Minnesota Nursing Magazine Spring/Summer 2012 - School of ...

Mary Benbenek, PhD, MS, RN, FNP, PNP
benbe001@umn.edu
• Immigrant health
• Adolescent health
• Bone health
nursing research
research
“Nurses need to see patients in the
context of their own lives.”
The need to understand the cultural aspects of health issues has
informed her nursing practice. “I’ve gravitated to community clinics
because I like working with a diverse clientele and learning about
different styles of life,” says Benbenek, who coordinates the family
nurse practitioner DNP specialty at the School of Nursing.
focus on bone health
In 2000, Benbenek was working at a Minneapolis community
clinic where 85 percent of the patients were immigrants from
East Africa. She noticed that many women reported symptoms of
myositis, or muscle inflammation, and osteomalacia, or inadequate
mineralization of the bone, conditions associated with
vitamin D deficiency.
This observation led Benbenek, then a doctoral candidate in the
School of Nursing, to focus her dissertation research on bone health
in Somali women. Because adolescence is the peak period for bone
development, she organized a series of focus groups with teenage
Somali girls in Minneapolis and Owatonna to identify enablers and
barriers to bone health.
Benbenek found that the girls were at risk for diminished bone
health because of current dietary and physical activity practices.
Traditional dress, which limits sunlight exposure, was also a factor.
These findings suggested the need to work within the Somali
community to develop culturally appropriate health campaigns
that would address these issues.
pre- and post-natal education
More recently, Benbenek has turned her attention to pre- and
post-natal education for East African women. Her interest in this
area developed while she was doing developmental screening
for infants and children in the day care center at the East African
Women’s Center (EAWC). “The mothers were asking a lot of general
questions about women’s health,” she says. “When staff did an
impromptu verbal survey, it was discovered that many had not
attended pre-natal classes or received pre-natal care until late in
their pregnancies.”
Because they were new to the country, the women didn’t
understand what happened during clinic visits, and they were
frightened by the thought of giving birth in a hospital. “They were
completely overwhelmed, and they didn’t know how to ask for
what they needed,” Benbenek says.
culturally appropriate education
Funding from the Community Collaborative Grants Program of the
Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University
supports Benbenek and EAWC director Doroth Mayer, to develop a
culturally and linguistically appropriate education program. CTSI
grants provide support for pilot research that involves communityuniversity
collaboration and addresses important issues identified
by the community.
Benbenek and Mayer used the PRECEDE-PROCEED model as their
conceptual framework. This model is based on the idea that just as
a medical diagnosis must precede a treatment plan, an educational
diagnosis must precede an intervention plan. In other words, says
Benbenek, “we needed to find out what the women wanted to
know and how they liked to learn. We also needed to understand
cultural and religious taboos.”
listening to the women
Benbenek and Mayer organized a series of “talking circles” at the
center with the help of ESL teacher Angie Huff and staff members
Kali Ali and Komossee Toure. Benbenek also received assistance
from School of Nursing colleagues Melissa Avery, PhD, RN, CNM,
FACNM, FAAN, and Karin Larson RN, MS, CNM.
Participating women said they wanted to learn more about basic
reproductive health, the stages of pregnancy, nutrition, exercise,
labor and delivery, the kinds of tests they might undergo during
pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding. “Mary was genuinely
interested in what the women wanted, and they responded very
warmly,” says Mary Nelson, MN, PHN ’11, who assisted Benbenek
with the project.
Although the EAWC recently closed due to lack of funding, the
project continues. Using what she learned during the talking circles,
Benbenek, with project members, will now create an educational
program to meet the needs of East African women.
a wonderful role model
In addition to her research, Benbenek teaches courses and
practicums in the areas of primary care and pharmacology. She also
serves as clinical professor for students in the Doctor of Nursing
Practice (DNP) program who are preparing to be family nurse
practitioners. Students work with her for one or two semesters at
the Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC), where she
is on the clinical staff.
At CUHCC, which provides primary care services to children and
low-income families in South Minneapolis, the DNP students focus
on assessment and patient management skills. Amelia Aldrich, a
second-year DNP student, who currently works with Benbenek at
CUHCC notes, “Mary has taught me to look at the entire picture,
to see patients in the context of their own lives, and to be mindful
with every treatment decision I make,” Aldrich says. “She’s a
wonderful role model.”
spring/summer 2012 19