Evan Pendygraft and Samantha Grishaber represent their research colleagues at the Graduate Education Day on The Hill.

Graduate students from two programs in Belmont University’s Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing were recently honored by the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools with the 2015-16 Outstanding Thesis Award.

Six students in the Occupational Therapy Doctoral program were recognized for their abstract entitled, “Prevalent Concerns Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Middle Tennessee.”  The students, Samantha Grishaber, Abby Hawkins, Evan Pendygraft, Chelsea Skaggs, Mary Beth Thiel and Nicole Wright, were mentored by Dr. Debra Gibbs, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy.  The study identified health as the primary concern of community-dwelling adults that contribute to their ability to sustain independent living, followed by finances, memory, transportation and safety.

Kathryn D. Mitchell, a student in Belmont’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, was also recognized for her study entitled, “Public Access to Naloxone: Provider Awareness and Prescribing Attitudes.”  Her project examined knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, and prescribing intentions among nurse practitioners (NPs) working in adult primary care, family practice, pain management, and emergency department practice settings in response to state naloxone distribution laws.  Her study revealed that NPs are critical to successful implementation of this innovative approach to combat overdose deaths in Tennessee.

The abstracts were presented at the Graduate Education Day on the Hill for the Tennessee Legislature earlier this week.