Nearly a dozen IU School of Nursing honors students will showcase their research projects this week during the Midwest Nursing Research Society annual research conference at the Indiana Convention Center.
Seniors Taylor Spice and Hiba Asad, along with their teammates, began working on their research projects nearly two years ago as part of the Nursing Honors Colloquium course. Each team was paired with a faculty member who helped guide them through the brainstorming and research processes.
Spice, along with team members Emma Cornett, Ariana Schmidt, Dane Cenzia, and Marc Andrei Kapunan, worked with Assistant Professor Heather Hardin, PhD, RN, as their advisor.
“I’m grateful for the guidance to be able to do research,” Spice said. “I don’t know that I would have found an in otherwise.”
Asad and team members Braelyn Andrew, Justin Dehart, Sophia Dickerson, Kayla Johnson, Kirstyn Johnson have worked with two advisors over the course of their research. Former IU Indianapolis faculty member Celeste Phillips, PhD, PCNS, RN, began their research with them and Professor Carol Shieh, DNSc, MS, MPH, RNC-OB, FAAN, guided them through their final two semesters.
“We had a really good connection with both professors that we worked with,” Asad said. “I feel like that allowed us to connect better with each other, have better teamwork, and really progress in our research as the years went by.”
Hardin’s research expertise in managing chronic conditions in adolescents, along with her background in youth obesity research, lent itself well to the student group’s final decision to research the relationship between risk for Type 2 diabetes and sleep in youth.
“Specifically, the purpose of our systematic review is to assess the relationship between sleep and glycemic indexes in youth ages 11-18 years old with, or at risk, for youth-onset Type 2 diabetes,” Spice said.
Spice and her team honed their research skills and obtained their results through a systematic review. They collected articles using research databases, then focused on studies that fit their question. After that, they derived evidence and created tables to communicate their findings.
Asad and her teammates conducted their research on the opioid epidemic and how it relates to college students specifically.
“We saw there was a gap in research on current knowledge of college students with the opioid epidemic,” Asad said.
Asad’s team did a literature review and viewed two television series focused on their topic, including Painkiller and Dopesick.
“In today’s era, I feel like there’s so much media and so much telling of stories in that way,” Asad said. “Having these movies and films to help us connect better and give us an inside look [was] definitely impactful.”
Additionally, her team collected data of their own by sending out a survey to college students to gather information on their knowledge of opioids and what stigmas this demographic holds around those with opioid addictions.
“We realized that a lot of the problem with the opioid epidemic is that a lot of people don’t seek help or are unable to receive help because of this stigma,” Asad said.
These research projects are a chance for students to gain skills that will carry them into their future careers and research endeavors. Both Spice and Asad hope to work in neonatal intensive care units after graduation.
Spice would like to teach at the college level as well in the future and continue research. Asad plans on pursuing further education and nursing leadership. Spice and Asad will present their findings with their teammates during the student poster competition Thursday afternoon.
“I’m hoping one, to expose people to our research, but then also be able to be exposed to other people’s research,” Spice said.
