VNTW: Annual Nursing Theory Conference

All sessions will be on the Zoom “Webinar” platform, which highlights the presenters and session Ambassadors. In this format the session attendees view the presenters, but do not appear on video. Our Zoom Manager can activate audio or video for audience members as needed. Ambassadors will host each session and facilitate discussions. At the end of each day, we will shift to the group Zoom meeting format for interactive discussion based on the presentations of the day.

The session outline below is subject to change. The final program will be shown in the digital program, which will be available about 7 days before the conference for everyone who registers for the conference. The digital conference program will also include biographical and contact information for all presenters, and contact information for participants.

All times below are shown in Eastern Daylight Time

Thursday, March 19, 2026

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Opening Panel Presentation: Toward a New Definition of Nursing
Moderator: Robin Walter
Panelists: Gordon Gillespie; Patricia Sharpnack; Wyona Freysteinson

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Thursday Knowledge Sessions #1
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 12:00 – 12:30 PM Confronting Anti-intellectualism Peggy Chinn
• 12:30 – 1:00 PM Seeing the Field: The Paradox of the Caring Moment Dr. Kaija Freborg
• 1:00 – 1:30 PM Invisible No More: Advancing Inclusive Nursing Knowledge Through Immigrant Mental Health Inquiry Dr. Kechi Iheduru-Anderson

1:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Thursday Knowledge Sessions #4
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 1:45 – 2:15 PM Health Promotion of Women Experiencing Homelessness: Understanding Within Context of the Social Determinants of Health Professor Jean Croce Hemphill
• 2:15 – 2:45 PM Integrating Virtual Reality into Hospice Care Guided by Kolcaba’s Theory Dr. Bini John
• 2:45 – 3:15 PM Original Middle Range Theory “Wright’s Caring in Context Theory” Dr. Mary Ellen Wright

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Thursday Knowledge Sessions #7
(2 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 3:30 – 4:00 PM Capturing Nursing Knowledge Development Complexity via Multidimensional Theoretical Frameworks: A Professional Role Identity Formation Perspective Dr. Maria O’Rourke
• 4:00 – 4:30 PM Theory of Anti-Positionality of Nurses Dr. Anna Winquist

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Thursday Daily Discussion

Friday, March 20, 2026

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Friday Knowledge Sessions #1
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 10:00 – 10:30 AM Advancing Caring Practice Incorporating Robots through a Synergistic Theoretical Dialogue Dr. Savina Schoenhofer
• 10:30 – 11:00 AM Use of Existing Knowledge in Intervention Research: A Promising Path of Confirmation and Dissemination of Knowledge Dr. Clémence Dallaire
• 11:00 – 11:30 AM Critical Determinants of Future Knowledge Development in Nursing Dr. Theodora Sirota

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Friday Knowledge Sessions #4
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 12:00 – 12:30 PM Strengthening Theoretical Foundations in Online Nursing Education Dr. Julie Reback
• 12:30 – 1:00 PM Integrating Health as Expanding Consciousness and Chronic Sorrow to Support Parents of Children with IDD Ella Cullen
• 1:00 – 1:30 PM Dynamic Realism and Complexity: An Alternate Authentication Process for Nursing Knowledge Development Mike Taylor

1:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Friday Knowledge Sessions #7
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 1:45 – 2:15 PM Watson’s Unitary Caring Science: Development of Nursing Knowledge through Transpersonal Teaching and Learning Dr. Brenda Lohri-Posey
• 2:15 – 2:45 PM The Hidden Part of Implementing New Academic Nursing Programs: Insights Based on the Holding Concept Prof. Marie Friedel
• 2:45 – 3:15 PM From Doing to Being: How Qualitative Inquiry Transformed My Nursing Identity Mr. Sadeg Aldoaim

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Friday Knowledge Sessions #10
(2 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 3:30 – 4:00 PM “Seeing” the Wounded Body: Preparation, Interpretation, and Appropriation in Caritas Hermeneutic Phenomenology Dr. Wyona Freysteinson
• 4:00 – 4:30 PM Buxman’s Theory of Humor in Nursing: Bridging Tradition and Innovation Founder Karyn Buxman

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Friday Daily Discussion

Saturday, March 21, 2026

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Student Scholars Panel
-Moderator: Dr. Wyona Freysteinson
Panel Title – Contours of Becoming: Altered Reflections, Dreaming, and Transitional Phenomena toward Future Nursing Knowledge

This podium panel brings together four presentations tracing movement through disruption toward new configurations of purpose, identity, and knowing, drawing on Parse, Rogers, Meleis, and Freysteinson.

