Nursing Science

Introduction

At Tampere University, research in nursing science is focused on four main themes: Wellbeing of families and individuals, Service system that produces wellbeing, High quality care through leadership, and High quality care through competence. Our research is based on an understanding from family nursing theory that individuals are always part of a social network of loved ones –their family. Our work is characterised by versatile research methods, national networks of colleagues, international collaborations, and multidisciplinary approaches. We produce new knowledge that contributes to evidence-based practice in healthcare and in the broader context of society.  

Wellbeing of families and individuals

The emphasis of this theme is on research that generates knowledge of the lives of families and individuals, promotion and support of health and wellbeing, and effective nursing interventions. Family and individuals are perceived as active experts and promoters of their own wellbeing.

Death of a Loved One, Grief and Coping

Lead researcher: Adjunct professor, PhD Anna Liisa Aho.

The project explores the grief and coping process of loved ones through the lens of different cultures and causes of death. The research involves development of support interventions that promote coping in grieving individuals and assessing the impact of coping and grieving. 

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Grief and coping from the perspective of different family members / loved ones and different causes of death
2. The support grieving people need and receive, and support interventions that promote coping in grieving individuals
3. The consequences and life changes that follow the death of a loved one
4. Peer support and its effectiveness in the coping process of grieving loved ones and the significance of expert by experience activities in society
5. Quality of end-of-life care and end-of-life care for children
6. A good life and death in different cultures during the COVID–19 pandemic
7. Motives and background factors of familicides
8. Parents' experiences of fetal-based termination of pregnancy, support and life changes

Fostering Participation in Action Research to Develop an Online Bereavement Support Application to Support Bereaved Parents after the Traumatic Death of Their Child

Lead researcher: Adjunct professor, PhD Anna Liisa Aho.

Researcher: Nur Atikah Mohamed Hussin

PCARE is a multidisciplinary project that combines qualitative and quantitative research to better understand parents after the traumatic death of a child, leading to the development of an online grief support system.

Creating a comprehensive online grief support system for parents who have lost a child is a valuable and compassionate initiative. Such a platform should aim to provide a safe, confidential, and accessible space where parents can connect with others who have experienced a similar loss and access the resources, they need to cope with grief effectively.

Funded by the European Commission https://projects.tuni.fi/pcare/

Breastfeeding Counselling

Lead researchers: Professor Marja Kaunonen and PhD, post doc researcher Riikka Ikonen.

The research project describes and explains the breastfeeding of infants and children of various ages as well as breastfeeding counselling from the perspectives of families, professionals, and peer support providers.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Factors related to the nutrition of infants
2. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to breastfeeding in children over one year old
3. Peer support for breastfeeding via a mobile application (led by the University of Turku)

Supporting Families with an Infant

Lead researchers: Professor Marja Kaunonen and PhD, post doc researcher Riikka Ikonen.

The research project studies the support for infant and toddler families from the perspective of mental security and based on evidence-based nursing. 

The research focuses on

1. RTC on the birth experience of spontaneous or inducted delivery and its connection of the latency period; mode of delivery and experiences of delivery
2. Family centered nursing care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) 
3. Use of milk supplement in maternity hospitals and factors associated with it
4. Validation of an instrument for the competence of public health nurses in breastfeeding education of mothers who breastfeed over one year old child

Evidence-based Palliative Care and Competence

Lead researcher: Professor Elina Haavisto. 

The research project describes and explains good palliative care (including end-of-life care) and the required competence of nursing staff (knowledge, skills, attitude, values). It also assesses the implementation of palliative care and related competence in various healthcare contexts. Furthermore, the research project involves the development of instruments and interventions to enhance palliative care and assess the effectiveness of these interventions.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1) Patient care

• Care decision-making
• Care ethics
• Psychosocial support for patients
• Development of instruments and interventions related to patient´s care

2) Family members being a part of palliative care

• Family support
• Family participation in patient care
• Family’s coping during the patient's palliative care and after the patient's death
• Family experiences of patient care
• Development of instruments and interventions related to Family members being a part of palliative care

