Contact Information

Biography

Dr. Rebecca Kronk joined Duquesne University School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor in August 2010, earned tenure in 2016 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2022. She is a board certified pediatric nurse practitioner. Dr. Kronk earned her MSN from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and a PhD in Applied Development Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Education.

Dr. Kronk was a fellow in the Maternal and Child Health Training program providing leadership and education in neurodevelopmental disabilities and autism (LEND) at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kronk has been in the field of pediatric nursing for over 40 years and she is experienced in helping children and families with a range of developmental issues. She has enjoyed combining clinical work with teaching and research. The theoretical framework of her research has been based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health published by the World Health Organization. Dr. Kronk has conducted several research studies on the sleep patterns of children with Fragile X syndrome and developmental functioning of children in the FXS gray zone alleles. Her ongoing research has focused on undergraduate educational interventions to promote learning in genetics and caring for people with disabilities.

Post-graduate education has occurred at the National Institutes of Health and included:

2015 National Human Genome Research Institute Summer Workshop in Genomics
2014 NINR Big Data Methodologies Boot Camp
2013 NINR Sleep Methodologies Boot Camp
2011 NINR Summer Genetics Institute
While at Duquesne, Dr. Kronk has applied her expertise in pediatrics and genetics to both graduate and undergraduate course; she has also accompanied nursing students to Nicaragua for a service learning experience and provided the emphasis on the nursing care of children. She developed the undergraduate course Genetics in Nursing and Health.

Dr. Kronk was the first recipient, along with her colleague, Dr. Yvonne Weideman, of the Gaultier Fellowship for community-engaged scholarship. She also received the 2012-2013 Teacher of the Year Award, the 2014 Cameos of Caring - Nurse Educator Award and the 2022 Duquesne Universtity School of Nursing Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award.

TRAINEESHIPS-FELLOWSHIPS-APPOINTMENTS
2018 - Present
Fellow in the American Academy of Nurses (FAAN)
2018 - Present
ANA Scope and Standards of Practice Intellectual and Developmental Nursing Work Group
2016 - 2017
Emerging Educational Administrator Institute Scholar Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Inc. (EEAI-STTI)
2016 - 2017
AACN Leadership for Academic Nursing Program Fellow (LANP)
1998 - 1999
Leadership in Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Fellow

Education

PhD, Applied Developmental Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 2008
MSN, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, University of Pittsburgh, 1999
BSN, Nursing, Carlow College, 1981
RN, Diploma-RN, St Francis Hospital, 1978

Expertise

  • Genetic Literacy
  • Genetic education in nursing students
  • Vaccine refusal and the nurse's role
  • Health outcomes of nursing students
  • Sleep in children with special needs
  • Photovoice
  • Health care and people with disabilities

Profile Information

About

2018 - 2019
Nurses' Perspectives on Patient Dismissal after Parental Refusal of Recommended Childhood Immunizations, Principal Investigator

2017 - 2018
Using a Delphi study to develop consensus on disability related competencies for BSN curriculum, Principal Investigator

2016 - 2019
Healthy Nursing Students 2020: A Prospective Cohort Study

2015 - 2019
Experiences and Perceptions of Postpartum Women with Substance Use Disorders Inclusive of Opioids Regarding Their Care, Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2014 - 2016
Investigating a Newly Developed Genetics Course and Acquisition of Genetic and Genomic Nursing Competencies, Principal Investigator

2014 - 2016
Mastery Learning Theory: Assessing the Impact of an Innovative Approach to Educating Nurses to Clinical Competence, Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2014 - 2015
Assessing Distress Levels of Refugee Women to Provide Insight for Enhanced Psychosocial Interventions Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2013 - 2014
Comparing Two Teaching Strategies: Simulation of Newborn Assessment vs, In-Class Instruction, Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2012 - 2013
Investigating the lived experience of grandparents raising their grandchildren, Principal Investigator

2012 - 2013
Nursing and Healthcare in Nicaragua-what is the impact on undergraduate nursing students' personal, professional and cultural development? Co-Investigator

2012 - 2013
Increasing Healthy Nutritional and Physical Activity Behavior Changes Through a WIC Educational Intervention, Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2011 - 2013
What is the Cultural Climate among Faculty, Students, and Staff within the School of Nursing at Duquesne University? Co-Investigator

