Dissertation in Practice Defense - Jennifer Manges

Date: Friday, November 7, 2025

Time: 12 - 2 p.m.

Location: Physical Activity Research Center, Room 230 (32 Oak Hill Court, Pittsburgh, PA 15219)

Zoom Link: For access to the Zoom link, contact Jennifer Manges at manges@pitt.edu

Dissertation in Practice Title: "Combatting Vaccine Hesitancy by Improving Nursing Students' Communication Skills"

Description: Vaccine hesitancy is a threat to public health, yet nursing students are graduating without the necessary counseling skills to advise vaccine hesitant patients; this problem of practice will focus on first-year nursing students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ). The students watched immersive learning simulations that combined the use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality from Bodyswaps, an online communication training platform associated with the American Academy of Pediatrics. This program introduced conversations between vaccine hesitant patients and health care workers. Students worked through scenarios with vaccine hesitant patients, answered questions within the modules, and practiced role playing through the AI/VR powered platform 
   
Jennifer's research hopes to answer the following inquiry questions: 1)How do communication skills for engaging vaccine hesitant patients change following implementation of the change idea for first year nursing students?; 2)Does nursing students’ confidence for engaging vaccine hesitant patients increase over the course of the change idea?; 3)Will the addition of bias reflection help pre-service nurses to recognize bias and how that impacts the patient/provider relationship in building trust? Data was analyzed to identify any gaps in knowledge, look for an uptake of counseling skills, and determine growth in knowledge. The intervention successfully increased student confidence and laid a foundation for communication with vaccine-hesitant patients. However, feedback revealed that for lasting competence, students requested more practice. This data will be used to construct future PDSA cycles to drive the aim to make 25% of the nursing students enrolled in the nursing program at UPJ gain 3-5 culturally appropriate counseling skills that guide vaccine hesitant patients into an informed decision on vaccination. 

Dissertation in Practice Chair: Dr. Sharon Ross, Associate Professor and Interim Executive Director, Office of Child Development, School of Education

Committee Members:

• Dr. Sirry Alang, Associate Dean for Equity and Justice, Professor, and Interim Chair of the school’s Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading
• Dr. Dawn Drahnak, DNP, RN, CCNS, CCRN, CHSE, Division Chair Nursing and Health Sciences, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown
• Dr. Susan Wieczorek, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown