SORT BY:

Sigma Small Grants

Allison Anbari, PhD, BSN (Alpha Iota Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: The Impact of Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema on Rural Survivors Return to Work
The purpose of this multiple-case study is to describe how breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) influences the work experiences and quality of life (QOL) of breast cancer survivors living in rural counties in Missouri.

Carmen Caicedo, PhD, MSN (Pi Alpha Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Parents' Health, Stress, and Perceived Caregiver Burden in the Difficult First 3 Months after their Infant/Child with Special Healthcare Needs is Discharged Home
The purpose of this exploratory study with three time points will examine the physical health, mental health, stress using biomarker levels (salivary cortisol), and perceived caregiver burden of Hispanic, Black, and White parents of an infant/child (birth to 5 years) newly diagnosed with special health care needs (SHCN) over the first three months after discharge home from a NICU or PICU.

Kristin Corey, PhD, MSN, BSN (Epsilon Tau at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Latent Profile Analysis to Understand Differences in Psychological Distress and Sleep Quality among Former Family Caregivers of People with Dementia
The purpose of this study is to identify unique profiles of characteristics that may place former dementia caregivers at risk for psychological distress and sleep disturbances after caregiving ends.

Martha Grace Cromeens, JD, MA, BSN (Alpha Alpha Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Pathways to Diagnosis Among a Diverse Sample of Women with Endometriosis
The purpose of this study is to map the pathways to diagnosis of endometriosis of a diverse sample of women (stratified across Socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity) in the United States using a life course perspective.

Sara Donevant, PhD, MSN, BSN (Alpha Xi Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Providers Perception of mHealth Features that Promote Positive Patient Outcomes
This proposed study will gather data from prescribing providers (i.e., physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice nurse practitioners) on their perspective of mHealth app features; and, identify the prescribing providers’ preferred delivery format of a mHealth evaluation method that supports the selection of effective, evidence-based mHealth apps.
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“As part of a larger research project, this proposed study and the results are fundamental to the development of an innovative mHealth evaluation method. While this proposed study is one small part, each small study provides a unique perspective on mHealth apps to ensure robust and diverse perspectives of mHealth apps.”
— Sara Donevant, PhD, MSN, BSN
University of South Carolina

Stephanie Griggs, PhD, MSN, BSN (Beta Zeta at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Sleep, Glycemia, and Self-Management in Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
The purpose of this proposed feasibility quantitative descriptive study is to elucidate objective and subjective sleep characteristics, self-management, and glycemia (glycemic control and glycemic variability) among 20 young adults ages 18-30 with T1D.

John Mark Montoya Gutierrez, MA, BScN (Upsilon Eta Chapter, Saudi Arabia)

Title of Project: Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Critically Ill Adult Patients: A Large-Scale Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
The main objective of this current review is to generate an evidence-based clinical risk assessment algorithm for ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention and control in all intensive and critical care settings by identifying risk factors imposed on VAP development and poor clinical outcomes in adult ICU populations requiring mechanical ventilation.

Sharon Latimer, PhD, MN, BN (Phi Delta at-Large Chapter, Australia)

Title of Project: Can a patient-centered pressure injury prevention care bundle increase patient participation and reduce pressure injuries; An implementation study
The purpose of this study is to implement a patient-centered pressure injury prevention care bundle (PPIPCB) and evaluate its effectiveness relative to the implementation process (feasibility, acceptability and fidelity), patient participation in PIP care, patient satisfaction with the care bundle, and changes in HAPI prevalence over an 18-month period.

Kyungmi Lee, PhD, MSN, BSN (Delta Alpha at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Feasibility of Collecting Participant-Generated Health Data using Wearable Devices and Patient-Reported Outcomes: A Pilot Study with Family Caregivers at Institutionalization of Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia
 The overall purpose of this research is to support a healthy transition for caregivers around the time of institutionalization of their family member with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD).

Yi-Hui Lee, PhD, MBA, RN (Zeta Phi Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Psychosocial Factors and Prevention of HIV/AIDS Related Risky Sexual Behaviors Among College Students
 The purpose of this study is to investigate HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy, depression, spiritual well-being, and risky sexual behaviors among college students in the United States, to examine the relationships between these variables, and to test whether HIV/AIDS preventive self-efficacy, depression, spiritual well-being significantly predict the college students risky sexual behaviors.

