Adejoke Ayoola, Ph.D., R.N. Selected as a 2012 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar

 

NEWS RELEASE

August 28, 2012                

 

 

 

Adejoke Ayoola, PhD, RN, an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at Calvin College, is one of just 12 outstanding nursing educators to win a competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholars program this year. Ayoola will receive a three-year, $350,000 award to promote her academic career and support her research. The Nurse Faculty Scholar award is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing.

 

“This award from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides a wonderful opportunity to promote reproductive health among low-income women of child-bearing age who are at risk of having unplanned pregnancy,” Ayoola said.

 

For her research project, Ayoola plans to examine the efficacy of the “Preconception Reproductive Knowledge Promotion (PREKNOP)” intervention, designed to promote women’s reproductive health and positive pregnancy outcomes by reducing the risk of unplanned pregnancy and delayed pregnancy recognition. The study is a randomized controlled trial of 120 women ages 18 to 44. It uses a community-based participatory research approach in three low-income neighborhoods that are racially diverse. The goal is to find effective ways to educate low-income women at risk of unplanned pregnancy about reproductive changes related to their menstrual cycle.

 

“PREKNOP study is a relevant way to advance the science of community-driven health promotion in the area of unplanned pregnancy.” Ayoola added. “I hope that through this study, women will become actively involved in taking care of their reproductive health and making informed decisions, with the hope of giving their children a healthy future.”

 

The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program is strengthening the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of leaders in academic nursing. It is providing $28 million to five cohorts of outstanding junior nursing faculty. Ayoola is part of the fifth cohort.

 

The new Nurse Faculty Scholars also will support the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, which is engaging nurses and others in a nationwide effort to implement recommendations from the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

 

Supporting junior nurse faculty will help curb a shortage of nurse educators that could undermine the health and health care of all Americans. The Affordable Care Act will vastly increase the number of people who can access health care in the United States. As the number of patients increases, there will be greater demand for skilled nurses as well as faculty to educate them. Right now, many schools of nursing are turning away qualified applicants because they do not have the faculty to teach them. The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program is junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program will also enhance the stature of the scholars’ academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.

 

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.

The Nurse Faculty Scholars program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered through the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. It is directed by Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, who is the Anna D. Wolf chair and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

To learn more about the program, visit www.nursefacultyscholars.org.

 

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