2011 - 2012
Effect of an Educational Intervention on Nurse Knowledge and Attitude with Discharge Instruction in Children Following Mild to Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury, Faculty Advisor & Dissertation Chair

2009 - 2016
Fragile X Clinical and Research Consortium Registry, Co-Investigator

2008 - 2013
Developmental functioning of children in the FXS gray zone alleles, Co-Investigator

2006 - 2013
Sleep Patterns in children with fragile x syndrome, Principal Investigator

2005 - 2016
Fragile X syndrome registry, Co-Investigator

Grants Awarded 

Edith Tress Foundation

The purpose of this project is to continue a summer theater camp for youth with disabilities that will provide training on how to act in healthcare scenarios that can be applied to the standardized patient role plus gain confidence in communication skills and self-advocacy.
Principal Investigator
2020 - 2021
$30,000

Hearst Foundation Grant
Funds will support the research and development of an undergraduate simulation program that will incorporate standardized patients with disabilities into the curriculum-learning environment to provide equitable, competent, evidence-based care to patients with disabilities.
Principal Investigator
2018 - 2021
$100,000

Edith Tress Foundation

The purpose of this project is to create a summer theater camp for youth with disabilities that will provide training on how to act in healthcare scenarios that can be applied to the standardized patient role plus gain confidence in communication skills and self-advocacy.
Principal Investigator
2019 - 2020
$25,000

Edith Tress Foundation
The purpose of this project is to advance nursing education in the care of children with disabilities and their families by establishing a standardized patient simulation program.
Principal Investigator
2018 - 2019
$25,000

Faculty Development Grant Fund Award
Nurses' Perspectives on Patient Dismissal after Parental Refusal of Childhood Immunizations"
Co-Investigator
2018 - 2019
$7,702

FISA Foundation
The purpose of this project is to advance nursing education in the care of people with disabilities. We will partner with Heinz Foundation and United Way to create a digital learning tool based on the Wrongs to Rights Heinz History Museum archives.
Co-Investigator
Fall, 2017 - 2018
$25,000

Center for Community Engaged Research and Teaching Pathways Grant
"Healthy Communities: Health Happens Where we Live, Work & Play"
Co-Investigator
Spring 2016 to Spring 2020
$12,000

Center for Nursing Research Faculty Research Grant, Duquesne University
Are Children with Fragile X Losing their Zzzz's and Y? Part 2
Principal Investigator
May, 2011 to December, 2012
$5000.00

Gaultier Faculty Fellows for Service Learning, Duquesne University
Using Photovoice Methodology to Understand the Lived Experience of Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren
Co-PI
Fall, 2012 to Spring, 2013
$10,000

Publications - Last 5 years

Kronk, R., Colbert, A., Smeltzer, S., & Blunt, E. (2019). Development of prelicensure nursing competencies in caring for people with disabilities through Delphi methodology. Nurse Educator, DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000712.

Concilio, L., Lockhart, J. S., Oermann, M. H., Kronk, R., & Schreiber, J. B. (2019). Newly Licensed Nurse Resiliency and Interventions to Promote Resiliency in the First Year of Hire: An Integrative Review. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 50(4), 153-161.

Felsman, I., Humphreys, J., & Kronk, R., (2019). Measuring distress levels of refugee women to enhance community based psycho-social interventions. Mental Health Nursing. DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2018.1543744

Chan, T., Lockhart, J. S., Thomas, A., Kronk, R., & Schreiber, J. (Submitted May 2019). An integrative review of nurse practitioner practice and its relationship to the core competencies. Journal of Professional Nursing.

Alexander, K., Kronk, R., Sekula, K., Short, V., & Abatemarco, D. (2019). Implementation of a mindfulness intervention with women in treatment for opioid use disorder. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2019.1585499

Lengetti, E., Wilf, K., Murphy, D., Rosanelli, M., Ulmer, K., Taylor, A., & Kronk, R. (2018). An innovative approach to educating nurses to clinical competence: A randomized controlled trial. Nurse Education in Practice.

Kramlich, D., Kronk, R., Marcellis, L., Colbert, A., & Jakub, K. (2018). Rural postpartum women with substance use disorders. Qualitative Health Research, 28 (9). 1449-1461.

Kronk, R., Lengetti, E., & Colbert, A. (2018). Assessment of Competency-based undergraduate course on genetics and genomics. Nurse Educator, 43 (4), 201-205.

