Nursing Research

Objectives: The mission of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) is to promote and improve the health of individuals, families, and communities. To achieve this mission, NINR supports and conducts clinical and basic research and research training on health and illness, research that spans and integrates the behavioral and biological sciences, and that develops the scientific basis for clinical practice. From premature infants in neonatal intensive care units, to adolescents living with diabetes, to elderly cancer survivors coping with pain, nursing research develops the science to help people strengthen the quality of their lives. Nursing science transcends the boundaries of disease and research disciplines to better understand the experiences of individuals and families living with illness and to develop personalized approaches that maximize health and well-being for individuals at all stages of life, across diverse populations and settings. NINR’s scientific programs are organized around four major focus areas: symptom science, wellness, self-management of chronic conditions, and the science of end-of-life and palliative care. The Institute also explores ways in which new innovations and technologies can contribute to advancing nursing science across these four areas. In addition, NINR has a longstanding and continuing commitment to developing the next generation of nurse scientists: those individuals and team members who will carry the field of nursing science into the future. NINR’s research program in symptom science seeks a better understanding of the biological and behavioral aspects of symptoms, with the goal of developing and testing new interventions to reduce the disabling effects of symptoms and improving patient health outcomes and quality of life. Research efforts in wellness investigate the key biological, behavioral, and social factors that promote long-term health and healthy behaviors and prevent the development of illness across health conditions, settings, and the lifespan. Research in wellness is also focused on developing and testing culturally appropriate interventions to promote health and prevent illness in minority and underserved groups. NINR research in self-management seeks to engage individuals and families as active participants in maintaining and improving quality of life while living with a chronic condition or multiple chronic conditions. Self-management research encompasses health strategies that allow an individual and their health care provider to adapt treatments to individual circumstances. As the lead NIH Institute for end-of-life research, NINR supports science to assist individuals, families, and health care professionals in managing the symptoms of advanced, serious illness, and planning for end-of-life decisions. NINR also recognizes that high-quality, evidence-based palliative care is a critical component of maintaining quality of life at any stage of illness, not limited to the end of life. In focusing on innovation and technology, NINR promotes technological advancements that address a range of health care challenges and facilitate the delivery of real-time personalized information to individuals and families, health care providers, and communities. In order to prepare an innovative, diverse, and talented next generation of nurse scientists, NINR supports a variety of training opportunities for scientists and trainees at all career levels, particularly those at an early career stage who are so critical to sustaining the future of innovative research and high quality health care. NINR supports individual and institutional pre- and postdoctoral research fellowships, as well as career development awards, and sponsors numerous ‘research intensives’ for nurse scientists at all career levels. NINR’s Division of Intramural Research conducts basic and clinical research on the interactions among molecular mechanisms underlying symptoms and environmental influences on individual health out