Search

Aim: To outline the main tenets of critical realism (CR), its use, and future application in nursing., Background: Little work has been done to discuss how CR can be applied to nursing research., Findings: The tenets of CR include recognition of reality independent of human perceptions, a generative view of causation in open systems, and a focus on explanations and methodological eclecticism using a postdisciplinary approach. Critical realism is useful for (1) understanding complex outcomes, (2) optimizing interventions, and (3) researching biopsychosocial pathways. Such questions are central to evidence-based practice, chronic disease management, and population health., Conclusions: Critical realism is philosophically strong and potentially useful for nursing research.

The article discusses five reasons why so many nursing authors publish their work in a predatory journal. Topics covered include suggestions to counter the risk of credible research being published in predatory journals, ways to identify predatory publishers, and the role of academic leaders, supervisors and mentors in raising awareness of the practices and perils of predatory journals.

Taking debates about the roles of structure and agency in health as a lens, this essay asks how Critical Realist and Feminist Intersectional approaches might inform health interventions research. Despite recognition of multiple determinants of health, health problems are often thought of as individual and interventions, in turn, target risky individual behaviours. Such approaches are rooted in a liberal model of personhood. This paper critiques enduring individualist assumptions linked to Western liberal underpinnings embedded in health interventions. It posits the need to include a robust conception of the social world in which change depends on shifting power relations, and individual agency is shaped by power as well as individual will. We propose preliminary steps for undertaking critical realist intersectional interventions research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on whether research quality assessment exercises influenced the growth of the quality and visibility of nursing research and what the harms and costs of such exercises are to the state of the present nursing research. He cites the importance of seeing the potential good arising from the assessments to accept the reality of their existence and use it to promote positive developments for the discipline of nursing, for the departments and for individual nurse academics.

The author reflects on the importance and usefulness of metrics in measuring research success but should always be used carefully, thoughtfully and ethically. He points out that while metrics provide an indication of research performance and esteem, some types are more susceptible to creative manipulation and mis-interpretation like the h-indices and citation counts that vary across disciplines and depend on which citation indexing and search service is used.

The article offers information on research related to condition of academic culture in nursing and the methods to raise the teaching in institutions. It mentions that research on nursing and nurse education established among the various universities of the world. It informs that academic nursing departments should engage scholarship programs. Students will work as health care assistants for one year before they work as professionals as per the reports of the U.S. Department of Health.

The article discusses the acceptance and maximization of failures in nursing research, which are treated by the authors as a primary factor in advancing the academic standing and settings of the nursing profession. Aside from reflecting good academic practice, failures assist nurses in developing skills, identities and inventions, and in promoting equality. The role of senior researchers and other mentors in harnessing beneficial failures in mentioned.

The article presents a response to R. Booth & A. Oudshoorn's account of M. M. Archibald and A. Clark Twitter and nursing research on how diffusion of innovation theory can help uptake. Topics discussed include their assertions that diffusion of innovation privileges the innovation, that users are subject to complex socio-technical considerations and social media ecology helps understand user's needs and that Twitter is a social technology and social networks influence diffusion.

The article presents a response to Jacinta Kelly regarding the uses of management and game theory to research grant and publication success as she risks dismissing entire bodies of knowledge designed to improve workplace skills and promote effectiveness. Topics discussed include her argument that Drucker's theories have limited use to nurse academics to help meet the huge distinctive demands faced by nurses in academic and for nurses to be engaged and successful in research and teaching.

The authors comment on an article by M. Cleary and colleagues on the issue of authorship and the PhD by publication. They opine that it is critical that the criteria for authorship and the order of authors are understood and agreed by both supervisors and doctoral students at the outset. They suggest that the PhD by publication is not without dangers but does offer benefits for students and supervisors.