3) Health care professionals and care organization

• Healthcare professionals’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes
• Interprofessional collaboration and competence
• Palliative sedation
• Nurse burnout and professional quality of life in palliative care
• Developing digital learning environments to strengthen competence and evaluate their effectiveness

Cancer Patient and Their Family

Lead researcher: Professor Elina Haavisto.

in cooperation with PhD post doc researcher Eeva Harju *

The research project focuses on describing and explaining the coping of a cancer patient undergoing curative or inhibitory treatment, developing and testing instruments for evaluating the coping of the patient and their family, and developing a model illustrating family coping.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Developing a quality-of-life instrument for penile cancer patients and evaluating their quality of life *
2. The significance of exercise for the quality of life in a patient with advanced cancer – a qualitative longitudinal study *
3. The child and family's experience of opioids in relieving pain for a child with cancer *
4. Development and testing of a psychosocial support instrument for cancer patients
5. Family involvement in the care of a cancer patient
6. Family coping process

Mental Wellbeing and Psychiatric Nursing

Lead researcher: Associate Professor (tenure track), PhD Jari Kylmä.

The research project describes and explains factors connected to mental wellbeing, develops interventions that promote mental wellbeing, and evaluates their impact in various contexts.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Positive mental health
2. Interventions promoting mental health and psychiatric nursing interventions
3. Hope as an element of positive mental health
4. Interventions that strengthen hope in various contexts

Diversity of Sexual and Gender Identities and Health

Lead researcher: Associate Professor (tenure track) PhD Jari Kylmä.

The research project describes and explains the factors connected to the health of people with different sexual and gender identities, develops health-enhancing interventions, and assesses their effectiveness in various contexts.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Promotion of sexual health
2. Lives and health of young people, people of working age and older people who belong to sexual and gender minorities
3. Lives and health of families who belong to sexual and gender minorities
4. Encountering people who belong to sexual and gender minorities in social welfare and healthcare services

Children and Young People Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence

Lead researcher: PhD, post doc researcher Riikka Ikonen.

The research project describes and explains the prevalence of experiencing sexual violence in childhood and adolescence, the wellbeing of these children and young people, and reporting the incident to a parent.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Factors related to reporting sexual violence
2. Sexual violence experienced by young people placed in care, related factors, and the wellbeing of these young people

Service system that produces wellbeing

The research theme produces knowledge about the service system, its function, and multiprofessional cooperation in healthcare and its interfaces, particularly from the perspectives of clients, patients, and families.

Human-centered Solar Smart Technology Design for Healthy Aging (SOL-TECH)

Lead researcher: Tenure track professor Paola Vivo, Faculty of engineering and natural sciences, Tampere University. Sub-project leader: Professor Marja Kaunonen in cooperation with PhD, post doc researcher Mira Palonen.

The multidisciplinary research project describes the needs and wishes that emerge in the day-to-day lives of older people and develops an aid for preventing and identifying falls with the help of light technology. The aim is to support older people in continuing to live safely at home in collaboration with experts from the fields of health, social sciences, architecture, and technology. The key is to take development measures together with older people living at home, their loved ones and home care professionals.

Funded by Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. https://projects.tuni.fi/sol-tech/

Strengthening the Health of Individuals and Families 

Lead researcher: Adjunct professor, PhD Anja Rantanen.

The research project describes and explains the quality of life and health of individuals and families with different health conditions, e.g., with a chronic or severe health problem, and experiences of care processes. Support interventions are also developed for health promotion.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. The health of young adults with a severe health problem 
2. Experiences of care and support needs 

Day-to-day Life, Challenges, and Services of Families with Children

Lead researcher: Professor Eija Paavilainen.

