Building a Research Team in Adolescent/Young Adult Oncology Nursing

Introduction: Participation on a collaborative team is an attractive option for conducting research, especially in pediatric hematology/oncology nursing, where the patient population is small. The Consortium to Study Symptoms in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer (CS²AYAC) is a nursing research team that has been in existence for over a decade. Purpose: The authors share the process by which CS²AYAC formed and describe key features that contribute to its sustainability. Results: While the team developed organically rather than via the tenets of team science, key aspects of success include principles related to mentorship, communication, building trust, establishing shared goals, and managing conflict. Conclusions: This description of one team's experience may help other nurses build their own teams for research. Strong, collaborative research teams will advance pediatric hematology/oncology nursing science and scholarship and can be an important source of collegiality and support.