A Student-Faculty Writing Group: Fostering Scholarly Writing in a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program

Clinical scholarship is one of the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice identified by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2006).  Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students need to develop scholarly writing skills to meet the expectation of disseminating findings from evidence-based practice as graduates. However, scholarly writing is not often taught in DNP programs and faculty members have identified writing deficiencies among their students. In a variety of disciplines, writing groups have demonstrated effectiveness in developing scholarly writing skills and increasing publications.  In addition, the literature supports the need for faculty engagement and mentoring in the writing and publication process and encourages peer review and feedback as a writing development activity (Gazza, Shellengbarger, & Hunker, 2013; Shirey, 2013).  In one BSN-DNP program, students in the women’s health specialty participated in a writing group composed of 5 students and 2 full-time doctorally-prepared faculty members.  The purpose of this pedagogical strategy was to improve the scholarly writing skills of the group members through the process of developing a group manuscript for publication.  To begin, each student wrote a paper on different aspects of the selected topic for their health promotion course and then the group brainstormed ideas for the direction of the manuscript after reviewing all of the individual papers.  Each member was responsible for different aspects of the manuscript development process and the leadership role shifted between the members.  During a span of 3 semesters, the group met routinely for “writing salons” to review, edit, and finalize the manuscript which has now been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for review.   Based on the reflective journals the students wrote on the experience, they found the writing salon experience to an “invaluable learning opportunity”. Student comments included the benefits of learning from each group member, assessing their writing strengths and weaknesses, providing and utilizing constructive feedback, and the ability to write in a clear, concise, and organized manner.  Faculty noticed a significant improvement in the student’s scholarly writing in their coursework and an increase in their motivation to continue to participate in scholarly activities after graduation.