NHS Professor Selected as U.S. Fulbright Senior Specialist

Edilma L. Yearwood, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing at NHS, has been recently selected as a U.S. Fulbright Senior Specialist.

Beginning May 19, 2008, Yearwood, who specializes in psychiatric nursing, will spend 42 days at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISON), Mona campus located in Kingston, Jamaica. While there, she will serve as a resource in the field of mental health with a focus on educational and research collaboration around child and adolescent behavioral health.

Specifically, Yearwood will conduct workshops for nursing faculty on incorporating evidence-based child and adolescent mental health content into the curriculum, refine and develop teaching strategies to meet a variety of learner needs, identify training needs of the faculty, conduct lectures for graduate and undergraduate nursing students, and explore e-learning options for future continuing education needs of the school and the regional nursing community.

Yearwood will also present her research, Factors Contributing to Parent-Child Communication Behaviors in an At-Risk Population at the UWISON annual research conference, “Facing the Challenges of Nursing Through Research,” held from May 29-30, 2008.

“This is an excellent opportunity to partner with the UWISON faculty and student body to address specific learning needs, explore future research collaboration, and respond to faculty development needs created in part by nurse migration from the region,” Yearwood says.

The Fulbright Senior Specialist Program is designed to provide short-term academic opportunities for U.S. faculty and professionals. Shorter grant lengths give specialists greater flexibility to pursue a grant that works best with their current academic or professional commitments. Peer review of applications is conducted eight times per year.

Specialists collaborate with professional counterparts at non-U.S. post-secondary academic institutions on curriculum and faculty development, institutional planning, and a variety of other activities. The program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

“I am delighted that Edilma’s steadfast commitment to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents has been recognized by the U.S. Fulbright Senior Specialist program,” says NHS Dean Bette Keltner Jacobs. “Her work in Jamaica this summer will help improve educational outcomes and shine a light on this critical area in health care.”

Yearwood, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, has served on the NHS faculty since 2002. Her scholarship focuses on child and adolescent mental health, health and mental health of immigrant Caribbean and Latin American families, youth empowerment, and cultural diversity. She also teaches undergraduate courses in psychiatric-mental health nursing.

She publishes regularly in her field and serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. In addition, she serves as a manuscript reviewer for six other journals. She is a certified advanced practice nurse in child and adolescent psychiatric-mental health nursing.