February 2024

High school students exposed to systemic racism can experience crushing mental health effects. It’s therefore critical for the next generation of nurses to be able to evaluate multilevel interventions to help suffering students. That’s the focus of a new paper authored by eight DUSON professors.

Published in Prevention Science in January, the paper uses a hypothetical, theory-based intervention to examine how to rigorously evaluate a multilevel intervention promoting mental health equity in three U.S. school systems using an anti-racist approach at multiple levels to improve students’ mental health.  

“This paper was really unique in that it focused on study design and analytic methods but required us to identify a multilevel intervention that could be proposed to address structural racism and reduce health disparities,” said Marta Mulawa, PhD, MHS, an assistant professor of Nursing and Global Health at DUSON.

DUSON Associate Professor Donna Biederman, DrPH, MN, RN, CPH, FAAN, remembers working on her dissertation when one of the homeless women participating in her study became critically ill and needed surgery. When the woman was discharged from the hospital, there was no safe place for her to go and recover.

She then learned about homeless medical respite programs, where people can recover from acute injuries and chronic illness. Now an associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing, she has been advocating for that kind of care ever since.

Each year, more than 8 million health care workers in the U.S. come into contact with antineoplastic drugs, from chemotherapy, shipping/receiving, transportation, compounding, administration, and less well considered sources like patients’ body fluids. 

AnnMarie Walton, PhD, MPH, RN, OCN, CHES, FAAN, is hoping to change that and keep workers safe. A DUSON associate professor and member of the Duke Cancer Institute, she is actively researching how to understand and minimize health care workers’ exposure to known carcinogens.

Black men are significantly underrepresented in the nursing profession, making up only 5.6% of the workforce according to a 2022 survey . The gap is particularly pronounced in leadership roles. In honor of Black History Month, let's highlight three exceptional Black male faculty members at DUSON who are shattering barriers. These individuals excel not only as educators but also champions for health equity and social justice, striving to build inclusive academic and healthcare environments for all. Their dedication to advancing health equity and social justice exemplifies transformative excellence.