A theoretical framework to promote minority PhD and DNP student success in nursing education

BACKGROUND

Nursing PhD and DNP programs lack diversity and cultural responsiveness and, as a result, minority students are underrepresented in these programs. Stressors specific to being a member of a minority population, defined as minority stress, contribute to a range of barriers for ethnic/racial minority, male and LGBTQ PhD and DNP students. There is an urgent need for faculty and administrators to support minority doctoral student success by taking proactive steps to identify and begin to deconstruct these barriers. Doctorally-prepared nursing faculty serve as mentors and role models for doctoral students, provide exemplars for how to use scientific humility to research health inequities, implement evidence-based practice and develop the next generation of nurse scientists. Combating educational inequities for minority doctoral students is a first step in advancing health equity beyond academia.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical synthesis to promote minority PhD and DNP student success in academia.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The minority doctoral student success (MDSS) framework was developed using Schneider's attraction-selection-attrition framework, key concepts from the literature, and professional and personal experience to capture the minority doctoral student experience. A systems approach was used to identify multi-level influences on the minority student experience, including antecedents at each stage of the academic journey, and how minority stress and opportunity inherently affect the process.

CONCLUSIONS

Diversity is essential to reimagine nursing doctoral education. This theoretical framework provides an approach to understanding the minority PhD and DNP student experience and the role of faculty and the academic organization in mediating barriers and creating opportunities to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

A conceptual model of nurses' workplace social capital: a theory synthesis

BACKGROUND

Research has confirmed the importance of workplace social capital in the nursing workforce. Integration of the empirical evidence about nurses' workplace social capital into a scientific collection can provide a comprehensive presentation of this concept. This scientific collection can be a conduit for further research and advancement of nursing management and leadership. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to discuss the process of developing a conceptual model of nurses' workplace social capital, an effective and concise approach to illustrate a scientific phenomenon.

METHODS

The model of nurses' workplace social capital was developed following Walker and Avant's strategy of theory synthesis. Empirical evidence relevant to nurses' workplace social capital was synthesized by systematically examining the existing literature. PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched periodically from October 2017 to July 2020.

RESULTS

Our proposed conceptual model lays out the determinants and outcomes of nurses' workplace social capital and specifies the relational statements among these concepts. Nurses' workplace social capital is influenced by the organizational and individual determinants shaped by multiple layers of sub-concepts. The development and implementation of nurses' workplace social capital has three themes of consequences: 1) nurses' outcomes; 2) patients' outcomes; and 3) organizational outcomes. All the concepts and statements have been organized and aligned with the principles of "inventory of determinants or results" and "theoretical blocks".

CONCLUSION

Our theoretical synthesis offers a comprehensive picture of the current knowledge of nurses' workplace social capital. Efforts should be dedicated to evaluating, revising, and revamping this newly developed model based on future empirical evidence. Our synthesized conceptual model is the segue to more comprehensive studies about nurses' workplace social capital. Interventional programs for the development of social capital can be structured based on the identified determinants.

A theory of the aims and objectives of midwifery practice: A theory synthesis

INTRODUCTION

Every discipline has a dichotomous objective by which it recognizes whether its work has been successful (Vogd, 2011). For midwifery care, no objective has been set in this way so far. This also has implications for measuring quality, because quality of care is only measurable if objectives have been identified. This paper aims to contribute to theory formation in midwifery science by analysing existing concepts and theories and preferences of women to midwifery care to answer the question of the dichotomous objective of midwifery.

METHOD AND FINDINGS

The method of theory synthesis (Walker and Avant, 2011) was used to analyse existing theories and concepts of midwifery care and literature-based preferences of women to midwifery care and synthesize them with regard to the objectives of midwifery care. The synthesis took place in the form of a means-end chain to extract the dichotomous target of midwifery care. In this way, the objectives of midwifery could be compared and linked from both the scientific and from women's perspective. The resulting means-end chain model of the process of midwifery describes the aims and objectives of midwifery from the point of view of women on three levels.

DISCUSSION

The hierarchical model of the process of midwifery presented here is a first attempt to illustrate the aims and objectives of midwifery practice in a means-end chain model in order to facilitate discussion on the topic and to make the quality of midwifery care measurable. Measurement is a first step towards improving quality of midwifery care and thereby improving women's reproductive capabilities.