Objective: Drawing on her substantial research experience in oncology and nursing, the 2009 Fox Award winner, Dr McCorkle, describes ways to advance the science of psychosocial oncology through collaboration.
Methods: Critical literature illustrating barriers to collaboration and successful collaborative process are reviewed and compared to the author's personal experiences.
Results: Currently, many researchers are beginning to see the need for collaboration, and yet many infrastructures, universities, and centers continue to create isolated researchers and research environments. Despite the need, there is a dearth of practical and tangible guidelines as well as theoretical defenses for performing collaborative research. This article addresses these gaps with such insights as the need for a team of experts built on humility and trust, pre- and post-study networks across disciplines and settings, consistent meetings of staff as well as resources to support them, intervention monitoring techniques, and the crucial necessity for a stable institutionalized infrastructure that fosters collaboration, research and mentoring despite inevitable personnel turnover.
Conclusions: These insights that stem from the distinctive nursing lens provide crucial methods for advancing the science and addressing the uniquely interdisciplinary nature of oncology.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.