Demystifying research

As a first-year student at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Destiny Stephen already knew she wanted to go to graduate school. But she never expected that scientific research would become part of her journey. 

“If you had asked me when I came to college if I would do research, I would have said no way, it’s not for me,” she said. “But I’m very happy with the path I’m on right now.” 

Now a junior, Destiny has completed a two-year research project and presented it at a national conference. She’s also the incoming president of Loyola Nursing’s Undergraduate Nursing Research Council (UNRC), a student organization that provides advice and support to the school’s youngest nurse scientists.   

UNRC gives motivated students a chance to design their own nursing research projects under the guidance of a faculty mentor. It’s a way to demystify the sometimes-intimidating research process and introduce undergraduates to the many career paths within nursing, according to faculty advisors. 

Professor Ann Solari-Twadell, the organization’s faculty sponsor, encouraged Destiny to join as a way explore research as a pathway to an advanced degree.  

Now, Solari-Twadell said, Destiny is an example of the program’s success: “She developed her own research project and took on leadership roles within the UNRC. She grew as a nurse and as a leader.”   

Destiny selected her research topic the summer after her first year, one that was an ongoing topic of conversation among her peers: birth control and its impact on their lives. 

Associate Professor Mary Byrn, her UNRC faculty mentor, guided her through every step of the research process, from an initial literature review to developing questions for her 14 interview subjects. A grant from the Loyola Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (LUROP) funded Destiny’s work, which focused on Black college-aged individuals, a population typically overlooked in birth control research. 

Participants described the unexpected effects of taking birth control, both positive and negative, and how they coped with those side effects.  

One surprise finding: Mothers were often very involved in their daughters’ decisions to obtain birth control, driving them to appointments and helping them navigate insurance complexities, especially for out-of-state students trying to fill prescriptions. 

“Mom was a very big advocate for them, and a primary source of support for a lot of our participants,” Destiny said.  

She presented her findings in poster presentations at Loyola Nursing’s annual Ruth K. Palmer Research Symposium in March 2025 and at the Midwest Nursing Research Society 2025 conference. 

Byrn said many undergraduate nursing students don’t realize how important research is to improving health care practices and are nervous about launching their own research project. 

Seeing their own scientific study through to completion is transformative. 

“It helps them see their potential and gives them confidence in themselves,” Byrn said. “It also helps them stand out in job interviews and graduate school applications.”  

Destiny, who wants to earn a health care-focused MBA and a PhD in nursing, said her undergraduate project has given her a solid foundation for her academic future.  

It’s also helped her see the practical applications of scientific inquiry, especially after starting clinicals and seeing how evidence-based research can lead to improvements in patient care.  

“Research changes your perspective on what you’re doing,” she added. “You realize when you’re doing certain protocols that you’re not doing things just because somebody told me to. You understand why, and you understand that new research can lead to change or reevaluate how we do things.” 

By Ashley Rowland

April 2025