Abstract
Session presented on Monday, November 9, 2015 and Tuesday, November 10, 2015:
Resilience and connectedness in graduate psychiatric nursing students: Influence of a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP). Purpose: A pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of including a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) in a graduate psychiatric nursing curriculum and to determine the effects of participation in VCoPupon students' resilience and sense of connectedness to the psychiatric nursing profession. Analysis related to feasiblity were previously published (Jevack, Tusaie, Jones, Purcell, & Huff, 2014) and this paper will focus upon resilience and connectedness. Problem: Approximately one-third of Nurse Practitioners change their employment within the first year after graduation. Reported reasons include conflicts with acceptance of their role, changes and losses in relationships, feelings of isolation, uncertainty and guilt for not knowing information they believed they should know, and inability to function in a holistic manner. During this evolving role and multiple transitions in health care delivery, would the structured participation in a VCoP for Psychiatric Nurses increase new graduates' sense of connectedness and level of resilience? Methodology: A mixed methods pilot study was conducted with a convenience sample. Graduate students (n=6) enrolled in their final year of the psychiatric nurse practitioner track at a large Midwestern university were assigned to become members of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and to participate in the VCoP available on their website. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003) was used to assess levels of resilience before and after participation and graduationin the VCoP. The Sense of Community Index 2 (Chavis, Lee, & Acosta, 2008) was used to assess changes in development of a sense of connectedness/community with colleagues. Analysis: Thematic analysis, peer debriefing and verification were used to ensure credibility of peer group analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to determine differences in resilience and sense of community pre and post active participation in a VCoP. Findings: Total mean scores for resilienceand sense of connectedness increased posttest. Students reported using the VCoP more after graduation than when it was required as a class assignment. Only one graduate (16%) changed employment in the first year after graduation. Implications for Nursing: Although sample size is a limitation, data trends demonstrate increased levels of resilience and sense of community as well as increased use of the VCoP after graduation. While health care environments struggle to shift to new models, perhaps graduate education can utilize social networking to build connectedness and resilience within new graduates. Future plans include repeating the study with a larger sample and additional variables.
Sigma Membership
Delta Omega
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Virtual Community of Practice, Resilience, Sense of Community
Recommended Citation
Kidd, Lori I. and Tusaie, Kathleen, "Resilience and connectedness in graduate psychiatric nursing students: Influence of a virtual community of practice (VCoP)" (2016). Convention. 172.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2015/posters_2015/172
Conference Name
43rd Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Conference Year
2015
Rights Holder
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Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Resilience and connectedness in graduate psychiatric nursing students: Influence of a virtual community of practice (VCoP)
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Session presented on Monday, November 9, 2015 and Tuesday, November 10, 2015:
Resilience and connectedness in graduate psychiatric nursing students: Influence of a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP). Purpose: A pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of including a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) in a graduate psychiatric nursing curriculum and to determine the effects of participation in VCoPupon students' resilience and sense of connectedness to the psychiatric nursing profession. Analysis related to feasiblity were previously published (Jevack, Tusaie, Jones, Purcell, & Huff, 2014) and this paper will focus upon resilience and connectedness. Problem: Approximately one-third of Nurse Practitioners change their employment within the first year after graduation. Reported reasons include conflicts with acceptance of their role, changes and losses in relationships, feelings of isolation, uncertainty and guilt for not knowing information they believed they should know, and inability to function in a holistic manner. During this evolving role and multiple transitions in health care delivery, would the structured participation in a VCoP for Psychiatric Nurses increase new graduates' sense of connectedness and level of resilience? Methodology: A mixed methods pilot study was conducted with a convenience sample. Graduate students (n=6) enrolled in their final year of the psychiatric nurse practitioner track at a large Midwestern university were assigned to become members of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and to participate in the VCoP available on their website. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003) was used to assess levels of resilience before and after participation and graduationin the VCoP. The Sense of Community Index 2 (Chavis, Lee, & Acosta, 2008) was used to assess changes in development of a sense of connectedness/community with colleagues. Analysis: Thematic analysis, peer debriefing and verification were used to ensure credibility of peer group analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to determine differences in resilience and sense of community pre and post active participation in a VCoP. Findings: Total mean scores for resilienceand sense of connectedness increased posttest. Students reported using the VCoP more after graduation than when it was required as a class assignment. Only one graduate (16%) changed employment in the first year after graduation. Implications for Nursing: Although sample size is a limitation, data trends demonstrate increased levels of resilience and sense of community as well as increased use of the VCoP after graduation. While health care environments struggle to shift to new models, perhaps graduate education can utilize social networking to build connectedness and resilience within new graduates. Future plans include repeating the study with a larger sample and additional variables.
Description
43rd Biennial Convention 2015 Theme: Serve Locally, Transform Regionally, Lead Globally.