A Collaborative Research Project on Therapeutic Touch

Abstract

The current shift toward granting funds for collaborative research proposals means that graduate nursing students must be prepared to participate in the collaborative research process. The authors describe how master's and doctoral students worked together with faculty to establish group norms, investigate, design, and disseminate a research proposal on Therapeutic Touch. Project goals, description of group members, and the benefits and limitations of collaborative research also are included. Evaluating the collaboration as a challenging yet enjoyable learning experience, students and faculty shared a successful scholarly endeavor that ultimately led to funding and implementation of a research proposal on Therapeutic Touch.

Capacity-building and Participatory Research Development of a Community-based Nutrition and Exercise Lifestyle Intervention Program (NELIP) for Pregnant and Postpartum Aboriginal Women:Information Gathered from Talking Circles.

“…There is a growing acceptance among Aboriginal communities for traditional forms of healing (Grace, 2003). In order to understand fundamental concepts of Aboriginal health, a holistic definition of health and the notion that there are differences between communities is imperative (Dowling, 1999). Many Aboriginal communities commonly describe health and well-being in terms of the spiritual, emotional, physical and mental (or intellectual) aspects of the whole person (Malloch, 1989).…”

University and industry partnerships: Lessons from collaborative research

“…A number of authors identify the importance of equal commitment of time, resources and involvement by all of the team 2–4 . Others discuss the importance of investing time and energy in relationships and team functioning 2,5 , 6,13 . Another issue raised by some authors is that of value conflicts between researchers and practitioners or competing goals between the two groups 9,14 , 15 .…”

“…Collaboration is increasingly being recognized as an essential strategy for promoting high quality research and health care 1 . Within nursing, collaboration in research and the implementation of research findings is seen as an effective way of reducing the divisions between education, research and practice 2–7 . A significant proportion of the literature describes the collaborative processes used and highlights common pitfalls and benefits.…”

Interagency collaborative research projects: Illustrating potential problems, and finding solutions in the nursing literature

“…Collaborative research is increasingly being applied within nursing and health‐care settings and is acknowledged as effective in escalating research productivity and reducing divisions between education, research and practice (Beattie et al . 1996; Dowling & Bright 1999; Gaskill et al . 2003; Jones et al .…”

“…The advantages of collaborative research are well documented and many collaborative projects are highly successful (Bossert et al . 2002; Dowling & Bright 1999; Jones et al . 1998; Kearney et al .…”