benavente, Jacqueline Brooks, Nancy Ho, Christopher Lee, and Mindy Zeitzer. In addition, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, in partnership with the New York University College of Nursing, has received a generous educational grant from the Jonas Family Trust to fund two stellar PhD students for 4 years of study. We are pleased to announce that Penn s Jonas Scholar will be Michael Fachko MSN, RN who has dedicated over twenty years of service to the United States Air Force. At Penn, he will partner with faculty conducting research in transitional care. The Jonas Scholar from NYU is Adrian Juarez who desires to focus his research on factors that limit health care access by marginalized groups. In addition, another student, Ashley Darcy, with a research interest in Cognitive Outcomes in Low Birth Weight Infants, was awarded a grant to study at the University of Basel, Switzerland. In August, Ashley will participate in a one week, rigorous practiceoriented research course in advanced quantitative design and statistical analysis for doctoral students in Nursing, Public Health and Medicine. Students will share their experiences on the ThinkSwiss Research Blog. Moving onto postdoctoral research, Margaret Souders (post-doc), Victoria Pak (PhD student), Joanna Holsten(PhD student), and Jie Ping Zhang and Hanzhe Zhang (undergrad. students) are working in Jintan, China, this summer with Dr. Jianhong Liu and her collaborators. Their re-
Page 12 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Newsnotes from the University of Pennsylvania (continued) search study will focus on environmental and behavioral risk factors of various health issues including lead exposure, behavioral outcomes and nutritional status in children in China. Another student, Christopher S. Lee, PhD(c), MSN, RN, CCRN, Pre-Doctoral Fellow of the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research, presented at the Yale University School of Nursing Conference on International Nursing Collaboration on February 1, 2008. His presentation followed an in-depth discussion on strategies for productive international nursing research by Dr. Muecke. Early in his pre-doctoral training, candidate Lee developed a collaborative relationship with a fellow pre-doctoral student from Thailand, the now Dr. Jom Suwanno, Walailak University School of Nursing, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Together, they and their mentor Dr. Barbara Riegel, completed an analysis of the relationship between self-care behaviors and health status using data that Dr. Suwanno collected from a sample of 383 persons with heart failure living in southern Thailand during his dissertation study. Findings of the research include that persons who were more engaged in heart failure self-care behaviors and confident in their ability to perform self-care also had markedly better health status. Thus, teaching and fostering effective self-care behaviors may be a mechanism through which health status could be improved in this population. Lee also discussed the tremendous value of being mentored in practicing international collaborative research at the pre-doctoral level. Global Health Events The Global Health Affairs office at the University of Pennsylvania hosted their second Annual Global Health Reflections Week from March 31 st April 5 th, 2008. Global Health Reflections Week encourages faculty, students and staff to engage in discussion about global health issues and to share their experiences and ideas. The event opened with a series of talks by faculty and students who had recently consulted, conducted research or studied abroad. Students also attended a showing of the film and discussion of the Heart of the Congo to gain a deeper insight to the social and political challenges of health care delivery in the war-torn Congo. The Global Health Reflections Week was attended by over 100 faculty and students and will be held annually, each year with different content. HONORS TO TWO INDEN MEMBERS Two of our members, Dr. Hugh McKenna and Dr. Afaf Meleis, are being honored in special ways for their outstanding work and international service. Both Hugh and Afaf were among the co founders of INDEN in 1999 2000, and were instrumental in bringing INDEN into being, and helped provide the vision for the organization. Dr. McKenna was awarded the title Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen. Hugh tells us that the Minister of Health made mention of his work and contribution to INDEN in announcing the award. Dr. Meleis has been designated as the recipient of the International Distinguished Leadership Award by the Commission for Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. Both awards will be bestowed at formal events at a later date. Congratulations, Afaf and Hugh, you do us proud!
