Increasing the pipeline and diversity of doctorally prepared nurses: Description and preliminary evaluation of a health disparities summer research program.

Despite calls to increase the number and diversity of doctorally prepared nurses, recent data indicate a severe shortage of PhD-prepared nurses, especially those of racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. This is concerning, given that evidence indicates that racial/ethnic minority PhD-prepared nurses are well-positioned to address health disparities, by attending to the needs/concerns of medically underrepresented groups. The purpose of this article is to describe and provide a preliminary evaluation of a summer research program for minority nursing students. Online surveys were administered to assess for student satisfaction, knowledge gains, attitudes toward research, and intentions to pursue a PhD among minority undergraduate nursing students (N = 6) participating in the 10-week program. Favorable trends were observed related to satisfaction, knowledge gains, and attitudes toward research. Fifty percent of the sample intended to pursue a PhD immediately after the program, compared to none before the program, and this result was maintained at 1-year post-program. The summer research program appears to be a promising strategy for increasing the number/diversity of PhD-prepared nurses. More research on the implementation of programs exposing minority nursing students to health disparities research is needed to strengthen evidence that similar programs can serve to increase the pipeline of diverse doctorally prepared nurses.