Conference Celebrates Successes in Collaborative Nursing Research
| Nurses and nursing students from across the state convened at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for a May 2 conference that highlighted the impact of collaborative research.
This year’s Arkansas Nursing Research Day focused on the theme of “Nursing Excellence: Using Research to Advance Science and Practice.” The event featured a series of panel discussions co-hosted by nurse scientists alongside colleagues from medical, pharmacy, public health, social work and other health disciplines, showing how researchers are working together to tackle complex health challenges.
Patricia Cowan, Ph.D., RN, dean of the College of Nursing, noted that she often attends national conferences to receive insights into the latest advances in nursing research. As she welcomed attendees to Arkansas Nursing Research Day, she also thanked the speakers who were prepared to share their expertise.
“Today, we don’t need to travel outside Arkansas to hear from esteemed speakers,” she said. “We have them right here.”
Keneshia Bryant-Moore, professor in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, speaks during a panel on maternal health and childhood obesity. She was joined by Britni Ayers (left), assistant professor in the College of Nursing, and Martha Rojo, assistant professor in the College of Nursing.Image by Bryan Clifton
The panel discussions explored a variety of topics, including maternal health, childhood obesity, neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and prescription drug misuse among adolescents.
One panel focused on violence as a public health issue, with moderator Jocelyn Anderson, Ph.D., RN, guiding the audience through four decades of research aimed at understanding, measuring and mitigating violence in the United States.
“When you think about issues in our health care system that affect the most people and take up the most time and resources, but that we don’t spend enough time talking about in health care spaces — violence is one of those issues,” she said.
The panelists also had the opportunity to present their findings. RaeAnn Anderson, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing and health studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, conducts research on sexual violence and on people’s hesitance to label their experiences as rape or assault.
“I think your average person trying to answer that question doesn’t feel like it’s truly a yes-or-no question at times,” she said.
To address this concern, she has adjusted the format of her surveys to give respondents more options to describe their experiences. By obtaining a more nuanced measurement of sexual violence, researchers and clinicians will be able to help more people receive the care that they need, she said.
Nakita Lovelady, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor in the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, spoke about her work to address community violence in Arkansas. Lovelady and her team partnered with the City of Little Rock to found UAMS Project Heal, the first hospital-based violence intervention program in the state.
Project Heal is designed to serve patients with violent assault injuries, such as stabbing and gunshot wounds, by assessing their needs, connecting them with mental health care and social services, and providing support from peers who have recovered from similar injuries.
Lovelady’s research examines the program’s implementation as well as its efficacy, she said.
“We still are building evidence in this field, but at the same time, we have to meet the demand,” she said. “We see the trends that show these interventions are going to be effective as we put them into real-world practice.”
Patricia Bamwine, Ph.D., MSW, assistant professor at the University of Tennessee School of Social Work-Nashville Campus, focuses her research on the aftermath of violence, particularly among youths who experience the loss of friends or loved ones.
“I started asking questions about what it means when you’re at this developmental stage where people are asking what you want to do when you grow up, but you’re watching as people around you don’t have the chance to grow up,” she said.
Bamwine said she works to ensure that social workers better understand the impact of homicide survivorship among young people, including their struggles with psychological and social trauma.
“There is real psychological harm that needs to be addressed,” she said. “These are our neighbors. These are our young people. These are our future.”
Students gather around an information table during Arkansas Nursing Research Day.Image by Bryan Clifton
Each of the 90-minute panel discussions included a Q&A session that lasted at least 30 minutes. While many of the questions came from nursing professionals, several were posed by students from the College of Nursing and other nursing schools in the state.
Dan Voth, Ph.D., vice chancellor for Research and Innovation at UAMS, encouraged the students to be active participants, noting that their engagement was an important element of the conference’s success.
“Throughout the day, go up to at least one senior investigator, make a new connection and ask them about their career,” he told the students. “The advice they give you will be hugely helpful.”
Bridget McCarty, DNP, APRN, instructor in the UAMS College of Nursing and chair of the research conference, said the students “gained insight into what true interdisciplinary collaboration looks like.”
“They weren’t just observers — they actively contributed by asking insightful questions and sharing their own research projects, which not only gave them valuable feedback but also sparked new ideas for the researchers on the panels,” she said.
Pearman Parker, assistant professor in the College of Nursing, and Elizabeth Riley, associate professor, lead a breakout session on research abstracts.Image by Bryan Clifton
After the panel discussions, the conference concluded with a series of breakout sessions that covered topics such as machine learning and artificial intelligence in research, abstracts for research papers, qualitative research techniques and practical applications of nursing research. These sessions offered participants practical tools and insights to advance their scholarly and clinical work.
The format of this year’s Arkansas Nursing Research Day marked a change from previous conferences, when College of Nursing faculty members and guest lecturers stood alone onstage as they shared the results of their research. McCarty said the new format fostered an exchange of ideas that will benefit nursing professionals as they move forward with their work.
“Whether you’re a researcher or a practicing clinician, the panels and breakout sessions offered relevant insights for everyone,” she said. “The discussions reflected the evolving needs of patient populations across all areas of health care.”