• 10:00 – 10:20 AM Altered Reflections: Postpartum Mirroring and Maternal Becoming Jaya Rijal
• 10:20 – 10:40 AM Dreaming as Pandimensional Knowing in Nursing Theory Misty McNabb
• 10:40 – 11:00 AM Future Nursing Knowledge Through the Study of Transitional Phenomena Faith Tissot
• 11:00 – 11:20 AM Reimagining Purpose After Disruption: Human Becoming as a Framework for Nursing Intervention Development Lisa Kelly
• 11:20 – 11:30 AM Panel Discussion

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Break

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Saturday Knowledge Sessions #1
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 12:00 – 12:30 PM Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge Development Through the Nursing-Situation-as-Caring-Moment (NurCaM) Theory Prof. Rudolf Cymorr Kirby Martinez
• 12:30 – 1:00 PM The Experience of Undergraduate Nursing Students of Caring Practices Using Bureaucratic Caring Model Dr. Seham Alselami
• 1:00 – 1:30 PM Embracing the Past to Improve Empathy in the Future: Substruction of Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory Dr. Christopher Barnes

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Saturday Knowledge Sessions #4
(2 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 1:45 – 2:15 PM Advancing the Knowledge Base with Critical Pedagogy Roger Carpenter
• 2:15 – 2:45 PM Krisis Theory: Parental Participation in Decision-Making in the PICU Dr. Lorena Sánchez-Rubio

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Break

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Saturday Keynote Address
Marsha Fowler, PhD, MDiv, MS, RN, FAAN

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Saturday Daily Discussion

Monday, March 23, 2026
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Monday Knowledge Sessions #1
(4 Presenters, 30 minutes each)

• 9:30 – 10:00 AM Connecting Metacognition to Flavell’s Theory Through the Lens of Nursing Education Mrs. Hannah Odei-Opoku
• 10:00 – 10:30 AM After Birth: How a Theory Grows Up Karen J. Foli
• 10:30 – 11:00 AM AI in Nursing Education: Fostering Moral Competence and Collective Moral Resilience Dr. Janet Delgado
• 11:00 – 11:30 AM Nursing Theoretical Literacy: Bridging Theory-Practice Gap for Knowledge Advancement Dr. Sijeng Peng

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Monday Knowledge Sessions #2
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 12:00 – 12:30 PM A Bachelor of Science in Nursing Anchored in Nursing Theories: From Theory to Practice Dr. Amélia Didier
• 12:30 – 1:00 PM Seeing the Unseen: A Framework for Experiential Learning in Diabetes Self-Care Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring Dr. Karen Carver
• 1:00 – 1:30 PM The Needle Intervention as a Compassionate Experience (N.I.C.E.) Conceptual Model RN Jennifer Bartowitz

1:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Monday Knowledge Sessions #3
(3 presenters — 30 minutes each)

• 1:45 – 2:15 PM Use of Social Media as a Strategy to Extend the Reach of Nursing Theory Dr. Jennifer Ohlendorf
• 2:15 – 2:45 PM Decolonizing the Nursing Profession: Reclaiming Knowledge, Autonomy, and Our Professional Identity Van Nguyen
• 2:45 – 3:15 PM Developing the Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice Value Model Jan Fulton

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Closing Panel

• 3:30 – 5:00 PM Dialogues on Fostering Nursing Praxis from the Beginning: The Future of Nursing Knowledge Development Richard Cowling (Moderator); Shelby Clark; Christina Nyirati

This important 5-day conference is a prime opportunity – particularly for students who are embarking on new career paths in nursing! The conference spans 5 days from March 19th – 23rd, offering maximum flexibility for attending sessions of your choice. The program details will be posted within the next week. So start planning now to clear your calendar! If you are involved with a graduate program in nursing as an instructor – make space for your students to participate! If you are a student, be alert that this conference can provide unmatched learning opportunities to enrich your program of study!

Why attend—and why invite your students?

• Strengthen doctoral identity as knowledge creators: Help PhD students deepen their identity as creators of nursing knowledge (not just consumers of theory), gaining language and confidence to locate their work within nursing’s disciplinary foundations.
• Bridge theory and practice: Discover fresh, concrete ways to help students ground DNP projects in nursing-specific frameworks.
• Model scholarly engagement: Attending with your students allows you to show them how nurse scholars interact—how to ask questions, join discussion groups, and learn directly from nurse theorists in a supportive community.
• Strengthen mentor–mentee relationships: Shared scholarly experiences remind students (and all of us) that nursing knowledge is built in relationship—across generations of scholars.
• Build community across borders: The virtual format creates global access and dialogue with nursing colleagues from across the country and around the world.
• Support doctoral student belonging: We are exploring the creation of a Doctoral Student Lounge—a welcoming space where doctoral students can meet peers, form new collegial relationships, and build the scholarly community they need to thrive.

