Ms Shanshan Wang participated in the volunteer work with other Fulbrighters in the US.
Prof. Davidson asked Shanshan to explore her potential.
Dr Cotter enriched Shanshan’s knowledge on nurses’ roles in dementia diagnosis, treatment, and caregiving.
Dr Shanshan Wang, currently our Postdoctoral Fellow, was awarded the Fulbright-Research Grants Council (RGC) Hong Kong Research Scholar Award for supporting her research activity on bibliotherapy and dementia caregiving at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Nursing, one of the best nursing schools in the world, from September 2019 to April 2020.
During the 8-month visit at Johns Hopkins, Shanshan (at that time our PhD student) was under the mentorship of Prof. Patricia Davidson (Professor, Dean of the School of Nursing & our Departmental Academic Advisor), Dr Valerie Cotter (Associate Professor); and Dr Rebecca Wright (Assistant Professor), who are renowned researchers and nursing experts. Prof. Davidson invited Shanshan to participate in the mentor group meetings with her PhD students, where she was encouraged to talk about her difficulty in thesis writing and discussed with the PhD students. Dr Wright helped Shanshan brush up her qualitative data analysis skills.
Under their guidance, Shanshan explored the effectiveness of bibliotherapy in improving caregiving appraisal of informal caregivers of people with dementia, and reviewed the effects of bibliotherapy in improving coping skills and experience of caregivers, as well as their psychological wellbeing. Taking this overseas learning opportunity, Shanshan worked with the JHU mentors & PolyU supervisors to generate two manuscripts. One was published in a top nursing journal, International Journal of Nursing Studies, and the other in the Journal of Clinical Nursing. The team are now working on the third manuscript.
Apart from focusing on her research work, Shanshan joined the dementia working group of the Center for Innovative Care in Aging at Johns Hopkins to learn about teamwork in dementia-related research. She also visited the Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center to know more about their care delivery. Shanshan paid home visits to dementia patients, where she observed the differences in caregiving between the American and Chinese dementia caregivers. “This experience has provided me insights into developing supportive strategies for dementia caregivers.”Shanshan said.
Shanshan has been impressed by the confidence and expressiveness of JHU’s students. She thinks that the emphasis on/of nurturing leadership abilities attributes to the students’ qualities. “My mentors suggested me acting on my ideas. Prof. Davidson asked me not to set limits but explore my potential.” Said Shanshan. For Shanshan, the JHU visit is unforgettable, which has helped her build confidence for her future career and personal development.
