Bridges to the Doctorate: mentored transition to successful completion of doctoral study for underrepresented minorities in nursing science.

Full Abstract

Nursing has a shortage of doctorally-prepared underrepresented minority (URM) scientists/faculty. We describe a five-year University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Bridges program for URM master's students' transition to doctoral study and factors in retention/graduation from the PhD program. Four master' students from two partner schools were recruited/appointed per year and assigned UIC faculty advisors. They completed 10 UIC credits during master's study and were mentored by Bridges faculty. Administrative and financial support was provided during transition and doctoral study. Partner schools' faculty formed research dyads with UIC faculty. Seventeen Bridges students were appointed to the Bridges program: 12 were admitted to the UIC PhD program since 2004 and one graduated in 2007. Eight Bridges faculty research dyads published 5 articles and submitted 1 NIH R03 application. Mentored transition from master's through doctoral program completion and administrative/financial support for students were key factors in program success. Faculty research dyads enhanced the research climate in partner schools.

Author information

Author/s: Kim, Mi Ja (MJ); Holm, Karyn (K); Gerard, Peggy (P); McElmurry, Beverly (B); Foreman, Mark (M); Poslusny, Susan (S); Dallas, Constance (C);

Affiliation: Department of Biobehavioral Health Science, and Dean Emerita, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL 60612, USA. mjkuic(-atsign-)uic.edu

Grants: 5R25 GM067590-05 (Agency:NIGMS NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Nursing outlook (Nurs Outlook), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2009 May-Jun; vol 57 (issue 3) : pp 166-71

Dates: Created 2009/05/18; Completed 2009/07/30;

PMID: 19447237, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 8/20/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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