Integrating research into teaching public health nursing

Integration of research into teaching provides an environment for students to not only learn how research is conducted but also experience how research contributes to improving practice and client outcomes. Integrating research into teaching is important because of the need to build evidence for public health nursing practice. This article describes an innovative approach by faculty to integrate research into teaching undergraduate and graduate public health nursing courses. This approach was developed using the Mexican-American Problem Solving research study. The purpose of the Mexican-American Problem Solving study was to develop, test, and refine a home- and school-based nursing intervention to improve family functioning, children's health conceptions, self-esteem, and mental health. Students were involved in all aspects of the study, including focus group sessions, instrument translation, data collection, intervention implementation, and dissemination of the results. The authors describe these activities and provide recommendations for successfully involving students in faculty research.