Submit your Proposal Below

ALSN is excited to announce a pilot research grant opportunity made possible by the generous donations of our ALSN members. Because of your generosity, we are able to provide $10,000 for the 2024-2025 ALSN Pilot Research Award. This request for proposals will provide funding for a pilot study that advances the ALSN research priority areas¹:

1. Nurses’ health, well-being, resiliency, and safety in the workplace 
2. Developing and managing a nursing workforce to meet current and future healthcare needs 
3. Healthy work and practice environments for direct care nurses 
4. Healthy work and practice environments for nurse leaders 
5. Quantification of nursing’s value across the healthcare delivery system 
6. Nurse leaders’ development and essential competencies

One grant will be awarded:
One $10,000 (US Dollars) award funded by the ALSN Research Fund

The nursing workforce continues to face challenges, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in optimizing the work environment in which they work. New systems and models of care that can respond to today’s workforce crisis and prepare for future crises are needed. Research that investigates how to support nurse and nurse leader well-being is essential to achieving a healthy nursing workforce and will position nursing to address health inequities and drive prevention and health promotion.

A Delphi study conducted by ALSN and AONL Foundation unveiled key areas where nurse leaders lacked evidence to inform their decision-making during the pandemic: resiliency, trust, leader visibility, the role of the leader in disaster planning, and strategies for leading in crisis.² Respondents identified the need for designing and testing innovations leaders and organizations adopted such as new care models, staffing models, and cross-training practices.² Findings of this study also revealed a need for nursing leadership science to move beyond descriptive research toward interventional research to understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions.³ These challenges and needs continue. Pilot studies are an essential foundation for advancing interventional research.

Notification of Award:

• Recipients will be notified August 1, 2024.
• The award recipient will be recognized on the ALSN website and at the annual conference.

Funding:

• Fifty percent of the Grant will be awarded in September 2024 provided Institutional Review Board approval.
• The remaining 50% will be awarded after a mid-grant Interim Review or upon need-based petition by the Grantee.
• Payments will be made in US Dollars.

Application:

• Applications must be submitted electronically, see below. Provide an electronic copy (Microsoft Word) of the entire application, one document with entire application, references, appendices, curriculum vitae, letter of support, etc. The application should consist of a maximum of 6 single-spaced pages, not including the cover page, reference list, or appendices (0.5-inch margins; Times New Roman or Arial 11-point font).
• Applicants MUST adhere to the following guidelines. If guidelines are not followed or submitted after the deadline, the application will not be reviewed.

Cover Page:

• Investigator(s) name, title, department, affiliation(s), address, phone, and email address
• Project Title

Research Plan (6 pages max)

• Purpose of the project: including research question(s)/hypothesis and/or aim(s)
• Background and significance: Describe the most significant and current state of the research in this field of study. Articulate the study’s relevance to the ALSN research priority areas.
• Innovation: Describe how this study is innovative, how it will advance the field of leadership science, and the potential for future research.
• Methods:
• Theoretical framework (if appropriate)
• Research design
• Sample and setting
• Data collection, including measures
• Data analysis
• Methodological rigor - reliability, validity, or trustworthiness for qualitative studies
• Plans for protection of human subjects
• Plans for dissemination and future study: clearly articulate how the findings from this pilot study will be disseminated and used to inform a larger, follow up study. Indicate specific funder(s) you plan to submit the proposal, preliminary plans for the project, and plans for dissemination of the pilot study (e.g., presentation venue(s) and publications).
• Projected timeline for accomplishing the plan of action
• Detailed Budget and brief budget justification

Additional pages to be included:

• A list of references cited in the proposal
• Appendix with instrument(s) and/or interview guide(s) to be used in the study
• Proof of author permission for use of proposed instruments
• Brief (up to 5 pages) Curriculum Vitae (may use federal forms, such as the NIH biosketch form) for each investigator
• Identification of any other funding sources for this project
• Letter of support from the organization where research will be conducted

Review Criteria:

• Applications will be evaluated based on alignment with the ALSN research priority areas, study significance, methods, feasibility, budget, and potential for future funding.
• It is the researcher’s responsibility to present the proposal in a clear and logical fashion, to make a convincing case for the significance and the ability to secure future funding, and to present sufficient detail about the research plans so that an adequate evaluation of the proposal can be made.

Questions:

• For questions, contact Dr. Lisa Hedenstrom and Dr. Linda Roussel, Co-Chairs of the Pilot Grants Review Committee.

ALSN-funded Investigator Responsibilities: Research award recipients are required to:

1. Obtain IRB approval prior to conducting the research and file a copy of that approval with the ALSN Research Committee.
2. Conduct the research as proposed.
3. Manage their budgets and expend the grant funds in accordance with the proposed budget and grant guidelines.
4. Submit progress report by June 1, 2025
5. Submit final grant report at the end of the project or by March 1, 2026
6. Present findings to date (poster presentation or completed study as podium presentation) at the 2025 or 2026 ALSN Conference
7. Awardees will acknowledge the ALSN Research Fund as appropriate as funding source on all publications and presentations related to the study.

ALSN strongly recommends publication of study findings to contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.

References

1. Chipps EM, Joseph ML, Alexander C, et al. Setting the research agenda for nursing administration and leadership science: A delphi study. J. Nurs. Adm. 2021;51(9):430-438.
2. Hand MW, Alexander C, Lyman B, Parchment J, Joseph ML, Chipps E. Filling the knowledge gap for nurse leaders: Next steps following covid-19. Nurse Leader. 2021.
3. Joseph ML, Nelson-Brantley HV, Alexander C, et al. Building the science to guide nursing administration and leadership decision making. J. Nurs. Adm. 2022;52(1):19-26.