Greetings from Nancy Murphy. I am on a quest to bring together Critical Feminist Nurse Action Researchers and others who are interested in Critically Focused Action Research and Health Care.  After attending the Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA) Conference (its 4^th) last year in Knoxville, TN and speaking with people in leadership, I decided to initiate and facilitate a Health Care – Action Research Community within ARNA.  Action Research Communities (ARCs) are ways for members to create small but active groups of people who want to share resources, strategies, practices and ideas around a specific topic.  They are established as the needs and interests of ARNA members evolve.

I have long been interested in action research and I am hoping the Health Care ARC will become a resource for nurses and others who are doing/who are interested in health care related critical participatory research.  Over the years, I have found it challenging to locate and network with nursing action researchers.   I attended the Critical and Feminist Perspectives in Nursing Conferences back in the ’90s & early ’00s and more recently the, In Sickness and in Health Conference, where I have had opportunities to meet with critical nursing scholars and researchers, some of whom are doing various kinds of action research.  However, there is an absence of a central resource in North America for Nursing/Health Care action researchers and I am hoping the ARNA Health Care ARC will serve to fill this void.

Since September 2016, I have slowly been contacting nursing  faculty at various universities who I know conduct critical participatory research or who may know others who are doing health care related action research, to see if they might be interested in learning more about the Health Care ARC.  It is slow going, but very rewarding to reach out and begin to make connections.  To date I have been in touch with about a dozen nursing researchers in the US and Canada, to share information about ARNA, the Health Care ARC, the upcoming ARNA conference and the exciting possibility of developing this ARC further.  Several folks have expressed great interest.

I will be heading for Cartagena, Columbia in June to the 5^th ARNA conference “Democratization of Knowledge: New Convergences for Reconciliation.”  I am very much looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to meet new folks, connect with those I met last year, and make future plans.  I am hopeful that over time the Health Care ARC will bloom and will become a community of ideas, strategies and action to support social justice work and improve the health of all beings!  Will be back to report post conference and keep you updated on the ARNA Health Care ARC.  Please email me and be in touch if you would like to hear more.