Nese College of Nursing students attend and win awards at annual ENRS Conference

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing students, Rachel Arendacs, Michelle Boakye, Yo Jen Liao, Kalei Kowalchik, Timothy Adekeye, Sherif Olanrewaju, Rebecca Bausinger and Olivia Rubio, presented their research at the 2022 Eastern Nursing Research Society’s Annual Scientific Sessions (ENRS) in Rhode Island from March 31 to April 1. 

The theme of this year’s conference was “Charting the Path of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Nursing Science.” 

Of the eight students that presented, two were conferred awards at the event. Olivia Rubio won first place for her research poster, "Patient-Centered Advance Care Planning Intervention Across the Aging Continuum: A Review of the Literature Relating to Respecting Choices."

Rubio’s literature review identified an intervention that approaches end-of-life conversations in a stepwise process as these conversations are often initiated at inopportune times or too late in the aging process, leading to lack of patient engagement.  

The review found that this intervention met individuals at different stages of chronic illness and improved patient engagement and will be used for a potential study that aims to improve delivery of end-of-life conversations for older adults living in assisted living communities and their caregivers across Pennsylvania.

Rubio is a graduate student in the Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner MSN/PhD program at the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing. Olivia received her bachelor of arts in integrative physiology and her bachelor of arts in psychology from University of Colorado-Boulder in 2013, and her bachelor of science in nursing in an accelerated nursing program at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2019. Her current research interests broadly include older adults, heart literacy, rural health and heart failure. She plans to finish her master’s degree in 2023 and work in an outpatient cardiology clinic while finishing her doctoral program. 

“This was my first year attending and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole conference, especially networking with other professional nursing students from colleges and universities in the eastern U.S.,” said Rubio. “I learned about current nursing research and heard from students that shared similar research areas. I networked with other nurse researchers and advanced my research ideas. I have a better idea about the current state of nursing research and how to approach my next steps in my program.” 

Olayemi “Timothy” Adekeye won third place for his ‘The Impact of Social Media on Substance Abuse in Adolescent: A Narrative Review’ research poster. 

Adekeye’s research poster focused on substance abuse as a significant health issue in adolescents. His innovative research looked from the lenses of social media and offered a new perspective to approach this growing concern. Adekeye’s poster synthesized the existing research evidence and identified the substance use-related content and substance advertisement on social media that significantly influence adolescent substance abuse. 

Adekeye is a doctoral student and graduate research assistant at the college. He is a Nigerian registered nurse and a professional mental health practitioner with more than 12 years of clinical working experience and has research interest focuses on substance abuse in adolescents. 

“Attending the 34th annual scientific sessions of the ENRS conference was a great learning opportunity for me, as I gained substantive knowledge from both participants and presenters. Winning 3rd place for my peer-reviewed Doctoral Poster Award means a lot to me and will undoubtably add to the enrichment of my academic career,” stated Adekeye. 

Established in 1988 as the research arm of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Nursing Association and the New England Organization for Nursing, the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) proudly recognizes the valuable contributions and excellence in nursing research as demonstrated by their members each year. 

Learn more about the organization and event here.