Course

Psychiatric Nursing Research

Faculty
Health Sciences
Department
Nursing - Psychiatric
Course code
PNUR 4575
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15
Max class size
32
Method(s) of instruction
Online
Lecture
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
In this course, students will explore the role and responsibilities of the psychiatric nurse within psychiatric nursing research and begin to develop an understanding of the relationships among theory, research, and evidence-informed practice. Students will focus on identifying and critically reading and evaluating relevant literature to inform psychiatric nursing practice. Students will develop an understanding of the underlying paradigms within the various research methodologies and research processes.
Course content

1. Research Process

  • Self as researcher
  • Development of the research question
  • Literature review
  • Research design
  • Legal and ethical considerations
  • Population and sampling
  • Data collection
  • Rigour in research
  • Data analysis
  • Dissemination of research findings
  • Knowledge translation

2. Research Approaches

  • Nursing research paradigms
  • Theoretical/conceptual framework
  • Qualitative research
  • Quantitative research
  • Mixed methods

3. Evidence-Informed Practice

  • Research as a way of knowing
  • Critical appraisal and evaluation of research
  • Levels of evidence
  • Informatics to support research
  • Evidence-informed practice/evidence-informed decision making
Learning activities

In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as discussions, group work, case studies, reading assignments, remote/virtual meetings, and critical appraisal of refereed psychiatric nursing articles.

Means of assessment

The course evaluation is consistent with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course in the Instructor Course Outline. This is a graded course.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Describe the relationships among theory, research, and practice;
  2. Critically read and evaluate primary and secondary sources in the literature;
  3. Demonstrate knowledge of research concepts and the underlying paradigms guiding nursing research;
  4. Recognize the legal and ethical considerations of research to ensure the appropriate protection of human rights;
  5. Identify the steps nurse researchers use to conduct qualitative and quantitative research;
  6. Critically examine qualitative and quantitative research methodologies as applied to psychiatric nursing research;
  7. Demonstrate application of research findings to guide and inform psychiatric nursing health outcomes.
Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required and optional textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester. 

Requisites

Prerequisites

Admission into:

LPN Access to Psychiatric Nursing Degree Program or

Psychiatric Nursing Degree Completion Program AND

PNUR 3700 and PNUR 4576 and PNUR 4585 (for students registered in LPN Access to Psychiatric Nursing Degree Program only)

Students in the LPN Access program are required to maintain a passing grade of 65% (C+) in all courses to progress in the program. 

Corequisites

PNUR 3402 and PNUR 3171 (for students registered in LPN Access to Psychiatric Nursing Degree Program only)

 

Equivalencies

None

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution Transfer details for PNUR 4575
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) No credit

Course Offerings

Winter 2026

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
32
Currently enrolled
30
Remaining seats:
2
On waitlist
1
Building
Online
Room
ONLINE
Times:
-
Section notes

PNUR 4575 090 is restricted to BSPN Degree completion students. It is strongly recommended that students take PNUR 3700 prior to taking other PNUR Degree Completion courses. Offered online.