Addressing gaps in a nursing research doctoral program curriculum
Background: Doctoral education at the University of Washington, School of Nursing (SON) includes core courses in philosophy, theory, research methods, and analysis to provide the foundation for each student’s individualized program of study. Recent budgetary pressures restricted the SONs ability to offer a broad spectrum of methods courses, which left gaps in offering doctoral-level qualitative and quantitative methods and statistics courses. The need for providing access to methods courses for nursing PhD students prompted the development of a task force to review campus-wide alternatives for methods and statistics courses. PhD students were surveyed for their needs and the results prompted the formation of a task force to develop a one-page per quarter summary of campus-wide offerings for all students and advisers. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to summarize the gaps in types of nursing-specific methodology courses and provide alternatives from a wide variety of disciplines.
Methods: The task force reviewed courses offered through the Schools of Nursing, Social Work, Public Health, Global Health, Statistics, Educational Psychology, Sociology, Geography, and Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences at the University of Washington. Inclusion criteria were graduate level courses in statistics, qualitative methodology, quantitative methodology or translational science offered within the last academic year. Exclusion criteria were courses for which nursing PhD students were ineligible.
Results: The task force created three tables: quantitative (49 courses), qualitative (7 courses), and translational methods (4 courses), with details of course number, description, quarter and time taught, and whether any prerequisites or instructor permission were required. Among all methods courses identified (n=60), only 13 were offered through the SON. The 13 nursing methods courses consisted of 8 Doctor of Nursing Practice courses, 3 PhD core courses, and 2 advanced methods courses. This table was presented to the School of Nursing PhD Coordination Committee (PhDCC) for approval. Once approved, the tables will be made accessible to all PhD students and faculty advisers.
Conclusions: The task force identified an imbalanced ratio of available quantitative courses to qualitative and translational methods across Schools and an inadequate number of advanced methods courses (only 2 over the 3 quarters) offered through the SON. The task force recommends that the SON offer (1) more qualitative/translational method courses, (2) nursing-focused advanced methods courses, and (3) the PhDCC student representatives be responsible for updating the methods course tables twice a year.