Faculty Scholarship Showcase

Louise Sullivan, Ph.D., R.N.

Associate Professor | Nursing

Dr. Sullivan has been a full-time faculty member in the Nursing department since 2015. She began her career in health-care as a staff nurse, and achieved her PhD in Nursing from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2015. Dr. Sullivan’s research interests include the Long-Term Care (LTC) population, exploring Human Animal Interactions, and promoting student engagement with an interest in advancing knowledge in these areas. Her scholarly endeavors have drawn from her experience in healthcare, collaborative research efforts, and commitment to student engagement. In 2019 she began working with the Nursing Student Research group on research projects involving pet therapy and college student stress with former Salve faculty member Dr. Ellen McCarty.

Engaging Undergraduate Nursing Students in Collaborative Research

Louise Sullivan, Ellen F. McCarty, Emily Wood, and Emily Cabral

Background:   Nurses are expected to base practice on evidence from research, which requires an understanding of the research process. However, baccalaureate nursing students may find research courses uninteresting or feel unprepared to conduct research. Participation in experiential research projects may affect their research attitudes, knowledge, and skills.
Method:   Nursing investigators engaged nursing students in an experiential, active learning research project centered on the effects of pet interaction involving university students. Faculty mentored and partnered with nursing students, immersing them in all research processes.
Results:   Students confirmed that participation in the project enhanced their understanding of research, improved their clinical and communication skills, and fostered professional growth. Students presented results in a scientific poster at the University’s research event.
Conclusion:   Collaborative faculty-student research projects enhance students’ interest in and appreciation of evidence- based research, and support professional development, confidence in assuming research roles, and feelings of connection with faculty, each other, and the university.

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Journal of Nursing Education, April 2024
Abstract Only:   DOI 10.3928/01484834-20240318-01
Please fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form or contact a librarian to access this publication.

 Mouth Care in Assisted Living

Potential Areas for Improvement

Christine E. Kistler, Jessica Scott, Kimberly Ward, Robin Zeigler, Louise Sullivan, Sarah E. Tomlinson, Christopher J. Wretman, Sheryl Zimmerman

Background: Poor oral care may lead to systemic disease, and there is evidence that assisted living (AL) residents lack quality oral care; in AL, poor care may be due to staff knowledge and attitudes, as well as organizational barriers to providing care. 

Objectives: Determine AL staff knowledge and attitudes regarding mouth care and barriers to changing care. 

Design: Self-administered repeated-measures questionnaires completed before and after oral care training. 

Setting and Participants: A total of 2012 direct care staff and administrators from 180 AL communities. 

Methods: Nine knowledge questions and 8 attitude and practice intention questions, and open-ended questions regarding training and obstacles to providing oral care. 

Results: Overall, 2012 participants completed pretraining questionnaires, and 1977 completed post-training questionnaires. Baseline knowledge was high, but staff were not uniformly aware of the systemic-oral link whereby mouth care affects pneumonia and diabetes. Almost all staff reported learning a new technique (96%), including for residents who resist care (95%). Suggested areas to improve mouth care included having more hands-on experience. The primary perceived obstacles to care centered around residents who resist care and a lack of time. 

Conclusions and Implications: Based on reports of having benefitted from training, AL staff overwhelmingly noted that new knowledge was helpful, suggesting the benefit of skills-based training, especially in dementia care. Mouth care in AL has been sorely understudied, and merits additional attention. 

Citation

Kistler, C. E., Scott, J., Ward, K., Zeigler, R., Sullivan, L., Tomlinson, S. E., Wretman, C. J., & Zimmerman, S. (2020). Mouth care in assisted living: Potential areas for improvement. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.

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Abstract Only:   DOI 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.11.038

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 Towards Changing the Long Term Care (LTC) Paradigm

Explicating the Concept of Thriving in Older Adults Living in LTC

Louise Sullivan and Danny G. Willis

Abstract:   A phenomenon of interest for nursing is the facilitation of humanistic health care experiences and quality of life (Willis, Grace, & Roy, 2008). Inquiry into the concept of thriving as it manifests in the older adult residing in long-term care aligns with this interest. Thriving has been described by scholars in various disciplines but no context-specific definition for the LTC resident currently exists. Contrary to the generally held negative view of LTC, there is emerging evidence that older adult lTC residents “do well” or thrive in this environment.

APA Citation

Sullivan, L., & Willis, D. G. (2018). Towards Changing the Long Term Care (LTC) Paradigm: Explicating the Concept of Thriving in Older Adults Living in LTC. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 39(5), 388–397.

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Abstract Only:   DOI 10.1080/01612840.2017.1390021

Please fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form or contact a librarian to access this publication.