BCHS Faculty Conduct Research

For over a decade, Bryan College of Health Sciences faculty members have had the opportunity to conduct research through the generous donations of one family.

Julie Skrabal, EdD, RN, and Beth Burbach, PhD, RN, are the two most recent faculty members to have been awarded the Helen Weber Endowed Professorship. The professorship was established in 2015 by Helen’s son, Scott. Helen was a nurse and beloved member of the Bryan team for decades.

Dr. Skrabal completed her three-year study last year, passing the torch to Dr. Burbach. Both women have researched important topics that can benefit the college and the larger world of medical higher education for years to come.

Social Media and Students

Dr. Skrabal has been with Bryan Health for over 30 years. She moved to the college in 2001 to teach on the undergrad faculty. In 2024, she became the Dean of Graduate Nursing and Health Professions.

Dr. Skrabal had heard about the professorship through colleagues who were previous participants in the program.

She was awarded the professorship funding, becoming the third recipient. She knew that she wanted to further explore ideas from her dissertation, which covered social media use among pre-licensure nursing students.

“The reality is, we are much more of a teaching facility than a research facility,” Dr. Skrabal said. “So, when this became available, creating some funds that are available to support faculty, it was such a benefit.”

Nursing students know that, for many reasons, it is not recommended for them to post about their jobs on social media, yet many do so anyway. Dr. Skrabal wanted to research why.

Research from her dissertation led Dr. Skrabal to hypothesize that there was a contributing factor associated with students’ psychological needs. Some students told her that if they were especially happy or sad from their work, they would feel the need to share it on social media.

For her study, Dr. Skrabal wanted to determine if there was a link between students’ psychological needs and their social media usage. She surveyed hundreds of students from across the nation about their social media habits.

Her research did find a correlation between key psychological factors – loneliness, anxiety and depression - and their social media habits.

Dr. Skrabal said education is key to prevent unprofessional posting.

“In institutions’ social media policies, we really need to educate students about what ‘e-professionalism’ looks like,” she said. “What should or should not they post?”

Dr. Skrabal recommends focusing on this education during the orientation period and the start of clinical hours, where students have exposure to patients.

“If they’re working with patients and they have a first-time frustration, that could be a trigger for an unprofessional post,” she said.

Dr. Skrabal presented in November at an international nursing conference and is currently working on a manuscript about her research. Dr. Skrabal hopes her research can help students at Bryan and across the globe.

Addressing Faculty Shortages

Dr. Burbach is the latest recipient of the professorship. Dr. Burbach has been on the Bryan College faculty for three years in the graduate nursing department. She has extensive experience with nursing education research, largely in simulation-based research.

Dr. Burbach’s study focuses on nursing faculty shortages. Her initial review of relevant literature showed her that factors that lead to shortages around the country include low faculty salaries and failure to provide adequate mentorship, autonomy and professional identity.

“When I started thinking about what kind of study I can do here at Bryan, I thought the professorship would be perfect for me,” Dr. Burbach said. “It provides money I don’t have to spend from my own pocket, which is huge. It means so much to me that the family has decided to continue this offering and care about making a difference for the future.”

Dr. Burbach has completed the recruitment and data collection phases of her study with the assistance of a graduate student. The next step in her process is collaborating with statistician Leeza Struwe to analyze the results of the data.

They hope to find individual correlations between the variables, as well as to determine the presence of other variables that may affect intent to stay as faculty in higher education. Based on those findings, Dr. Burbach then wants to develop a model that will demonstrate relationships among the variables.

Like Dr. Skrabal, Dr. Burbach will distribute the findings of her study toward the end of her professorship period. She is grateful for the support of the Weber family that will allow her to complete a study about which she is passionate.

“Research in nursing education informs critical actions to improve educational processes and outcomes,” Dr. Burbach said. “I am greatly honored to have received the professorship.”

Take Your Next Step

To support faculty at Bryan College of Health Sciences, please contact the Bryan Foundation staff by calling 402-481-8605.

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