Vickye Hayter, RN, a PhD in Nursing student, earned a spot in the Minority Fellowship Program, which is staffed by the American Nurses Association with funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The program comes with a $22,00 award to support her dissertation, “Factors Associated with Nurses' Perception and Practices of Trauma Informed Care.”
“I am honored, excited, and grateful for the opportunity to work with other nursing fellows, educators, clinicians, and researchers,” said Hayter.
The Fellowship works to increase the number of masters and doctoral-level behavioral health nurses from all underrepresented ethnic minority groups. The program aims to eliminate health disparities in behavioral health disorders by educating specialty nurses who provide culturally competent and linguistically appropriate services in clinical practice, teaching, research, and policy development.
Hayter hopes her research on trauma-informed care (TIC) can shed light on how nursing practices are impacted by caring for patients who have experienced trauma.
“Research indicates nurses have increased risk for exposure to traumatic events and experience moderate to severe levels of traumatic stress,” Hayter said. “Exploring nurses’ perception and practices of TIC will bring awareness to factors that affect implementation, lead to the development and evaluation of interventions, and advance TIC research.”
Hayter says her PhD and research on trauma is preparing her to influence policy, practice, and education.
“After completion of my degree, I hope to conduct research that will help transform our health care system by addressing the impact of trauma on patients and providers,” she said. “Researching factors associated with nurses’ practice of TIC has the potential to expose barriers and facilitators of TIC implementation and substantiate the need for organizational support for nurses and other health care providers.”
Fellows are required to commit to a minimum of two years of service in mental health and/or substance misuse after graduation.
Hayter is currently a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist with her own practice, Emerge Lifestyle Consulting, in Kensington, MD.
Learn more about Mason’s Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing program.