Minhui Liu, PhD, BSN (Nu Beta at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Multifaceted Fall Prevention Program for Chinese Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Fall Risks: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
The purpose of this study is to begin to address falls among vulnerable older adults in China.
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“The study is very likely to work in preventing falls among older adults, as the program targets on both intrinsic and extrinsic fall risks and builds on proven effective programs and strategies.”
— Minhui Liu, PhD, BSN
John Hopkins University

Katherine Maki, MS, BSN (Alpha Lambda Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Cardiovascular and Gut Microbiome Response to Sleep Disruption in Rats
The purpose of this study is to define the impact of experimental sleep disruption on BP and gut microbial diversity and abundance.  

Rehema Mligo, MSN, BSN (Phi Gamma Chapter, Tanzania)

Title of Project: Testing the Efficacy of Research Based Instructional Material for Improving the Competence of Clinical Instructors in Guiding Nursing Students in Practical Activities in Tanzania.
The purpose of this study is to construct/test new nursing education tools to improve clinical instructors’ knowledge, teaching, and ultimately improve health services.

Rebecca Robert, PhD, MSN, BSN (Kappa Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Quantifying Responsive Feeding of Infants and Young Children: An Analysis from Three Countries: Peru, Nicaragua and Indonesia
The proposed research is to determine whether variability in responsive feeding style can be captured by an indicator created from an a priori algorithm of survey questions collected from caregivers across three countries--Peru, Nicaragua and Indonesia.

Karyn Roberts, MSN, BSN (Alpha Lambda Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Experiences of Families with Children Attending a Clinic-Based Weight Management Program: A Qualitative Study 
The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of families of children with severe obesity who are receiving treatment for obesity in a clinic-based program.

Nathanial Schreiner, PhD, RN (Alpha Mu Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Exploring Treatment Burden, Emotional Regulation, and Adherence in Patients Diagnosed with Chronic Conditions
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between treatment burden and emotional regulation and measure their effects on self-management adherence in individuals diagnosed with chronic conditions.

Clarissa Shaw, PhD, MSN (Gamma Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Resistiveness in Dementia: Nurse Communication in Acute Care
The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to identify the impact of elderspeak (i.e. baby talk or infantilizing communication) by nursing staff to persons with dementia (PWD) in acute care. Behavioral symptoms of dementia, like aggression, are common during hospitalizations and may lead to harmful care practices like increased psychotropic medication administration or restraint use.

Hyojin Son, PhD, MSN, BSN (USA)

Title of Project: Adult Patients Experience Using Patient Portal: The Impact of Perceived Usability on Portal Use Behavior
The purpose of this study is to test the PP Acceptance Model that modified the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which explains factors influencing users' adoption behavior.

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“The main impact of the study is two-fold. First, this will be the first study that will examine patients’ perceived usability and its impact on PP use behavior in a real setting using the PP Acceptance Model. Knowledge gained from this study can contribute to future research for improving PP use. Second, this knowledge can be utilized by technology experts to make PPs more user-friendly, and by policy administrators to implement PPs more effectively. In the long run, these efforts can contribute to improving health outcomes of patients through PP use.”
— Hyojin Son, MSN, BSN
University of Maryland

Kyeongra Yang, PhD, MPH, BSN (Epsilon Theta and Alpha Tau chapters, USA)

Title of Project: Caregiving and Care-receiving Experiences among Older Chinese Immigrants and Their Home Health Aide Caregivers
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of cultural congruence on home health care provider caregiving and patients care receiving experiences in a sample of older Chinese immigrants with complex home health care needs.

Jung Min Yoon, MSN, BSN (Lambda Alpha at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Nursing Staffing And Dementia Training In Relation to Inappropriate Antipsychotic Medication Use In Nursing Home Residents With Dementia
The purpose of this study is to examine NH deficiency citations with regard to inappropriate antipsychotic medication use in relation to staffing levels and NH in-service dementia care training regulation.

Rosemary Berkel Crisp Research Award

Jonika Hash, PhD, BSN (Psi at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Sleep Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Practices of Underserved Mothers with a History of Prenatal Depression Validating Skin Conductance for Assessing Pain and Stress in Mechanically Ventilated Infants.
The purpose of this study is to describe mothers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, as well as actual sleep practices, regarding their own and their 12- to 36-month-old child’s sleep health among a sample of low-income mothers with a history of prenatal depression.

