Developing a Program of Research in Nursing

Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN, is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut, School of Nursing, USA. She also has a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine. Her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing is from Western Connecticut State University. She received her Master’s degree in maternal-newborn nursing from Yale University. Cheryl is a certified nurse-midwife. She received her certificate in nurse-midwifery also from Yale University. Her Doctor of Nursing Science degree is from Boston University. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She has received numerous awards such as the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nursing’s Distinguished Professional Service Award, Eastern Nursing Research Society’s Distinguished Researcher Award, the Distinguished Alumna Award from Yale University and the Connecticut Nurses’ Association’s Diamond Jubilee Award for her contribution to nursing research. She has been appointed to the President’s Advisory Council of Postpartum Support International. Over the past 30 years Cheryl has focused her research efforts on developing a research program on postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. Based on the findings from her series of qualitative studies, Cheryl developed the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) which is published by Western Psychological Services. She is a prolific writer who has published over 140 journal articles including such topics as phenomenology, grounded theory, narrative analysis, metasynthesis, and qualitative secondary analysis. Cheryl is co-author with Dr. Denise Polit of the textbook, Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice. Editions of this text received both the 2007 and the 2011 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. Their Essentials of Nursing Research textbook just won the 2013 AJN Book of the Year Award. Cheryl co-authored with Dr. Jeanne Driscoll Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Clinician’s Guide which received the 2006 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. Cheryl’s latest 2 books include Traumatic Childbirth and The Routledge International Handbook of Qualitative Nursing Research.

Contents
Preface


1. Developing a Program of Research


Definitions of a Program of Research


Who Does a Program of Research?


Metaphors Used to Describe Research Programs


My Program of Research


2. Starting a Program of Research


The Road Not Taken


The Calf-Path


Tools Needed for Developing a Program of Research


3. Planning Sequential Studies


The Long and Winding Path of the Research Program on Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders


Benefits of Meta-Analyses and Metasyntheses in Planning Sequential Studies


Guidance in Planning Sequential Studies With Special Populations


4. Options Available for Developing a Research Program


Qualitative Research Can be a Gold Mine in Developing Programs of Research


Mixed Methods as an Option in Research Programs


5. Sustaining a Program of Research


Characteristics of a Successful Program of Research and Steps to Achieve it


Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research


Exemplars of Nurse Researchers’ Collaborative Research Teams


Qualitative Interdisciplinary Collaboration


International Research Collaboration


6. Other Nurse Researchers’ Programs of Research


Pamela Hinds’s Program of Research in Pediatric Oncology


Joanne Hall’s Program of Research With Marginalized Groups


Janice Morse’s Program of Research on Suffering


Karin Olson’s Program of Research on Fatigue


Ruth McCorkle’s Program of Research in Oncology


7. Publishing Your Program of Research


Qualitative Research


Mixed-Methods Research


Avoiding Duplicate Publication


Deciding Where to Publish


Epilogue


Index