Felsman, I., Humphreys, J., & Kronk, R., (Submitted April 2018). Measuring distress levels of refugee women to enhance community based psycho-social interventions. Mental Health Nursing.

Alexander, K., Kronk, R., Sekula, K., Short, V., & Abatemarco, D. (Submitted April 2018). The effect of a mindfulness intervention on the depression symptoms of women in treatment for an opioid use disorder. Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Lengetti, E., Wilf, K., Murphy, D., Rosanelli, M., Ulmer, K., Taylor, A., & Kronk, R. (Submitted February 2018). An innovative approach to educating nurses to clinical competence. Nurse Education in Practice.

Kramlich, D., Kronk, R., Marcellis, L., Colbert, A., & Jakub, K. (Accepted February 2018). Rural postpartum women with substance use disorders. Qualitative Health Research.

Kronk, R., Lengetti, E., & Colbert, A. (2017). Making it meaningful: Assessment of a competency based undergraduate course on genetic and genomics. Nurse Educator. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000443

Kramlich, D., Kronk, R., & Jakub, K. (2017). Challenges and Facilitators of recruitment: Lessons learned from conducting a focused ethnography in a vulnerable rural population. The Qualitative Report, 22(3). 818-830. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol22/iss3/9

Kramlich, D., & Kronk, R. (2015). Relational care for perinatal substance use disorder: A systematic review. The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 40 (5): 320-6.

Bassell, J., Phan, H., Leu, R., Kronk, R., & Visootsak, J. (2015) Sleep profiles in a clinical sample of children with Down syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics, DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.37096.

Kronk, R., Weideman, Y., Cunningham, L., & Resick, L. (2015) Capturing student transformation from a global service learning experience: The efficacy of photo-elicitation as a qualitative research method. Journal of Nursing Education, 54 (9), S99-S102.

Lengetti, E., Cantrell, M. A., Dean, B., & Kronk, R. (Submitted July, 2015). A theory analysis of mastery learning and self-regulation. Journal of Theory Construction and Testing.

Kronk, R., & Weideman, Y. (2014). Use of photovoice to integrate a community-engaged scholarship model of research into an undergraduate clinical nursing course. Journal of Nursing Education, 53 (9), S114-117.

Book Chapters - Last 5 years
Kronk, R. & Filipink, R. Sleep in Fragile X Syndrome (invited 2015). In Sleep in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. Springer.

Kronk, R. and Dorman, J (2010) Fragile X syndrome. In Nursing Care for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities : An Integrated Approach. Brookes. Baltimore.

Scholarly Presentations - Last 5 years
Kronk, R.
, & Messick, C. (May, 2015) Genetic Preparation for Health Care Professionals: LEND Model. NYMAC Summit 2015: Partners in Genetic Journeys: Building Systems of Care Together, Baltimore, MD. (Invited; Regional)

Dostillio, L., Kronk, R., Quinones, S., & Conti, N. (March, 2015). Common Ground, Diverse Voices, Community-Engaged Research and Generative Knowledge in Social Science. Society for Applied Anthropology, Pittsburgh PA. (Competitive review, International)

Kronk, R. (December, 2014). Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Office of Child Development, Early Childhood Partnerships, Pittsburgh PA. (Invited, Regional)

Kronk, R. (November, 2014). Neurodevelopmental Diagnoses and Functioning of Children with FMR1 Gene Alleles in the Grey Zone. ISONG Conference, San Antonio TX. (Accepted-not presented; competitive review; International)

2018 - Present Fellow in the American Academy of Nurses (FAAN)

2016-2017 Emerging Educational Administrator Institute Scholar Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Inc. (EEAI-STTI)

2016-2017 AACN Leadership for Academic Nursing Program Fellow (LANP)

2016-2017 AACN Jonas Scholar Advisor

2015 Recipient of the Faculty Friend Award, presented by the Office of Residence Life, Duquesne University, for providing multiple educational programs to the Living and Learning Centers

2014 Recipient of the Cameos of Caring - Nurse Educator Award, Duquesne, presented at the 16th Annual Celebration of Nursing Awards Gala sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh at the David L Lawrence Convention Center.

2012-2013 Recipient of Teacher of the Year Award annual event sponsored by the Duquesne Chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, The National Leadership Honor Society