The research project describes the day-to-day lives of families with children in demanding situations, e.g., related to family violence and child maltreatment, and seeks effective ways to alleviate risky conditions. It aims to promote the wellbeing and health of children and families and develop multiprofessional services for families with children.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Examining the various forms of family violence
2. Multiprofessional interventions for preventing child maltreatment
3. ERICA 2019-2021 (https://projects.tuni.fi/erica/) will be continued by testing the mobile app on risk circumstances of the family, 2022–2026
4. Services for families with children in Japan and Finland, 2018–2025
5. International study on the day-to-day life of children with long-term illnesses, 2020–2025
6. Virtual Reality (VR) in preventing parental emotional child maltreatment, 2024–2027 (funded by the Research Council of Finland)

Attraction and Retention in Nursing 

Lead researcher: Professor Elina Haavisto

The research project describes and explains the desire to work in nursing among various healthcare professionals and in different contexts. It also focuses on developing instruments to measure healthcare professionals' desire to work in nursing, while concurrently evaluating the psychometric properties of these instruments.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Various healthcare professionals in nursing, such as practical nurses, registered nurses, ward managers, nurse directors, nursing students, and nurse applicants
2. Desire to apply nursing education, desire to study nursing, desire to withdraw from the nursing program, desire to work in nursing, intention to leave nursing, leaving the field of nursing, career change to nursing
3. Developing and testing self-administered instruments in various situations

Interprofessional Services in the Wellbeing Services County, Primary care

The research project is led by PhD Minna Koskimäki.

The research project investigates the consequences of interprofessional team work on the skills and competence development of supervisors, professionals, and students; how multidisciplinary skills are learned and how they are built as described by supervisors, professionals, and students, as well as what kind of skills multidisciplinary work requires. The project also provides information on the development of a multidisciplinary identity; its development during the practical training of health care students and in the informal/formal learning of professionals at work.

High quality care through leadership

The research theme produces knowledge about healthcare leadership, nurses’ wellbeing at work, and organisational cultures. Good leadership strengthens wellbeing at work and promotes good care.

Ethicality in an Organisational Culture and Wellbeing at Work in Changing Healthcare

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Healthcare Leadership

Lead researcher: Professor Marja Kaunonen 

The research project produces knowledge about the ethicality of organisational culture in healthcare and staff wellbeing, particularly during organisational changes. The project also aims to produce knowledge about the mental wellbeing of staff designated to a new work unit within the hospital and those remaining in their own work unit during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mental wellbeing of hospital staff is examined from the perspectives of anxiety, work-related stress and fears related to catching COVID-19, and experiences related to being transferred to a new work unit.

Appreciative Leadership

Lead researcher: post doc researcher, PhD Merja Harmoinen in cooperation with MNSc Mervi Roos 

The research project produces knowledge of appreciative leadership, leaving work and leaving the profession, and the commitment to work and attractiveness of healthcare at the national and international levels.

High quality care through competence

The research theme produces knowledge about the healthcare education system and the learning and competence of managers, teachers, students and professionals and the assessment methods used in various contexts. The study makes use of the latest digital technology such as simulation games and virtual reality apps.

Simulation Games and Virtual Reality Applications in Nursing Education and the Clinical Environment

Lead researcher: PhD, Adjunct Professor Jaana-Maija Koivisto in cooperation with Professor Elina Haavisto.

The research project focuses on developing simulation games and virtual reality applications for learning clinical reasoning skills, knowledge, and empathy, and determining the effectiveness, usefulness, and user experiences of these solutions.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. The effectiveness of a simulation game on nursing students’ clinical reasoning skills and surgical knowledge 
2. Multiplayer virtual reality simulation in learning collaborative clinical reasoning skills
3. A digital learning environment advancing nurses’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to palliative care for cancer patients
4. Evaluating nursing students’ knowledge and clinical reasoning skills related to vital signs in the final exam by using a simulation game 
5. Game metrics in simulation games and virtual reality simulation  
6. Nursing students’ performance in clinical reasoning skills in scenario-based simulation games  
7. Nursing students’ and nurses’ clinical reasoning skills in virtual reality simulation
8. Nursing students’ and nurses’ user experiences of the virtual reality simulation
9. Learning empathy in virtual reality simulation

Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education, Phase 2 (CALOHE2)

Lead researcher: Professor Robert Wagenar, University of Groningen, Tuning Academy. The leader of subject area nursing is Professor Marja Kaunonen.

The research project develops an assessment method for European competence that involves evaluating and assessing measurable competence outcomes. The aim is to go beyond the special features of cultures, field of science, and education.

