The discipline of nursing is concerned with the study of human experiences related to health, illness and life transitions and professional practices that enhance well-being, promote a healthful life, prevent injury and disease, facilitate recovery
from and stimulate adaptive responses to illness and disability, ameliorate the negative effects of the treatment of disease and promote a dignified and peaceful death. The Ph.D. in Nursing Program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of
Nursing is designed to prepare scholars who will contribute to the science of nursing by expanding - generating, evaluating and disseminating - knowledge in these areas for use by nurses and others concerned with health care.
With changes in demography, advances in technology and changes in the social and economic mandate for health care, the Faculty of the School of Nursing has chosen to emphasize scholarship in the prevention and management of chronic health conditions across
the lifespan. Of particular interest are populations at special risk for developing chronic health problems and for suffering more intense morbidity and early mortality because of them. These populations are vulnerable to severe manifestations of disease by
virtue of such factors as age, gender, geography, history, race/ethnicity, biological markers of risk and/or socioeconomic class. The prevention of chronic health conditions involves activities that promote health and prevent disease. The management of chronic
health conditions involves, in turn, assisting people to manage symptoms and side effects of diseases and their treatment, adjust well to their emotional, family, social and other sequelae and, generally, to live well with these conditions. Another priority
area of study is the organizational context in which health services are delivered. This encompasses the study of the interactions among health care organizations, providers of care, processes of care and recipients of care.
The Ph.D. Program in Nursing emphasizes study of the understanding of health conditions in varying biographical, cultural, historical, clinical, ethical/legal and organizational contexts; the study of practices to appraise health, improve health and prevent
health problems; and evaluation of the application of these practices in real-world settings across the continuum of care. Faculty members assist students in linking their clinical and research interests with the Program emphasis. For example, students may
focus their program of study on various kinds of chronic conditions, health-related social problems or advanced biobehavioral measurement techniques. They may focus on studying and testing theories and concepts from nursing and other disciplines that address
chronic conditions or the system of care. They may focus on population groups varying by gender, developmental level, race/ethnicity or genetic predisposition. They may focus their study on specific theory-driven individual, family or community-oriented interventions
in the biobehavioral, psychosocial, psychoeducational and/or technological domains. Or they may focus on studies that seek to understand how to improve access to care, to investigate the effectiveness, costs, quality and outcomes of organizational systems that
provide services across the continuum of care.
The Program emphasizes the value and capable use of a variety of methodological
and analytic approaches from the biological, behavioral
and social sciences and the humanities, and interdisciplinary
and participative collaboration with other scholars and
affected populations. The overall goal of the Program is
to prepare competent, culturally sensitive and compassionate
scholars of nursing who will, through their active engagement
with and passion for scholarship, contribute to the goal
of a healthy nation.
The Postdoctoral Program in Nursing is designed to produce
an independent researcher in one of the areas of emphasis
in the Doctoral Program: the prevention and management of
chronic illness or health services research. Currently,
two NIH-funded institutional NRSAs support postdoctoral
fellows: one on interventions to prevent or manage chronic
illness and the other on quality of care.
