Using the World Cafe approach to address essential questions of the discipline with PhD nursing students

PhD in nursing programs focus on the development of scholars to become stewards of the discipline. Rooted in the philosophy of Lonergan (Lonergan, 1957/2000), our PhD in nursing program began an "Essential Questions Seminar," bringing together faculty and students to engage in dialogue around questions central to the discipline. Over time, we adopted a more structured approach to facilitate small group conversation and broader discussion known as the World Cafe method. Students participated in robust conversations on a variety of matters of disciplinary importance and reported gaining important insights from one another. Faculty observed this method to be highly valuable in promoting interactions and idea-sharing among different cohorts of PhD students. The World Cafe method is a novel approach to address essential questions in nursing and facilitate the development of future stewards of the discipline.