This past August, Amélie Perron, the first graduate of the School of Nursing Ph.D. program, defended her doctoral thesis in nursing. In her research project, entitled Exploration de la construction identitaire du détenu par le biais du discours infirmier dans un milieu de psychiatrie correctionnelle, she used nursing progress notes and interviews to determine how nurses working in the psychiatric unit of a Canadian Federal correctional institution construct the identity of patients/inmates. Her work explored ways nurses reconcile the therapeutic and correctional mandates of this particular type of healthcare practice.
“I have great memories of my experience,” explains Perron. “Despite the difficulties associated with a doctoral program in its infancy, I benefited personally from the support of my research supervisor. I also received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), which allowed me to complete my doctorate within the required timeframe. I hope that more nurses will look to graduate studies as an alternative field of work in the field of health.”
