Facilitating Research by African-American

Undergraduate Students

Lynette M. Gibson Ph.D., RNAssociate Professor

Mary Black School of NursingUniversity of South Carolina Upstate

Objectives

1. Describe the rationale for undergraduate research.

2. Describe the rationale for undergraduate research by African-American nursing students.

3. Discuss a philosophy of mentorship with undergraduate research students.

4. Describe results of engagement with undergraduate students in research.

Rationale for Undergraduate Student Research

Needed!!! Nursing students, faculty, nurse researchers

Greater numbersBetter preparationMore diversity

Rationale for Diversity

12.6% of full-time nursing school faculty from minority backgrounds (AACN, 2010).

Healthcare professionals from racial and ethnic minority groups more successful in recruiting minority patients to participate in clinical research (IOM, 2003).

“The rationale for increasing diversity in the health workforce is evident: increased diversity will improve the overall health of the nation”

(Sullivan Commission 2004, page 3).

Rationale for Diversity

• The need to attract diverse nursing students is paralleled by the need to recruit more faculty from minority populations. Few nurses from racial/ethnic minority groups with advanced nursing degrees pursue faculty careers (AACN, 2011a).

Rationale for Terminal Degree• Although 13% of nurses hold a graduate degree,

fewer than 1% (28,369 nurses) have a doctoral degree in nursing or a nursing-related field (AACN, 2010).

• Only 555 students graduated with a PhD in nursing in 2009, has remained constant for the past decade (AACN, 2009).

• Key roles for PhD nurses include teaching future generations of nurses and conducting research that becomes the basis for improvements in nursing practice (AACN, 2011b).

Boyer Commission (1998; 2003)

Opportunities to participate in research and creative activities are an established component of undergraduate programs.

Research-based learning not limited to completion of specific projects; can take place whenever faculty and students share the act of discovery

Should be available to all students; not just honors or special students (The Boyer Commission, 2003)

The Case for Undergraduate Nursing Research

BSN students understand the basic elements of evidence-based practice, can work with others

to identify potential research problems, and can collaborate on research teams (AACN, 2008).

Creating Research Opportunities…

Research work/mentorship programs combine aspects of honors programs and research assistant opportunities.

Create synergistic opportunities.

In exchange for receiving extra help from bright students, faculty are responsible to create an infrastructure designed to help students develop researcher behaviors. (Vessey & Demarco, 2008)

Undergraduate Nursing Research Developing Passion

Demonstrate an understanding of the basic elements of the research process and models for applying evidence to clinical practice. (AACN, 2008).

“The research attitude begins on the undergraduate level” (Carnegie, 1974).

Undergraduate Research Developing Passion…

Undergraduate research programs are necessary for undergraduate students to develop a

passion, for the discovery of new knowledge and its application to practice (Vessey & Demarco, 2008)

Engaging Undergraduate Research Students

Engage students and faculty as partners in the discovery of new knowledge (Vessey & Demarco, 2008).

All students should participate regardless of academic course loads or financial need (Vessey & Demarco, 2008).

Help undergraduates begin to see key aspects of the researcher role through real participation through individualized engaged development. (Vessey & Demarco, 2008).

Engaging Undergraduate Research Students

The research enterprise can thrive only when certain prerequisites are in place, including a culture supportive of research and scholarship; strong

mentoring in the intellectual work of the discipline (AACN Position on Nursing Research, 2006).

Philosophy of Mentorship

“Crab theory”Reach back and pull forwardSharing of self with otherMutual, synergistic relationshipGoal oriented

Profile: USC Upstate Mary Black School of Nursing

Largest baccalaureate nursing program in SC 440 pre-licensure students 102 RN-BSN students Spring 2012 Admission rate for African-American students – 9% Matriculation rate for African-American students - 9.9%

Methods Three African-American undergraduate senior nursing

students

Invited to participate after completing nursing research course

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) with African-American women

Research Study

1. Quasi-experimental pre and post-test longitudinal design with African-American women over 35 from churches and community organizations

2. “Save Our Breasts” Forum - culturally specific intervention with information on key epidemiological factors, myths, barriers to, and facilitators of breast cancer screening

Research Study

3. Surveys on breast health knowledge, beliefs, fear, mammography self-efficacy, fatalism, and mammography intention measured prior to, immediately after, and three to six months after “Save Our Breasts”

4. Spiritual/religiosity measured before the forum

The Students…

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRN

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSN

Danielle Harris, RN, BSN

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRNDeveloped recruitment questionnaire Award-winning poster at the USC Upstate

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRN

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRN

Legrand, H., & Gibson, L. (2010). Community-based participatory recruitment methods for African-American women. University of South Carolina Upstate Undergraduate Research Journal, 3, 61-64.

