QES-AS Scholars

The Coming Together Project is a part of a larger partnership between the University of Alberta (UAlberta) Faculty of Nursing (FON) and the University of Ghana (UG) School of Nursing (SON) to develop a community of global nurse scholars and leaders. The QES-AS Program supports future nursing leaders with the knowledge and leadership skills needed to address significant Maternal Newborn Child Health (MNCH) issues in Ghana.

Ghana, along with other West African nations, has recognized the need to prepare nurse leaders as a way to enhance the health care system, promote healthy lifestyles and environment, improve the health and status of women and girls, plan and implement nutrition services, and improve overall governance. The Coming Together Project develops nursing leaders that enable them to engage effectively in health policy and decision-making. Improving the health of mothers, babies and children is one of the priorities of the Ghanaian health sector and the Ghana National Plan.

Universities are the drivers of social, economic and human development. Supporting advanced preparation of nurse scholars through doctoral education (QES-AS Program Component 1), post-doctoral opportunities (QES-AS Program Component 2), and early career mentorship (QES-AS Program Component 3) have a significant impact on the continued development of the Ghanian health system. Nursing is essential to health care delivery in almost every community regardless of the level of development or socio- economic status. Nursing education is often seen as a key indicator of a country's health care system (Klopper & Uys, 2013).

The scholarships supported by the QES-AS Program fund research topics primarily related to MNCH and to some extent Employment and Growth. Research focused on MNCH is widely regarded as having a success in achieving lower maternal mortality ratios (MMR) and improved health outcomes for children and newborns in Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). The Coming Together Project supports Ghana in its efforts to achieve its maternal child targets outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 3-Good Health and Wellbeing.

The Coming Together Project has three expected results:

1) Prepare a community of scholars with the knowledge and leadership necessary in addressing the most pressing health issues affecting mothers and children.

2) Promote knowledge and skills building through collaboration between Canada and Ghana to impact key SDG challenges.

3) Embrace a social responsibility to enhance and deepen the longstanding relationship with the UAlberta and the UGhana with a specific commitment to global citizenship.

QES-AS Scholars:

• Dr. Gideon Puplampu: "Mental Health Care for HIV Perinatal Mothers: Exploring Hope-focused Practices in Nursing"

• Dr. Cecilia Eliason: "Experiences of mothers with stroke children: A study in Accra, Ghana" and "Prevalence and outcome of childhood stroke in Ghana"

• Dr. Josephine Kyei: Stigmatization among women with infertility in Northern Ghana

• Ernestina Asiedua: "Development of a tool for measuring the social re-integration of women with obstetric fistula after surgical repair"

• David Tenkorang-Twum: "The woes of post-caesarean mothers: Pain experience, early ambulation and initiation of breastfeeding"

• Mohammad Amin Jibril: "Lived Experiences of Parents in Caring for their Children Diagnosed with Mental Illness"

• Dr. Kelycia Leimert: "OPERA, the Optimal Pregnancy Environment Risk Assessment" as sponsored by the Worldwide Universities Network

• Dr. Gladys Dzansi: "Access and Retention of Children in HIV/AIDs Care: A study of two districts in Ghana"

• Dr. Kwadwo Korsah: "Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) - Experiences of pregnant women, midwives, and obstetricians and extent of screening in Ghana

• Dr. Lillian Ohene: "Family centred care for children in Ghana hospitalized through road traffic accident: The child's perspectives"