Students Presenting Research at ENRS Annual Scientific Sessions
Students from the Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing (FCN) will once again be attending the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) Annual Scientific Sessions alongside FCN faculty. This year, the 34th Scientific Sessions, the gathering is March 31-April 1 in Providence, RI. PhD student Jennifer Durning, MSN, CPNP will be joined by two undergraduate students, senior Daryl Jucar and junior Emily Holland.
Durning, an instructor at Boston’s MGH Institute of Health Professions, is presenting a poster “Health Behaviors of Adolescents in Immigrant Families: An Integrative Review.” In addition to networking for potential research collaborations, she hopes to “get to know the organization that will likely be my ‘professional home’ once I move fully into a faculty role.”
The doctoral student has also served as a member of FCN’s CHAMPS Study team which researched the experience and self-reported health and well-being of essential workers and first responders, service staff and healthcare professionals, who provided support for patients, treatment sites and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daryl, a Portland, Oregon native who also has a minor in Villanova’s Honors Program, has been selected to receive a $500 ENRS Student Conference Scholarship Award and will be recognized with fellow recipients on March 31 during the All-Members Meeting. At the conference, Daryl will present her poster "Voices from Across the Digital Spectrum: Perceptions and Experiences of Persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Her mentor is Assistant Professor Christina Whitehouse, PhD, AGPCNP-BC, CDCES.
Daryl says, “I can’t wait to attend and present at a research conference in person for the first time. I'm very interested in topics of health equity—both within and outside of a research lens—so I am excited to learn from the various presentations and researchers about what I can personally do to attain this.”
In terms of the impact of her research experience and how it will carry through to her practice as a nurse resident on a Medical/Surgical Intermediate Care Unit at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Daryl continues, “I was originally drawn to nursing research because of the unique manner in which it inspires patient advocacy. Following graduation...I believe this clinical experience will further shed light on the importance of advocacy and enhance the research questions that stem from it.” She notes that she plans to seek “opportunities that target persisting health disparities, as well as challenge the healthcare community to provide the quality of care that many historically marginalized and underserved patients have not received but have long deserved.”
Emily was selected as an ENRS Student Social Media Ambassador (SMA). She explains, “SMAs will provide support for the development of social media communication strategies and to help engage member participation in ENRS social media platforms. These individuals will also participate as active members of the Communications Committee.”
Her selection was based on her resume, personal statement, and letter of support which documented her passion for nursing research written by her mentor Professor Elizabeth Dowdell, PhD, RN, AFN-C, FAAN, coordinator of Undergraduate Research. Emily is the 2021 Davis Family Summer Scholar and at ENRS she will present her data-based poster “Factors and Perceptions of Eating Habits by Emergency Department Nurses.”
Emily is FCN’s only 12-month ambassador with the expectation that she will be mentored to increase the ENRS social media presence and recognition of its members. SMAs are individuals who create opportunities to personally interact with ENRS members on social media or face-to-face because they are well versed in good digital citizenship.