Nursing Faculty Take Leadership Roles in Southern Nursing Research Society

Photo Submitted

Faculty of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, from left, Nan Smith-Blair, Jan Martensson, Ellen Odell, Bill Buron and Kathleen Barta recently attended the annual meeting of the Southern Nursing Research Society.

Two faculty members of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas were named to leadership positions in the Southern Nursing Research Society during its annual meeting last month in Austin, Texas.

Nan Smith-Blair, associate professor of nursing and interim director of the school, was elected to the society's executive board for a term that ends in 2012. Smith-Blair also presented a poster at the conference based on her research into diaphragm fatigue in the prevention and treatment of emphysema. She received a $200,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2006 to fund her research.

Bill Buron, assistant professor of nursing, was chosen to serve on the society's program committee, which organizes the annual conference. Buron also presented a paper titled "Organizing the Challenge of Promoting Personhood among Nursing Home Residents Living with Dementia." The paper covered results of a quasi-experimental study Buron conducted to evaluate the effect of individualized/person-centered life history collages on nursing staff knowledge about nursing home residents with dementia and, subsequently, nursing staff perceptions of person-centered care practices.

In 2006, Buron was awarded a predoctoral scholarship of about $80,000 over two years from the Hartford Foundation and the American Academy of Nursing for his research on interventions to promote personhood during the treatment of dementia. The principle of personhood in dementia care was introduced in the early 1980s by Dr. Thomas Kitwood, an internationally renowned dementia researcher. Kitwood's book, "Dementia Reconsidered," discussed the concept of personhood as "a standing or status that is bestowed upon one human being, by others, in the context of a relationship and social being. It implies recognition, respect and trust."

The nursing faculty also set up a display booth to interest society members in open faculty positions in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing.