Expanding capacity for publication in nursing: Experiences from a writing for publication group.

Nurses have valuable knowledge and expertise to share. Yet, for a variety of reasons, many nurses do not write for publication. Members in one Sigma Theta Tau International chapter requested information about publishing so a writing for publication program (WPP) was convened. Ten nurses from diverse clinical and academic backgrounds participated. The goal of the WPP was to support a small group of nurses to advance knowledge and develop practical skills through the development of a manuscript with mentorship from doctorally-prepared nurses with publishing experience. The anticipated effect was that participants would share what they learned with colleagues or mentor others to publish in the future. Beginning with informational sessions to lay the foundation for writing and publishing, the WPP included biweekly, two-hour online sessions over a seven-month period whereby individual and group writing with embedded peer and WPP leader feedback occurred. WPP participants gained proficiency in searching online databases, synthesizing published literature, and working as a member of a writing team. The group successfully published a manuscript based on a topic of interest. This current article describes the structured support and mentorship provided during the WPP with recommendations for overcoming publication barriers commonly described in the literature.

Facilitating the career transition of second-career students into professional nursing.

This article describes the approaches used by the Second Careers and Nursing (SCAN) program to socialize second-career students into professional nursing. The pre-licensure phase of the program is guided by Schlossberg's transition theory of moving in, moving through, and moving out. Moving in involves setting expectations, from the admission interview to the two-day intensive orientation. Moving through entails imparting and instilling nursing's cultural content and values through the program's formal and informal curriculum. Moving out strengthens students' feelings of pride and their commitment to becoming professional nurses during a concentrated internship, NCLEX-RN preparation, and coaching for their first RN position. The article also reports on the socialization outcomes and lessons learned during the pre-licensure phase. Outcomes provide evidence that the SCAN program has successfully transitioned non-nursing college graduates into professional nursing by socializing them into the profession's knowledge, skills, and behaviors while they internalize nursing's values and goals.

Board leadership development: the key to effective nursing leadership in the 21st century.

This article discusses the need for board leadership development of nurses. The authors provide an overview of the Sigma Theta Tau International Board Leadership Development program based on the experiences of nine Fellows who completed the program. Elements necessary for a self-developed board leadership development program are presented. Rationale is discussed as to why the Sigma Theta Tau Board Leadership Development program and future similar programs need to include the critical success factors in the development of nurses as board members. The authors discuss the variety of professional and personal benefits of a program of this importance.

Validating the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale.

Despite the centrality of interpersonal communication in nursing, there are few psychometrically sound instruments to measure the communication competencies of undergraduate and graduate nursing students. This article reports on the development and testing of the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale (ICAS), which was designed to assess the communication competencies of students in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Retroductive triangulation, using both deductive and inductive methods, and the Model of Relational Competence guided the measure's conceptualization and development. We used responses from 531 (24%) undergraduate and graduate clinical faculty from 246 American Association of Colleges of Nursing member schools for the psychometric testing of the 54-item content-validated and pilot-tested ICAS. Exploratory-factor analysis resulted in a three-factor solution labeled as advocacy, therapeutic use of self, and validation. These factors accounted for 60% of the variance. Items that loaded .60 or higher were retained, resulting in a 23-item scale with a Cronbach's alpha of .96. The ICAS significantly differentiated the communication competencies of beginning and graduating students in both undergraduate and graduate programs. The ICAS was found to have construct validity and internal consistency, underscoring its potential as a formative and summative tool to assess the interpersonal communication competencies of nursing students.