Lynne L. Ornes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing at University of South Carolina Beaufort. Her educational background includes BS (1979) from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan; MS (1985) from Texas Women's University in Dallas, Texas; PhD (2006) from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Ornes has 30 years of nursing experience with much of that done in Critical Care units. She has worked as a clinical nurse specialist and nurse in a cardiac rehab unit and 15 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level. Dr. Ornes's current areas of research include nursing education and level of patient engagement on hospital websites. The studies in nursing education look at how students learn best – simulation, immersion of clinical, active vs. passive activities, etc. She specialized in physical activity intervention studies of college-aged females during her doctoral education. Dr. Ornes has several publications and numerous presentations related to her research.
Questions & Answers
There are definitely parts of the program that could be adapted to increase its effectiveness. One of the concerns I found in the study was that self-efficacy could be increased more by the modules by helping the participant identify and overcome barriers to increase their confidence in being physically active. Although the intervention was created for females in a college environment, it could be adapted for any age group that had computer (internet) access.
Always do a process evaluation with the program and be willing to make changes if they come up.
Anyone with health education or promotion experience (exercise science, nurses, health psychologist, health educators) can implement this program. It can be time intensive to help participants follow through with goals and motivating participants to complete the program, if college females are involved, can be challenging if they begin to procrastinate and/or lose interest in “courses”.
My current research is focused on nursing education.