McKendree Nursing Faculty Members Present Outcomes of COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Grant
Lebanon, IL (10/07/2022) — On Wednesday, October 5, six faculty members in McKendree University's Division of Nursing gave a presentation about the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Grant and its outcomes at the University's Brown Bag. Dr. Janice Albers, MSN '12, retired assistant professor of nursing and director of MSN programs; Dr. Angela Gilbreth, DNP, RN, CLS, assistant professor of nursing; Dr. Jill Parsons, RN, CNE, associate professor of nursing; Dr. Richelle Rennegarbe, RN, CENP, director of DNP programs, chair of the Division of Nursing and professor of nursing; Dr. Danielle Schubert, DNP, RN, CPNP, assistant professor of nursing; and Dr. Kendra Taylor, assistant professor of nursing, each had a hand in developing and implementing the grant within the campus community and in surrounding areas, especially within rural communities in southern Illinois.
McKendree University's Division of Nursing was one of only 10 institutions of higher learning in the nation to have been awarded a $70,000 grant to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's (AACN) latest campaign, Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Among Nurses and in Communities. Funded by the CDC, this campaign tackled health misinformation while bolstering confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines. McKendree's Division of Nursing began implementing this new strategy this spring and ended in the summer.
McKendree partnered with academic departments and institutions, including the McKendree University Athletic Department, John A. Logan Community College, Kaskaskia Community College, Southeastern Illinois Community College, and Southwestern Illinois Community College, to disseminate information to higher institutions in rural areas so people can make their own informed decisions regarding vaccinations. The University also partnered with Southern Illinois Public Health Consortium (SIPHC), which is composed of 38 health departments in southern Illinois, and Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICAHN), which is comprised of 57 critical access hospitals, to broadly deliver information to rural communities, which statistically have the lowest vaccination rates.
"Having the ability to augment the work that these very important organizations are doing is what it's all about," Dr. Albers said.
The Division of Nursing brought this campaign first into the classroom, offering students the ability to participate in the grant as they worked on their final capstone projects, by scheduling talks or presenting a PowerPoint presentation in local communities, and even improving the University's vaccine confidence webpage.
The true star of the show was the virtual escape room, which provided students with an independent active learning room and allowed them to learn about vaccines in a less intimidating, easily accessible manner. This virtual escape room engaged critical thinking and helped take participants from any level of vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence. Complementing the virtual escape room was a PowerPoint presentation, which helped instill vaccine confidence by explaining the origin and function of vaccines and herd immunity, assessing and addressing misinformation about vaccines, and breaking down myths about COVID-19. The escape room and PowerPoint presentation were taken to and disseminated within local community colleges, alternative schools, nursing residency programs, and more.
Motivational interviewing and testimonial videos were also created during this time in order to have culturally sensitive discussions, break down barriers in communication, and provide a neutral approach to vaccinations. These moving videos showed students' firsthand, often heartbreaking experiences with COVID-19 and how it has impacted them within their practice. A general vaccine confidence video was also created and will be debuted at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's (AACN) conference in Washington D.C. later this month.
Finally, a vaccine confidence toolkit was developed within this timeframe. This toolkit contains critical information about the vaccine, social media graphics with photos of the University's students, faculty, and staff, an instructional video, and much more.
As a result of this campaign, the University reported that students showed and overall improvement in their confidence in communicating the benefits of the vaccine with a 22 percent increase who indicated they were "extremely confident" in responding to COVID-19 misinformation on social media after completing their education. One-hundred percent of students reported that they now knew where to obtain timely and accurate information on the disease after completing the interactive escape room as well. Finally, students in general felt they were prepared and confident to discuss the benefits of the vaccine and respond to misinformation.
Brown Bag events are held each Wednesday throughout the semester and include an array of topics from a variety of speakers. A complete schedule of upcoming Brown Bag topics can be found here.
