Eapen receives Zeta Pi grant
Study to focus on career advancement for South Asian Indian immigrant nurses
South Asian Indian (SAI) immigrant nurses are underrepresented in leadership positions in the U.S., and Cizik School of Nursing Assistant Professor Doncy Eapen, PhD, MSN, FNP-BC, will use a new grant to explore their experiences.
Eapen is the 2024 recipient of the $2,000 Zeta Pi Research Grant from the local chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. She was honored April 11 at Zeta Pi’s spring induction ceremony, in which 20 students joined the organization.
Her qualitative study is titled “Barriers to Leadership and Career Advancement in the Nursing Profession: Experiences and Perceptions of South Asian Immigrant Nurses in the United States.” Eapen and her team, who serve on the Indian American Nurses Association of Greater Houston (IANAGH) Research and Grant Committee, will interview nurses recruited from the IANAGH to identify barriers to SAI nurses pursuing leadership positions.
“The large population of SAI immigrants here in Houston makes it an ideal place to gather information that may inform interventions to support career advancement for SAI nurses,” Eapen said.
Co-investigators on the study are Cizik School of Nursing Associate Professor Nitha Mathew Joseph, PhD, RN, CNE, and Assistant Professor Padmavathy Ramaswamy, PhD, MSN, MPH, FNP-C, FNAP, as well as Professor Shainy Varghese, PhD, CPNP-PC, CGNC, at the Barbara Gessner College of Nursing at the University of Houston, and Assistant Professor Nisha Mathews, PhD, MSN, RN, at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (Pearland).
