Innovative Health Literacy Assignment to Build Graduate Research Competency

BACKGROUND: Developing skills at each step of the research process is essential for understanding and utilizing evidence as a graduate nursing student. Opportunities to build these skills may be limited by a lack of structured research experiences and heavy clinical course loads. Incorporating a practice research project as part of the research class assists in achieving these competencies. METHOD: Graduate nursing students in a research course used the Newest Vital Sign, a validated health literacy measure. Students formulated research questions, examined ethical considerations, conducted data collection and descriptive analysis, presented their findings, and recommended interventions. RESULTS: Students reported enhanced research competencies in data collection and statistical analysis, and a deeper appreciation for health literacy's implications in clinical practice. CONCLUSION: This approach, aligned with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing competency-based education domains, effectively integrates health literacy assessment to strengthen graduate students' research skills, offering a replicable model for nursing education.