The Power of the Mizzou Connection
Dean Judith Fitzgerald Miller
Dear alumni, friends and colleagues,
What’s in a PhD degree? You might immediately conjure up images of hours of study, philosophy of science, research methods courses, literature syntheses, dissertation development and facing a committee that you think at times is testing your perseverance and obtaining pleasure from watching you revise and revise the revisions. Well here at the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing the PhD means development of nurse scientists — nurses with the knowledge and skills to expand our body of knowledge in nursing.
Students here are supported by faculty scholars who have well-established, funded programs of research. Students are mentored from the time of admission to the completion of the dissertation defense by scholars who match the students’ research interests. The Sinclair School of Nursing faculty are research experts with the ability to guide doctoral students. This competence is evident by this noteworthy fact:
IN 2009, FACULTY AT THE SINCLAIR SCHOOL OF NURSING HAVE THE HIGHEST SCHOLARLY PRODUCTIVITY IN THE NATION AMONG ALL PUBLIC NURSING SCHOOL MEMBERS IN THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERISITIES.
This means that per faculty member they have the most peer-reviewed publications and grants. What a distinction! Who would not want to study with such a wonderfully competent group with such high acclaim? Being at the top means we need to keep up this momentum and this faculty is ready for the challenge.
Our doctoral program has been in existence since 1993. Since that time, doctoral students themselves have contributed to our body of knowledge in many areas. A focus on the elderly has been prevalent since the first graduate in 1996, Karen Hayes, who studied medication instructions for rural elderly discharged from emergency departments. One of our most recent graduates in 2009, Todd Ruppar, studied behavioral feedback using medication caps inserted with micro chips to detect dispensing of the medication. His research was all aimed at providing tailored feedback and improving adherence in elderly with hypertension.
Other early studies focused on psychological well-being of family caregivers of persons with dementia; health care use among rural chronically ill; and management of diabetes in Mexican-American immigrants. Contemporary studies of diabetes were completed by the late Jane Cochran in 2009 on “Meta Analysis of Quality of Life Outcomes Following Diabetes Self-Management.” A self management intervention for persons with osteoarthritis was studied by Kathryn Burks in 2001.
Other studies were completed on topics such as stress and coping; symptom control in persons with asthma; feeling safe in intensive care; person-centeredness in nursing homes; adolescent mothers; and grief in African-American elders after death of a spouse by Sheila Capp in 2009. Read the complete listing.
These PhD graduates have accomplished a great deal, and with the assistance of their faculty mentors they have impacted our science. With dissemination of their work and ongoing research, they are fulfilling their role as scholars.