The project also includes updating the description of education and the competences of learners developed in previous projects (TUNING, CALOHE) and describes the changes caused in competence needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aprendizaje Centrado en el Estudiente en América del Sur – ACE

Lead researcher: Professor Robert Wagenar, University of Groningen, Tuning Academy. The European expert of subject area nursing is Professor Marja Kaunonen.

The research project involves developing a frame for higher education (Environmental Engineering; Education Sciences/Teacher training, Nursing, History), which describes the knowledge produced by education, competence, and wider participation in society. The work is built on the results of the previous Tuning-Latin America project (2017). The project also aims to reform education and the development of staff. It will produce student-driven programmes that will take students into consideration in curriculum work, its implementation and advancement by including examples of the good practices of learning, teaching, and assessment.

Multiculturalism and Evidence-based Competence in Healthcare 

The research project is led by Adjunct professor, PhD Anna Liisa Aho, Adjunct professor, PhD, Anja Rantanen, Adjunct professor, PhD Minna Koskimäki

The project conducts research related to healthcare education and professional development, which can be used to develop the content of education and the continuous learning of teachers and students. The project also produces current knowledge about the competence and continuing education of nursing students, teachers, and healthcare professionals.

The research focuses on the following areas: 

1. Multiculturalism in healthcare and education 
2. Evidence-based competence of health care teacher students and teachers
3. Evidence based counselling and bullying of nursing students 
4. Development of nurses' competence with different pedagogical methods
5. Health science teacher students mentoring
6. Health care teacher continuing education needs and support of unit leader

Competence and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice Among Healthcare Professionals

Lead researcher: Professor Elina Haavisto

The research project focuses on developing an evidence-based practice knowledge test (EBPKTest) for healthcare professionals and evaluating its psychometric properties. Additionally, it describes and explains the evidence-based practice competence of healthcare professionals and the factors associated with it. Furthermore, the research project will be involved in the development of interventions to enhance evidence-based practice and assess the effectiveness of these interventions.

The research is focused on the following areas:

1. Various healthcare professionals, such as frontline healthcare professionals, ward managers, nurse directors, health care students
2. The research project focuses on developing an evidence-based practice knowledge test for healthcare professionals and evaluating its psychometric properties
3. Reviewing the instrument measuring knowledge, skills, and attitude

Competence of nursing students in Europe (COMPEUnurse) 

Lead researcher: Adjunct professor, PhD, Satu Kajander-Unkuri 

The research project evaluates and compares nurses’ competence and related factors at graduation and in early years of practice in Europe based on their self-assessment. Additionally, the psychometric properties of the used research instruments are evaluated in different EU countries. The research project involves six EU countries (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Finland and the Czech Republic) and 10 universities.   

The research is focused on the following areas: 

1. The level of competence of graduating nursing students 
2. The relationship between final clinical learning environment and graduating nursing students’ competence level 
3. The relationship between nursing students’ turnover intentions and competence level at graduation 
4. The relationship between nursing students’ self-directed learning abilities and competence level at graduation 
5. The relationship between nursing students’ empowerment and competence level at graduation 
6. The relationship between nursing students’ satisfaction with nursing education at graduation and job satisfaction one year after graduation 
7. Nurses’ empowerment after the first year of their career 
8. The development of nurses’ competence from graduation to early years of practice and related factors 

Aligning nursing education with global healthcare competence: Evaluating learning environments and teaching methods for future generations (ANGEL) 

Lead researcher: Adjunct professor, PhD, Satu Kajander-Unkuri 

The research project describes and assesses the competence requirements for nurses in the context of global healthcare challenges to align nursing education with professional demands. Additionally, it evaluates appropriate learning environments and teaching methods for newer generations of healthcare students (Generation Z) and their evidence-based practice competence. The research project is international. 

The research is focused on the following areas: 

1. Nurses’ competence requirements at graduation in the context of global healthcare challenges (in particular, but not limited to climate change, Covid-19, demographic ageing) 
2. Learning and competence development of healthcare students belonging to Generation Z 
3. Evidence-based practice competence of Generation Z healthcare students 
4. Virtual reality teaching methods and learning environments replacing the reality of patient care and developing the learning and competence of Generation Z healthcare students

Updates

This research programme is updated as necessary, at least once per year. The programme was updated on the 6th of November 2024.