VNTW has become a landmark gathering for those who care deeply about nursing knowledge development. I hope you’ll join us—and I hope you’ll bring your students into this community so they can experience what it means to become nursologists in practice, not just in theory.

Register here!

If you are suffering from Abstract Submission panic – never fear! You can relax! We are extending the due date to December 15th!

The theme for the conference is “The Future of Nursing Knowledge Development.” We expect this to be an especially interesting and thought- provoking conference, highlighting great ideas that will inspire us all goinv forward!

So head over to the submission information when you are ready, and prepare to share your ideas for the future!

Virtual Nursology Theory Week (VNTW) 2026 will be held on March 19 through 23, 2026 (Thursday to Monday). As in past years, we will have a full schedule with Panel Presentations, a closing Keynote, Knowledge Sessions: Podium and Poster, and Daily Discussions for 4 of the 5 days of the conference. You know you want to be at the VNTW, so register now and block your calendar so you do not miss a minute of the action. It will be a virtual conference, as we have done every year since 2021. Registration enables you to attend as much or as little of the conference as you would like. The all-in-one fee of $200 covers everything, including our new mobile app (more details on that as we get closer to the conference date).

Click here to register!

In addition to registration being open, so is the Call for Abstracts! While we have some invited speakers, the majority of the VNTW is presented by people like you! Each year we have over 40 different Knowledge Sessions, both podium and poster. I am amazed at the variety, depth, and quality of the sessions that are presented and I am sure this year will be no exception. Put on your thinking cap (or maybe it is on already) and submit an abstract to be an integral part of this exciting conference.

Click here to access the Call for Abstracts site!

The Call for Abstracts will be open from now until December 1, 2025. Presenters will be notified of the decision on their abstract by December 23, 2025 and must confirm participation by January 10, 2026. 

We have a new system for submitting an abstract, so please take some time to review it. One great feature is that you can begin a submission, save it, and come back to finish it later–just don’t forget to finish or you won’t be in the system! In this new system, you will need to create your login information and upload your photo (or any image ou want to use as your identity in the system).

Abstracts are limited to 300 words and musts align with the theme of the conference: The Future of Nursing Knowledge Development. This reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a progressive and inclusive future for the development of discipline-specific nursing knowledge via various methods of scholarly inquiry. Abstracts should focus on innovative approaches to the conference theme. If you have presented at the VNTW in the past 5 years, please update your content, align your content with this year’s theme, and/or present on a new topic. 

As a reminder, all presenters must register to attend the conference. Notice that we have “one stop shopping” so you can take care of both things, abstract and registration, at the same time. Our goal is to make everything as easy as possible for you!

The dates are set – so start planning now!! We will announce the theme, focus article and other planning details soon, but meanwhile, your planning starts with reserving the dates and clearing other activities so you can attend!!

From Jacqueline Fawcett

On Monday, March 24th, I will be joined by my Iranian colleague, Akram Sadat Sadat Hoseini, for a presentation of Conceptual Models of Nursology: Two Iranian Perspectives

Our presentation comes at a time when our discipline is increasing interest in conceptual perspectives beyond those of White, Euro-centric nursologists.
The purpose of our presentation is to share the content of two distinctive nursology conceptual models that are based on Iranian knowledge—Sadat Hoseini’s Islamic Nursing Conceptual Framework and Nikfarid’s Human as an Embodied Spirit.

Sadat Hoseini will present her conceptual model and Fawcett will present Nikfarid’s conceptual model, as Lida Nikfarid died in 2023.

These two Iranian nursology conceptual models represent a distinctive cultural perspective of nursology undergirded by Iranian knowledge. Both of these conceptual models are rooted in an Islamic perspective that emphasizes human transcendences.

These two Iranian nursology conceptual models represent a decolonization of nursology knowledge in that they comprise concepts familiar to Iranians thereby enriching global nursology knowledge.

Respecting and articulating the knowledge of all cultures avoids privileging Euro-centric perspectives, which should improve cultural humility and cultural-sensitive patient care.

