Tara M. Tehan, MSN, MBA, RN, NE-BC, SCRN, is a doctoral  student at University of Massachusetts Medical School Graduate School of Nursing. Her advisor is Dr. Susan Sullivan-Bolyai. Her dissertation research is focused on patient and family centered care in the intensive care unit. She submitted her proposal for approval and will collect data at her study site in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  

Over the last year, she has had the opportunity to work with the IFNA International Research Cluster on a research proposal titled, Nurses’ Descriptions and Practices of Family Engagement in Intensive Care Settings: An International, Multisite Qualitative-Descriptive Study (lead by IFNA member, Dr. Sandra Eggenberger). As a first year doctoral student, Tara reports it has been an invaluable experience to participate in this research cluster and observe, and learn from, experienced nurse researchers on developing a research proposal: “Under Dr. Eggenberger’s guidance, I have submitted the research proposal to my institutional review board and will be conducting a qualitative study within my hospital. My clinical practice is as the Nurse Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit. I am so grateful for this opportunity not only have I gained valuable research experience, but for meeting other nurses committed to family nursing.”

For more information contact IFNA member, Tara Tehan. 

Cristina Alfaro Díaz, PhD, MSC, RN, recently completed her doctoral degree in Family Nursing at the University of Navarra School of Nursing, Pamplona, Spain. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing and investigator at the Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA).

Her doctoral thesis was part of ProyeKTA Family Nursing-UNAV, a pioneering translational research project in Spain, led by Dr. Ana Canga-Armayor and Dr. Nuria Esandi, aimed at implementing family nursing into clinical practice at an institutional level in a University Hospital. The primary focus of her work explored the nurses’ attitudes and beliefs towards the importance of involving family in nursing care, as well as the barriers and facilitators of the context of practice to implement Family Nursing in the oncology division of the University Hospital, Clínica Universidad de Navarra. As a part of her research, she conducted a cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the Spanish version of the following instruments: Families’ Importance in Nursing Care: Nurses’ Attitudes Revised version (FINC-NA-R); Iceland Health Care Practitioner Illness Beliefs Questionnaire (ICE-HCP-IBQ); and Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ). For more information contact IFNA member, Cristina Alfaro Díaz.

Twitter account: @CristinaCalfaro

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Carole A. Robinson, PhD, RN, is a Professor of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Canada, and Past President of IFNA. Her research focuses on understanding and supporting families living with life-limiting illness. Over the last 6 years and multiple studies, Robinson and colleagues developed a Family Caregiver Decision Support Guide based on internationally recognized standards for patient decision aids. The Guide is open access and can be found here. Please feel free to contact Dr. Robinson for information about how best to implement the Guide. An interactive version is in development and will be available in late 2018. For more information contact IFNA member, Carole Robinson.

Joan Clites, EdD, RN, is an associate professor of nursing at the California University of Pennsylvania in California, Pennsylvania, where she teaches and facilitates a 6-credit theory and clinical Family Health Nursing Course for the RN to BSN program. About 10 years ago, Dr. Clites made the very natural transition from a specialty in gerontological nursing to family health nursing taking her interest in aging with her to an interest in aging families, particularly custodial grandparents who are parenting their grandchildren for a variety of reasons. Dr. Clites most recently presented a poster on Accidental Medication Poisoning of Children Living with Grandparents at the 13th International Family Nursing Conference (IFNC13) in Pamploma, Spain.  She is currently serving as a new member of the IFNA Education Committee.  For more information contact IFNA member, Joan Clites.