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 13 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Post-Doctoral Training Experiences as Fellows of the INDEN/STTI International Mentoring Program in Nursing Dr. Sirirat Leelacharas, Department of Nursing (Medical Nursing), Mahidol University, Thailand rasla@mahidol.ac.th,%20sleelacha@yahoo.com Dr. Nada Lukkahatai, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Fellow: Sirirat Leelacharas As a postdoctoral fellow of the INDEN/ STTI program, I had the great honor and opportunity to visit the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON), USA, for three months to be trained to become a mentor for prospective doctoral students in nursing, as well as, to develop my own research. I have had invaluable and exciting experiences developing two research proposals and writing two research manuscripts. In terms of training to become a good mentor for prospective doctoral students in the future, I attended classes with doctoral students in nursing and learned the process of mentoring doctoral students by setting goals to guide their academic success. Importantly, I learned that a good mentor not only challenges students, but also encourages them to gain insightful knowledge in order to achieve academic success. For training to enhance my research skills, I have had the great opportunity to work with Professor Martha N. Hill. Her guidance and comments have helped me to become an energetic and enthusiastic composer of effective manuscripts and research proposals. These skills will be very helpful for me to use as academic strategies to guide my prospective doctoral students. Additionally, learning new information related to research not only happened in the class, but also was available around the Johns Hopkins Institu- tions. I had a chance to exchange my research experiences with other scholars outside the nursing field. This helped me expand my horizon of research study and allowed me to see a variety of visions from people conducting their research from interdisciplinary fields. I liked the conference, Methodologic Issues in Translational Research, arranged by JHUSON, Center for Collaborative Intervention Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health Department of Health, Behavior and Society, and the Clinical and Translational Science Award Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. I learned new and helpful information from the conference that I think will help me give good advice to my prospective doctoral students. In summary, I encourage every Ph.D. graduate to continue his/her post-doctoral research work in order to seek a new chapter of his/ her life that might be more exciting and challenging when doing future nursing research. Sirirat Leelacharas I would like to express my special thanks to both INDEN and STTI, and the fellowship selection committee for giving this wonderful opportunity to be trained at Johns Hopkins University s School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland. I would like to convey my sincere thanks to Dean Martha N. Hill, Dr. Gayle G. Page, Dr. Marie T. Nolan, Dr. Cheryl R. Dennison, the faculty at the JHUSON, and all of the staff who gave me such a warm welcome when I was there. Importantly, I cannot forget Ms. Susan Bullock, Office of Global Nursing, The Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing, who provided me much assistance when I first arrived at the JHUSON. Fellow: Nada Lukkahatai My INDEN/STTI postdoctoral fellowship started on February 29 th and ended May 30 th, 2008, at the School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). During the fellowship, I had opportunities to participate in the orientation seminars for research students and international students. The orientations were very interesting in terms of the information and strategies introduced to new graduate students on how to be successful in their research endeavors. New students were provided information about how to keep track of their research ideas from the start of their program, and were instructed about copyright issues, which I think is very useful information for developing their own research. Issues about supervisor and student interaction were also brought up during the orientation, which informed students on issues and problems that might be expected during their program. Also during orientation, students were introduced to skills that they might need to survive at the graduate level. I was intrigued with the notion of research-focused programs in which students are not required to take coursework during their first year, but as they their research plans/ideas developed, classes or workshops required by their research plans were taken. However, based on their curriculum, students do still have a few core courses that are required. In my view, the relationship between supervisor and student is far more significant in this type of program than those programs with a great deal of required coursework. This is
Page 14 UPDATES AND NEWS FROM INDEN MEMBERS Post-Doctoral Training Experiences (continued) because supervisor and student need to work together from the beginning in order to get the research idea developed and make decisions about specific courses and experiences the student might take /participate in to support the research question. Also, I had an opportunity to enroll in one of the supervision solution workshops, which is an online discussion for new supervisors and staff. Many interesting issues in graduate student supervision, such as cultural differences and student motivation, were discussed. I found this type of workshop helpful for new supervisors because many good ideas and suggestions were proposed. Most importantly, this type of online workshop seems to fit well with the busy schedules of new supervisors. With these new valuable experiences, I was able to expand my experiences and vision on doctoral supervision. I am most grateful to both INDEN and STTI for their support and the opportunity afforded me. I also would like to thank the administration, faculty, staff and students of QUT for their support and for hosting me during my stay, especially Dr. Patsy Yates, my supervisor and mentor for her dedication and superb mentorship, and Dr. Helen Edwards, Head of the School of Nursing at QUT, for the administrative support I was provided. INDEN/STTI fellow Nada Lukkahatai (2nd from left, bottom) and other doctoral students with faculty members from Queensland University of Technology s School of Nursing: Dr. Jennie Barr (top left), Associate Professor Debra Anderson (top middle), Professor Patsy Yates (bottom middle). Also shown: Dr. Kathy Smith-De Julio, post-doc from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA (far right).
Volume 7, Number 2 Page 15 ANNOUNCEMENTS News from the Philippines Compiled by Professor Josefina A. Tuazon Dean, College of Nursing University of the Philippines, Manila 1. Institutional Achievement: The College of Nursing of the University of the Philippines Manila has been recently redesignated as a WHO Collaborating Center for Leadership in Nursing Development for the period 2008-2012. The College has been a WHOCC since 1989. The head of the Center is Professor Josefina A. Tuazon, Dean of the College. 2. Conference Announcement - the 1st Asia Pacific Conference on Nursing Research: Moving Nursing towards Evidence-Based Practice is set for September 3-5, 2008 at the Manila Hotel, Manila, Philippines. This conference is being organized by the University of the Philippines Manila College of Nursing with the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene. Call for abstracts is still open until July 15, 2008. For more information, visit http://firstaspacnursingresearch.upm.edu.ph/ Online Nursing Journal New and available for free! The OJIN topic on Genetics and Genomics is now available free of charge to all nurses and interested parties. To view the content, please go to the OJIN website at www.nursingworld.org/ojin/ and click on Journal Topics and then on the topic First Genetics, Now Genomics. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing is a journal of the American Nurses Association (ANA).
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