Marie Gill, Ph.D., MSN, MS, RN
Associate Professor and
Director of the Dr. Margaret A. Newman
Center for Nursing Theory

In October 2022, shortly after I was hired as the Director of the Dr. Margaret A. Newman Center for Nursing Theory (Newman Center) at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN, I began speaking with students and faculty colleagues about the Newman Center and the vital role that nursing theory plays in practice. Both faculty and students shared their experiences and understanding of theory which varied from theory support and appreciation to exploration and apprehension.

Faculty and students who received nursing theory education from enthusiastic and theory passionate instructors early on in their training expressed the practicality of theory use in nursing practice. They shared examples of specific nursing theories that were observed in nursing practice, particularly in specialty practice areas. Faculty and students who were less enthusiastic about nursing theory typically did not fully appreciate the practicality of theory and how it provides a critical lens to guide nursing practice. Our candid conversations inspired me to begin building a community of nursing theory champions within our college of nursing. To build theory champions, I realized that I would need to connect with a larger community of established nursing theory enthusiasts and nursologists. During my quest, I found Nursology.net and the Virtual Nursing Theory Week conference and realized that I had identified an alliance of nursing theory enthusiasts and nursologists representatives from local to global.

During my first year as director in 2023, I arranged for the Newman Center to pay registration costs for three students and three faculty to attend the VNTW conference. Following the conference, I meet with the students and faculty to discuss what they learned and their general feedback about the conference. Their comments were overwhelmingly positive about their experiences and what they learned about the importance of nursing theory in building epistemic nursing knowledge. Moreover, the students and faculty expressed how they had come to appreciate the use of nursing theory to guide nursing practice. Since 2023, the Newman Center has sponsored students and faculty to attend the VNTW conference to network with nursologists from around the world. I have learned from my students and colleagues that the VNTW conference provides a brave space for learners from novice to expert to discuss the role of nursing theory and how to apply it in practice, research, and education.

As Director of the Newman Center, I continue to encourage my students and colleagues to participate in the conference as attendees and presenters. Both students and colleagues of mine have presented their work at the 2024 VNTW. This 2025 VNTW is no exception. The Newman Center will sponsor one student and one faculty member to attend the conference. Moreover, I will join two colleagues to present their work in nursing theory integration in a maternal child nursing course. To that end, I believe that encouraging my students and fellow colleagues to participate in the VNTW conference is crucial to building a community of nursing theory champions and nursologists from local to global.

Like VNTW conferences of the past, this year’s conference promises to be intellectually invigorating. Participants and presenters will navigate discussions about the decolonization of nursing education in a way that allows everyone to ask questions, propose new ideas, clarify understanding, and grow as nursing theory champions with a wider perspective of how to honor our past and forge ahead a transformative path to healing and an expanding consciousness.

From Lucinda Canty

Yesterday, I was in the presence of nursing royalty, Dean Roberta Waite, EdD, PMHCNS, ANEF, FADLN, FAAN (top left) and Dr. Kechi Iheduru-Anderson,EdD, DNP, RN, CNE, CWCN. (centered below)

We are planning for the Opening Panel for 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week, March 20-24. The theme is Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge. We are planning for the opening plenary, Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 10 AM EDT! This session is titled “Decolonizing Nursing Education: Embracing Freire’s Pedagogy for an Inclusive Future.” I will be the moderator, and the panelists will be Dr. Waite and Dr. Iheduru-Anderson, the authors of the conference featured article that sets the stage for the conference theme.

Here is the link to the article, which is free to download throughout February and March:

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183.

Download the article today! We are asking everyone to read it before our session on March 20th to get the most out of our discussion!

We are delighted to announce that the publisher of Nursing Outlook has made the featured article for our 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week available for free download through the months of February and March! Use the DOI link below, the click on “Download PDF” that appears along the bottom of the page!

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183 (free to download Feb-Mar 2025)

This article lays the groundwork for the conference theme, which is  Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge. This theme reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a future for nursing knowledge development that embraces historically marginalized knowledge systems and experiences. 

So download your copy of the article! Register for the 5-day virtual conference, and mark your calendar and plan to participate as much as you can!

Registration Information

Registration for the 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week (VNTW) is now open! The fee for the 5-day virtual event is $189! The conference will follow the traditions of the past few years – plenary sessions on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, along with 30-minute “knowledge sessions” based on your abstracts! Each day will end with open “daily dialogues” among all participants!

This year’s conference theme, Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge, reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a progressive and inclusive future in nursing. The inspiration of the conference theme is based on Iheduru-Anderson and Waite’s paper published in 2024 –

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183

You can register for yourself, for yourself and a friend/colleague, or you can register for yourself and contribute the registration fee for a scholarship applicant! Here is the handy online Registration form