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRNLegrand, H., & Gibson, L. Social Networking as a Means of

Community-Based Participatory Recruitment of African-American women. Symposium Presented at the Southern Nursing Research Society Conference, February 2011

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRN

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSNUniversity of South Carolina

Magellan Scholar

Research opportunities in all disciplines Faculty mentoring relationships & professional

research experience Students can creatively explore interests at a more in-

depth level than can be attained in the classroom

Crystal Humbert, Magellan Scholar

Crystal Humbert, Fourth Year, Nursing, USC Upstate Mentor: Dr. Lynette Gibson, Nursing, USC Upstate Breast cancer beliefs and mammography screening intentions in African-American women

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSNUSC System Magellan Scholar

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSN

USC Upstate Office of Sponsored Programs Mini-Grants for Undergraduate Research Students

Breast Cancer Beliefs and Mammography Screening Intention In African American Women

The Effect of the “Save Our Breasts” Forum on Breast Cancer Beliefs, Fear, and Fatalism in African-American Women

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSN…“Save Our Breasts” Forum

“I am more comfortable speaking in

public…I feel as though I have

made a positive difference in the women’s lives”

(Crystal Humbert, Magellan Scholar)

“Save Our Breasts” Forum

“The Magellan Scholar Program has

enabled me to do research that I otherwise might not

have done” (Crystal Humbert, Magellan Scholar)

Crystal Humbert RN, BSNHumbert, C., & Gibson, L. The Effect of the "Save Our

Breasts" Forum on Breast Cancer Beliefs, Fear, and Fatalism in African-American Women. Oncology Nursing Society Biennial Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA, February 2011.

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSN Discovery Day Poster Presentation – USC System, Columbia, SC

Culturally Appropriate Interventions and Recruitment Strategies to Promote Mammography in African American Women Crystal Humbert, Student Nurse, Research Assistant, Lynette Gibson, Ph.D., RN, Research Advisor

Humbert, C. (2009). Breast cancer beliefs and mammography screening intention by African-American women (2009). Upstate Research Symposium, September 2009, Greenville, SC.

Danielle Harris, RN, BSNHarris, D., & Gibson, L.

(2011). Breast cancer fear, fatalism, and spirituality in African-American women, Seventh Annual SC Upstate Research Symposium, March 2011.

Danielle Harris, RN, BSN

Harris, D., & Gibson, L. (2011). Breast cancer fear, fatalism, and spirituality in African-American women, USC Upstate Undergraduate Research Journal, IV, 39-42.

Continued Dissemination

Manuscripts being completed Social networking Social Networking as a Means

of Community-Based Participatory Recruitment of African-American women

(Legrand & Gibson) Breast cancer beliefs and mammography

intention of African-American women

(Humbert & Gibson)

Future Career Plans

Hadassa Legrand, RN, BSN, CCRN, awaiting decision for Nurse Anesthetist Program

Danielle Harris, RN, BSN, awaiting decision for Master’s Degree Program in Nursing Administration

Crystal Humbert, RN, BSN, continuing to gain clinical experience; plans for graduate school

Faculty Should…

Entice undergraduate African-American students to conduct CBPR Eliminate health disparities Promote health in a culturally appropriate manner

Increase number of African-American nurses with the terminal degree

Add to cadre of African-American nurse researchers and scholars

ReferencesAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing (2006). AACN position statement on nursing

research. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/position/NsgResearch.pdf

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/enhancing-diversity

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2009). The Institute of Medicine committee on institutional and policy-level strategies for increasing the diversity of the U.S. health care workforce. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/Testimony/BednashTestimony.htm.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011a). Enhancing Diversity in the Workforce. Washington, DC: Author.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011b). The future of higher education in nursing: Annual report. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/IDS/pdf/EthnicityTbl.pdf.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2012). AACN’s Institutional Data Systems and Research Center (IDS). Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/research-data

ReferencesCarnegie, M. E. (1974). The research attitude begins on the undergraduate level. Nursing

Research, 23, 99.

Institute of Medicine (2003). Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University (2003).

Reinventing undergraduate education: Three years after the Boyer Report. Retrieved from http://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/1951/26013/Reinventing+Undergraduate+Education+(Boyer+Report+II).pdf?sequence=1

The Sullivan Commission (2004). The Sullivan Commission’s Report on Health Profession Diversity. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Sullivan Commission (2004). Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010). The registered nurse population, 2010. Retrieved from http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/rnsurveys/rnsurveyfinal.pdf

Vessey, J. A., & Demarco, R. F. (2008). The undergraduate research fellows program: A unique model to promote engagement in research. Journal of Professional Nursing, 24(6), 358–363. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2008.06.003