Introduction
Due to requiring individuals to polish their skills in a way to evolve into leaders that are capable of promoting new research and positive changes to care quality, nursing doctorate studies can be extremely research-intensive. Considering this, students may need to plan their stress-coping strategies beforehand. As a Ph.D. student, I anticipate dealing with challenges linked with stress and totally new expectations and will implement strategies based on regular communication with faculty members to prevent these barriers from affecting my success.
Main body
Specific challenges that I expect to face during further studies include the need to adapt to new and sophisticated performance expectations. As per Pifer and Baker (2016), the need to shed one’s “prior professional identity” and emotional stress associated with doctoral research can deeply affect students during the stage of knowledge consumption (p.18). Modern researchers consider clinical experiences as an advantage for Ph.D. students (Giordano et al., 2020). However, the need to treat my past learning and workplace experiences as supporting knowledge instead of placing them at the heart of my approaches to nursing studies can probably become a source of challenges for me, at least during the first stage of learning. It is likely to stem from particular personality characteristics, such as certain rigidity when it comes to new experiences, but this tendency will be unlikely to last for long.
Next, concerning stress and exhaustion, I suspect that the need for extensive acquisition of new knowledge and research-intensive writing assignments will not come without the fear of failure and short-term periods of demotivation. Qualitative research suggests that transitions to Ph.D. studies are challenging because of the necessity to produce written papers for grading after periods of intense engagement in practice (Greco, 2019). Based on the survey of DNP project directors, insufficient writing skills present a common challenge for students working on their projects (Dols et al., 2017). From my previous studies, I understand that the outcomes of one’s engagement in writing activities depend on a variety of factors, some of which are related to different aspects of health and are difficult to control. Based on the nature of this challenge, my coping strategies will need to effectively combine the self-care components with proper collaboration with faculty members.
To address the challenges, I am going to implement two strategies that emphasize collaboration. Firstly, to meet new expectations as a student, it will be beneficial for me to identify my areas for improvement and “the types of relationships that can provide that support” (Pifer & Baker, 2016, p. 18). For instance, it will be critical to engage in regular communication with the supervisor and ask this person to introduce me to the peculiarities of doctoral research in nursing so that I could develop a more accurate vision of the self-cultivation efforts required for my personal progress. Secondly, aside from self-care, for the minimization of stress during stage two of the doctoral journey, I will engage in an honest conversation with the dissertation chair and seek professional advice regarding approaches to self-management and the characteristics of exemplary scholarly writing (Pifer & Baker, 2016). In other words, I will use collaboration to establish steady reference points and develop a detailed understanding of expectations for dissertations. It will support me in determining the priority of different project-related tasks and reduce the fear of getting negative feedback from the dissertation chair due to poor prioritization.
Summary
To sum up, it is critical to give due consideration to the fact that transitions to doctorate programs are not as easy and smooth as many students might expect. Essential issues, such as stress, the fear of mistakes, new intellectually-demanding research activities, and the need to meet higher standards and expectations, will probably make my journey more challenging. However, combined with a genuine interest in nursing research, effective collaboration and information support from the supervisors will enable me to reduce these barriers to success.
References
Dols, J. D., Hernández, C., & Miles, H. (2017). The DNP project: Quandaries for nursing scholars.Nursing Outlook, 65(1), 84-93. Web.
Giordano, N. A., Compton, P., Joseph, P. V., Romano, C. A., Piano, M. R., & Naylor, M. D. (2020). Opportunities and challenges presented by recent pedagogical innovations in doctoral nursing education.Journal of Professional Nursing, 1-31. Web.
Greco, M. (2019). The lived experience of Doctors of Nursing Practice in pursuit of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in nursing. International Journal of Nursing Education, 11(4), 195-199. Web.
Pifer, M. J., & Baker, V. L. (2016). Stage-based challenges and strategies for support in doctoral education: A practical guide for students, faculty members, and program administrators.International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 11, 15-34. Web.