This training program will prepare nurse scholars to devise, implement and evaluate informational interventions that our patient-centered and responsive to a complex health care system context to generate new knowledge for nursing. Informational interventions include interactions with care recipients in which context is transferred, meanings are shared, and support is given. Patient-centeredness describes the extent to which nurses tailor interventions mindful of, and responsive to, characteristics such as affective states, perceptions, preferences, and resources. The interpersonal context, that is, the situations in which nurses and care recipients encounter each other, vary greatly. Furthermore, contemporary nurse-patient interactions are influenced by multiple and complex external factors, such as social, political, and organizational forces. Nursing research on the content, process, and mode of delivery, of patient-centered, informational interventions are most likely to yield effective results when more attention is given to individual characteristics and to the external factors that impact that interpersonal context. This training program capitalizes on the research strengths of the University of Wisconsin. Investigator-initiated nursing research includes tests of theory-based informational interventions delivered by nurses on a variety of patient behaviors, including breast cancer control, pain control, and regimens to control incontinence. Other researchers in the School are examining contextual factors, which influence patient-centered interventions, including patient preferences and the mode of informational delivery. Campus-wide initiatives supportive of the training effort includes a focus on consumer health, computer technology in health promotion and disease prevention, and illness. The training program will be led by School of Nursing faculty, and supported by Medical, Engineering and Educational Schools' faculty. Support is requested for 10 pre- and 4 post-doctoral candidates. Pre- doctoral candidates will have at least two years of course work in nursing science, inquiry and methods, philosophy of science, and a trainee-directed secondary concentration. Additional research training activities include a training forum, guided research experiences, and an independent research project. Post-doctoral training will be tailored to the trainee's needs, but will include formal courses, participation in seminars and directed research, and conduct of an independent investigation. Trainees will be expected to disseminated their work in writing and at research conferences at least once during the training period.
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