Doris Bloch Research Award

Kyra Waligora, BSN (Nu Beta at-Large Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Dementia Family Caregivers' Digital Technology Use and Intention to Adopt mHealth Apps for Self-Management
The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to determine the efficacy of a community health intervention designed to improve PAP testing rates of women living with HIV in Baltimore city by increasing women's health literacy.

Joan K. Stout, RN, Research Grant

Mohamad Saab. PhD, MSN, BSN, (Omega Epsilon at-Large, Ireland)

Title of Project: Nursing Students' Views Regarding the Use of Virtual Reality Simulation to Enhance Men's Awareness of Testicular Diseases: A Qualitative Exploration
The purpose of the study is to systematically review evidence from studies that described and explored nursing students' attitudes and beliefs regarding the use of health technology in health education in academic and clinical settings and to explore nursing students' views regarding the use of virtual reality (VR) simulation to Enhance Men's Awareness of Testicular disorders in the Irish context.

Sigma Global Nursing Research Grant

Tina Bloom, PhD, MPH, BSN (Alpha Iota Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Danger Assessment Thailand: Assessing Risk for Reassault in Abusive Thai Relationships  
In this mixed-methods study, the cross-country US-Thai team will rigorously adapt an existing smartphone-based intimate partner violence (IPV) safety planning intervention to be culturally appropriate, acceptable, and understandable for adolescents and test the effectiveness of the adapted intervention to reduce IPV exposure among abused teens.

Sigma/American Nurses Foundation Grant

Olga Ehrlich, PhD, BSN (USA)

Title of Project: Motivational Interviewing for Cancer Pain Goals
The purpose of this pilot study is to test the feasibility of motivational interviewing nursing intervention for identifying patient-derived functional pain goals (FPG) in people with cancer and to examine pain self-efficacy and pain barriers before and after the intervention.

Sigma/American Nurses Credentialing Center Evidence-Based Practice Implementation Grant Program

Audra Hanners, MSN, RN, APRN-CNP, (Epsilon Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Keto Prescribed: Implementing Ketogenic Diet Research Evidence into Clinical Practice as a Holistic Approach to Wellness
The purpose of this project, Keto Prescribed, is to implement research evidence of a ketogenic diet into clinical practice through a nurse practitioner (NP)-led interdisciplinary health coaching team approach and evaluate outcomes on cardiovascular disease risk factors and health related quality of life in overweight, adult African American women. 

Sigma/Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Grant

Julie Schexnayder, DNP, MPH, MSN, BSN (Alpha Mu Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Implementation Interventions for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Public Health Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinics and Related PrEP Minority Trends
The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of implementation interventions used in the delivery of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services, and to identify those interventions that occur in sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinics with greater PrEP services penetration in African American and Hispanic/Latino populations.

Sigma/Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses Grant

Mariya Kovaleva, PhD, RN, AGPCNP-BC (Iota Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Perioperative Settings: Nurses, Persons Living with Dementia, and their Caregivers
The ultimate goal of this and subsequent studies is the development of nurse-led interventions that may help decrease the burden of surgery for persons living with dementia and their caregivers and prevent re-hospitalizations.

Sigma/ATI Educational Assessment Nursing Research Grant

Julie Fitzwater, MNE, BSN (Xi Mu Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Using Simulation to Develop Clinical Teaching Competencies in Nurse Educators
The purpose of this pilot study is to determine if simulation is an effective method to increase teaching competencies in novice clinical nurse educators by examining behaviors to provide constructive formative feedback.

Sigma/Canadian Nurses Foundation Grant

Gillian Strudwick, PhD, MSN, RN (Lambda Pi at-Large Chapter, Canada)

Title of Project: Outcomes of Providing Psychiatric Patients with Access to their Health Record Electronically
The proposed the research will study a patient portal for people with psychiatric illness using measures deemed important by psychiatric patients and their family members.

Sigma/Chamberlain College of Nursing Education Research Grants

Elizabeth Van Horn, PhD, MSN, BSN (Gamma Zeta Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Exploration of Competence in New Graduate Nurses
The purposes of this study are to: 1) explore the concept of competence in new graduate nurses, including its definition and evaluation in the hospital setting; and 2) provide foundational data to design and conduct a larger study of nursing education programs and their evaluation of end-of-program competence in nursing students.

