Tool or Tyrant: Guiding and Guarding Generative Artificial Intelligence Use in Nursing Education.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve rapidly, its integration into nursing education is inevitable. This article presents a narrative exploring the implementation of generative AI in nursing education and offers a guide for its strategic use. The exploration begins with an examination of the broader societal impact and uses of artificial intelligence, recognizing its pervasive presence and the potential it holds. Thematic analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats collected from nurse educators across the southeastern United States in this case-based descriptive study used four codes: time, innovation, critical thinking, and routine tasks. Findings from the qualitative analysis revealed the overarching themes that AI can serve as both a tool and a tyrant, offering opportunities for efficiency and innovation while posing challenges of transparency, ethical use, and AI literacy. By establishing ethical guidelines, fostering AI literacy, and promoting responsible implementation in nursing education with a clear articulation of expectations, nurse educators can guide and guard the use of generative AI. Despite the concerns, the transformative potential of generative AI to enhance teaching methodologies and prepare students for the interprofessional health-care workforce provides a multitude of innovative opportunities for teaching and learning.

Conducting Nursing Research in the School Setting: Lessons Learned.

Conducting original research in the school setting advances our understanding of diverse, vulnerable youth with the objective of improving future outcomes through evidence-based health initiatives. School-based research may involve formal collaboration and partnership with school personnel or may be conducted through use of school facilities, site location, or access to participant recruitment. Despite the recognized benefits of school-based research, the school setting presents many unique challenges to the nurse researcher, including obtaining site access and facilitating the implementation of the research study. Traditional nursing research textbooks and training describe research methods, ethics, and applications well. However, these resources provide little information on gaining access to research settings including community settings such as schools. The purpose of this article is to describe researcher experiences in the school setting and identify lessons learned for conducting school-based research. We provide guidance with examples illustrating real-world experiences with access to and completion of research in the elementary and high-school setting. Five lessons learned that support school-based research are identified: 1) do your homework, 2) cultivate relationships, 3) be well prepared and remain flexible, 4) follow the rules, and 5) find ways to give back.

Getting Social: The Use of Social Media to Improve Alumni Response Rates for Assessment of Program Outcomes.

Outcome assessment has become standard in institutions of higher learning and is a requirement of State Boards of Nursing and major accrediting bodies, including all accrediting agencies for programs in nursing. Appropriate identification of student learning outcomes and program outcomes to ensure the collection of relevant and meaningful data is essential. Although much has been written about what should be included in assessment, little information exists on how to best collect the required data for evaluation. This article describes an innovative approach to improving alumni response rates to assess program outcomes through the use of social media.

Condom use among sexually active rural high school adolescents personal, environmental, and behavioral predictors.

Adolescents who engage in unprotected intercourse are at risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI). Although adolescents in rural areas participate in levels of sexual risk taking similar to that of nonrural youth, few data are available identifying factors that influence condom use among rural adolescents. The purpose of this study is to determine the predictive value of selected personal, environmental, and behavioral factors for condom use among rural adolescents in grades 9-12. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among sexually active youth (N = 613), ages 14-19, in three rural school districts in the Northeast. Using logistic regression, identified predictors for condom use include personal standards (odds ratio [OR] = 2.45; confidence interval [CI]: [2.39, 6.47]), condom use goals (OR = 1.32; CI [1.21, 1.45]), condom use at first intercourse (OR = 3.93; CI [2.39, 6.47]) and male gender. School nurses are encouraged to incorporate identified predictors of condom use when considering interventions promoting safer sexual behaviors among rural youth.

Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders in a rural high school population.

PROBLEM: Evaluate psychometric properties of the 41-item SCARED (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders) when used with a rural community-dwelling sample. METHODS: As part of a randomized controlled trial, SCARED was administered to 193 adolescents in a rural high-school setting. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and factor structure were assessed. FINDINGS: Adequate internal consistency (α= 0.93) and test-retest reliability (r= 0.703) were demonstrated. Five factors were identified with a differing composition than previously reported. CONCLUSIONS: The SCARED was found to be a reliable tool in the rural adolescent population. Differences in some factors suggest further research is needed.

Teaching kids to cope with anger: peer education.

Anger could be an early warning signal of violent behavior. Early peer education health promotion in relation to anger management could help children before uncontrolled anger becomes a problem in adolescence and adulthood. Peer education has been identified as a viable intervention strategy worldwide with various prevention programs for youth. The purpose of this article is to describe an anger management program (Teaching Kids to Cope with Anger, TKC-A 4th-8th graders) co-led by high school peer educators in an urban school district's summer school enhancement program. A program of five modules will be described. This paper discusses the peer educator implementation and recommendations for future implementation.

Self-esteem and optimism in rural youth: gender differences.

AIM: To identify and describe gender-related differences in the self-esteem and optimism levels of rural adolescents. BACKGROUND: Self-esteem and optimism have been broadly examined and are associated with health-practices, social interaction, attachment, resiliency, and personal identity. Information describing the relationship of self-esteem and optimism as it relates to gender is limited. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional survey design, students (N = 193) from three high-schools in rural Pennsylvania, USA completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Optimism Scale-Life Orientation Test-Revised as part of a National Institute of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research funded study. RESULTS: Both instruments' mean scores were in the range of average for this population, with females scoring lower than males in both self-esteem (p < 0.0001) and optimism (p < 0.0001). The results of this study have nursing implications for evidenced based interventions that target self-esteem and optimism. Attention to self-esteem and optimism in female youth is recommended.

Anger correlated with psychosocial variables in rural youth.

Uncontrolled anger is a contributing force in the three leading causes of adolescent death: homicide, suicide, and injuries. Anger may be one of the early warning signs which could lead to violent behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anger experience and expression with the potential correlates of life events, perceived social support, self-esteem, optimism, drug use, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in rural adolescents. The participants (n = 193) were aged 14 to 17 years old in ninth through eleventh grades enrolled at three rural Western Pennsylvania public high schools. Participants completed nine questionnaires. Negative life events, anxiety, drug use, and depressive symptoms had significant positive correlations with anger. In addition, anger was found to have significant negative correlations with the adolescents' perceived family support, self-esteem, and optimism. With this knowledge, health promotion programs conducted by pediatric nurses can target anxiety, drug use, and depressive symptoms while bolstering family support, self-esteem, and optimism to promote anger management in adolescent health care.