Objective: Caregivers for a family member with dementia experience subtle but long-term role changes that can be attenuated with successful coping strategies. The aim of this paper is to describe an effective research initiative managed by an undergraduate student-faculty collaborative team to assess the physical, emotional, and financial effects of caregiving and identify the impact of using an adult day service.Methods: Using the collaborative model, undergraduate nursing students led a mixed method, pilot study. Eight students, mentored by two faculty, held weekly meetings to manage the research design. After reviewing literature evidence, students developed the methodology and carried out the research. The convenience sample included 10 caregivers, each having a family member with dementia, who attended an adult day center in a rural/suburban city in the Midwest. The Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale (KCSS), a 10-item assessment of caregiver stress using a 5-point Likert scale, measured quantitative data. Two focus groups were conducted to collect qualitative data.Results: Participants included 6 males/4 females ranging in age from 46-72 (M = 65, SD = 10.58). Participants provided care an average of 4.2 years (SD = 6.0) and reported moderate levels of caregiving stress on the KCSS (M = 30.5, SD = 9.7). Four themes emerged from focus groups: (a) common emotional responses, (b) benefits of adult day services, (c) overwhelming impact on daily life, and (d) caregiver social isolation.Conclusions: Respite services promoted resilience through opportunities to manage self-care, to perform daily tasks, and to decrease emotional burden. Undergraduate nursing students effectively planned and implemented the research. As future practitioners, they may be more inclined to participate in best practice because of their experience on a student-faculty collaborative team.
The purposes of this paper are to describe a student-faculty, collaborative team and the evidence-based practice (EBP) project that supported a campus-wide, tobacco-free environment. Two faculty members served as mentors and undergraduate nursing students were selected to participate in a one credit independent study course outside the threaded curricular experiences. Weekly course meetings were used to assess course goals and EBP project progress. After reviewing literature evidence, a baseline campus survey, and focus group data, the best practice strategies were selected by the student-faculty collaborative team for a 3-year plan. The strategies included an orientation session to the tobacco-free campus during student fall orientations and a marketing campaign with social norm messaging. Pre and post-EBP project surveys to determine the effectiveness of the campaign were used to evaluate the outcomes of the team’s efforts. The undergraduate nursing students were effective in planning and implementing the project, and the students reported benefits and challenges to their involvement. The collaborative team was seen as an immensely positive experience despite the increased demands on time. Findings from this EBP project were similar to other literature on smoking abstinence on a college campus. One way to help undergraduate students better appreciate and gain expertise in the EBP process is to engage them in student-faculty collaborative EBP projects within the curriculum. In addition, an emersion experience offers expanded opportunities and greater expertise in EBP to students who can meet the challenge.
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