Mount Saint Mary College Nursing alumnae Elizabeth Scannell-Desch ’72, PhD, RN, OCNS, FAAN and her twin sister, Mary Ellen Doherty ’72, PhD, RN, CNM, will present “Journey to a Book: Women’s Journeys to Posttraumatic Growth” on Tuesday, April 23 at 9 a.m.
The talk, based on the sisters’ 2023 book Women’s Journeys to Posttraumatic Growth: A Guide for the Helping Professions and Women Who Have Experienced Trauma, will take place at the Mount’s Dominican Center Café on campus, 330 Powell Ave., Newburgh, N.Y.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required by Wednesday, April 17. To register, visit www.msmc.edu/Journey
During the presentation, Scannell-Desch and Doherty will:
- Define the theoretical framework of Posttraumatic Growth (PTG);
- Present content of four Nursing research studies as exemplars of PTG, including widows, women who have lost a child, those who have themselves had a brush with death, and those who have survived partner abuse;
- Define and discuss methodological parameters of these research studies; and
- Disseminate Nursing and other Healthcare Provider Implications of PTG
The event will culminate with a question and answer session as well as a book signing.
In addition to Women’s Journeys to Posttraumatic Growth, the twins have co-authored two additional books: Nurses in War: Voices from Iraq and Afghanistan (2012) and Nurses after War: The Reintegration Experience of Nurses Returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars (2016).
Scannell-Desch, currently a research consultant at Thomas Jefferson University’s School of Nursing, is the retired associate dean of Rutgers University’s School of Nursing, the former director of Graduate and Undergraduate Nursing at Adelphi University’s Hudson Valley Center, and the former chairperson of Nursing Programs at the Mount. She holds the tenured rank of Professor at Rutgers University and the Mount. Scannell-Desch retired from the US Air Force Nurse Corps in 1997, after serving on active duty for 25 years. She attained the rank of Colonel and her last assignment was at the Pentagon. As an educator and researcher, she has more than 30 data-based publications in national and international peer-reviewed nursing journals and has been the recipient of nine research grants. She has presented her research all over the U.S. and abroad. Scannell-Desch was awarded the Sustained Professional Achievement Award from the New York State Nurses Foundation and the Rita Kopf Memorial Research Award and grant from the NY State Nurses Foundation.
Doherty is a professor in the Nursing Department at Western Connecticut State University. She teaches across the curriculum in undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral nursing courses. Most of her career has been spent in clinical practice as a Certified Nurse-Midwife in Massachusetts. She was the founder and president of Concord Midwifery Associates with delivery privileges at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. Doherty was recently given the distinction of being named a Fellow in the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2020. Before becoming a nurse-midwife, she was a family nurse practitioner and maternal-newborn clinical nurse specialist. She has presented research extensively throughout the United States and internationally. She was honored as a Luminary at the University of Rhode Island where she received her PhD in nursing research. She is also an expert witness for the legal system and a peer reviewer for four nursing journals.