Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects
The Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Projects collection contains the completed works of students from the DNP Program at Arizona State University's College of Nursing and Health Innovation. These projects are the culminating product of the curricula and demonstrate clinical scholarship.
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Elderly
- All Subjects: Pregnancy
- All Subjects: Social Support
The project used a mixed method design. Participants were recruited from a primary care practice. Descriptive statistics described the sample and outcome variable. An independent t- test measured if there were significant changes in the participant responses for the ACP survey.
The average age (standard deviation) of the chart review sample was 72.22 (SD=9.47). The ages ranged from 60 to 100 years of age. Most of the sample in the chart audit were female with 105 (53%) participants and 95 (48%) were male. Most of the sample, 183 (92.5%) reported having a chronic health condition and 17 (7.5%) of the sample reported having no chronic condition. Overall, the results were inclined towards a significant difference in participants who did the ACP discussions and those who did not when comparing completed AD forms.
Purpose: To examine the implementation of a web-based depression care management training program to increase home health nurses’ knowledge and attitudes regarding depression.
Background and Significance: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2015 that the incidence of major depression in elderly receiving home health service rose to 13.5% compared to less than 5% with those not receiving care in the community.
Materials and Methods: An intervention program was offered to a convenience sample of home health nurses caring for elderly in the community. The Depression CARE for Patients AT Home (depression CAREPATH), which is an evidenced-based online training program consisting of didactic resources about depression screening and depression care management and e-learning modules. Participants were given a pre and post survey to assess their knowledge of the material. Additionally demographic information was obtained via self-report.
Results: A total of 8 out of 18 home health nurses participated in the study. All were females; 13% Caucasian and 88% were Asian. There’s an average of 37 years old (SD 14.7, range 23-58) and had 3 years of experience (SD 2.07, range <1-6). The mean depression CAREPATH knowledge total pre-test score was 15 (SD 1.85, range 13-18), while the mean total post-test score was 18.13 (SD 0.99, range 17-19). There was a difference in the depression knowledge test scores at baseline. All the participants obtained a passing score for the post-test (80%). The mean R-DAQ total pre-test score was 71 (SD 13.37, range 53-71) and mean total post-test score was 68, (SD 3.48, range 62-70). The professional confidence in depression attitude indicated agreement post intervention, except with the feeling comfortable in working with physical illness than mental illness (pre intervention 62.5%, post intervention 100%). Participants agreed that home health nurses are well placed and more confident in assisting patients with depression (pre Depression Care Management 3 3 intervention 75%, post intervention 100%). In addition, participants felt more confident in assessing suicide risk post intervention in patient s presenting with depression. Based from Wilcoxon Signed-ranks test, there was a statistical difference, z = -2.536, p= .01, between the depression knowledge pre and post-test scores, which indicates that there is an increase in depression knowledge after the intervention. However, there was no significant difference, z = -.846, p = .397 between the depression attitude, which indicate that there is no change in depression attitude after the intervention.
Conclusion: For this sample, depression knowledge was increased post intervention, however, increase in knowledge did not significantly alter the depression attitude. Further study in a larger more diverse sample is needed for this intervention.
leading to chronic stress, a sense of powerlessness, and decreased autonomy. Social support may improve health empowerment and lead to increased perception of well-being.
Purpose: The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of social support provided by a cancer support agency on health empowerment and perceived well-being in adults impacted by cancer.
Conceptual Framework: The Health Empowerment Theory maintains that perceived wellbeing is the desired outcome; mediated by health empowerment through social support, personal growth, and purposeful participation in active goal attainment.
Methods: Twelve adults impacted by cancer agreed to complete online questionnaires at
baseline and at 12 weeks after beginning participation in social support programs provided by a cancer support agency.
Instruments included: Patient Empowerment Scale, The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), and The Office of National Statistics (ONS) Subjective Well-Being Questions.
Results: Four participants completed pre and post surveys. An increase was seen in
empowerment scores (pre M = 1.78, SD = 0.35 and post M = 3.05, SD = 0.42). There was no
increase in perceived well-being: SWEMWBS pre (M= 3.71, SD= 0.76), post (M= 3.57, SD=
0.65); ONS pre (M= 7.69, SD= 1.36), post (M= 6.59, SD= 1.52).
Implications: The data showed an increase in health empowerment scores after utilizing social support programs, lending support to the agency’s support strategies. It is recommended that the measures be included in surveys routinely conducted by the agency to continue to assess the impact of programming on health empowerment, and perceived well-being.
Maintaining good oral health during pregnancy is a significant contributor to healthy pregnancy outcomes. The physiological changes that happen during pregnancy can adversely affect women’s oral health and place her at risk for pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriage and preeclampsia. The unborn child’s health can also be affected by premature birth and low birth weight. Although professional organizations have evidence-based practice guidelines for both prenatal and dental providers, the evidence shows a gap between recommendations and practice. An oral health promotion project for pregnant women was implemented in a federally qualified community health center where there was a lack of adherence to the guidelines.
The purpose of this project was to implement established oral health screening guidelines for pregnant women and to increase dental visits among pregnant women. For this project, a two-item maternal oral health-screening tool (MOS) for the prenatal providers was added into the electronic health record to standardize and document oral health screening for pregnant women at their first prenatal visit. After three months of implementation, there was a significant increase in maternal oral health screening and referral. This project may be replicated at any prenatal setting to improve oral health during pregnancy.