Yolanda VanRiel, PhD, MSN, BSN (Gamma Zeta Chapter, USA)
Title of Project: Exploration of RN to BSN Students Intent for Faculty Role
The purpose of this study is to explore RN to BSN students' intent to pursue a faculty role.
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“The study findings will provide numbers of RN to BSN students who may pursue faculty positions and the strategies that may increase or enable that pursuit. This will be one of the first studies to provide this information to impact the faculty shortage.”
— Yolanda VanRiel, PhD, MSN, MBA, BSN
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Sigma/Council for Advancement of Nursing Science Grant

Jane Ralphe, MSN, BSN (Gamma and Beta Epsilon chapters, USA)

Title of Project: Body Temperature in the First Two Weeks of Life and the Pathogenesis of Respiratory Morbidity in the Very Premature Infant
The purpose of this secondary analysis of 22 very low birthweight (VLBW) infants is to 1) examine the relationship between episodes of body temperature instability, during the first two weeks of life, and acute and chronic respiratory morbidity prior to discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and 2) examine the temporal relationship between body temperatures and respiratory care interventions over the first five days of life.

Sigma/Emergency Nurses Association Foundation Grant

Pamela Bourg, PhD, RN, TCRN, FAEN (Alpha Kappa at-Large, USA)

Title of Project: Frailty Scores/O2 Reduction Potential in Acutely Injured Trauma Patients.
The goal of this study will be to determine if new plasma biomarker of oxidative reduction potential (ORP) continues to correlate with frailty scale measured at the time of trauma admission remains predictive and to determine what the outcomes of patients who are admitted to trauma and correlation of the frailty score to the patient outcome.

Sigma/Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation End of Life Nursing Care Research Grant

Elise Conant Tarbi, MSN, BSN (USA)

Title of Project: Beyond Prognosis Communication: Exploring the Existential Dimensions of Palliative Care Conversations with Adults with Advanced Cancer
The purpose of the proposed research is to explore the existential dimensions of palliative care conversations related to prognosis in adults with advanced cancer.

Sigma/Midwest Nursing Research Society Research Grant

Katie Donahue, MSN, BSN (Delta Lambda Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: The Experience of First-Time Breastfeeding in Rural Mothers

The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experience of first time breastfeeding among rural mothers. The findings from this study will contribute to the understanding of the meaning and trajectory of breastfeeding over the first three months postpartum.

Sigma/National Association of Hispanic Nurses Research Grant

Linda Maldonado, PhD, MN, BSN (Alpha Nu Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Use of Narrative Analysis to Understand the Stories of Resilience in Urban, Childbearing Puerto Rican Women 
The overall purpose of this narrative analysis is to further explore the resilience of urban, childbearing Puerto Rican women.

Sigma/National League for Nursing Research Grant

Ilana Dubovi, PhD, RN, (Phi Gamma Chapter, Israel)

Title of Project: Comparison of Learning with Virtual-Reality Simulation Versus Mannequin-Based Simulation to Roadmap the Ride of Physical and Digital Simulated Experiences in Nursing Education
This study not only will unfold how it is possible to integrate different simulation-based mediums into nursing education to maximize the learning process and its outcomes but also will evaluate its effects on
clinical practice.

Sigma/Oncology Nursing Society Grant

Rachel K. Walker, PhD, RN (USA)

Title of Project: At Home Detection of Antineoplastic Drugs and Hazardous Metabolites in Body Fluids
The long-term goal of this projects is to improve patients' and caregivers' ability to self-manage exposure risks by developing a low-cost device for home use that can detect antineoplastic agents and their hazardous metabolites in body fluids such as urine, semen and vaginal fluid and breastmilk.

Sigma/Southern Nursing Research Society Grant

Florence Okoro, PhD, MSN, BSN (Gamma Iota Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Assessment of African American Preferences in a Peer Support Program for People with Type 2 Diabetes
The overarching goal of this project is to design and execute an effective peer-support group program for African Americans with type 2 diabetes toward improved health outcomes. 

Sigma/Western Institute of Nursing Research Grant

Rose Mary Xavier, PhD, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC (Beta Epsilon Chapter, USA)

Title of Project: Unraveling Functional Mechanisms of Psychosis Spectrum Symptoms Using Predicted Gene Expression Profiles
This work will extend the current approach in the field and has the potential to decode the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia by focusing on symptom domains which not only have important and direct clinical outcomes but that are refractory to existing treatments.
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“Utilizing advances in statistical and bioinformatic methods this study proposes to examine the functional mechanisms of psychotic and schizophrenia symptoms in the developmental period in a sample of youth and in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.”
—Rose Mary Xavier, PhD, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC
University of Pennsylvania