On 25 March, the ceremony for the fifth edition of the Vila Saborit Foundation Nursing Research Awards took place in the Auditorium on the Sant Cugat Campus at UIC Barcelona. The event was presided by Dr Cristina Monforte, director of the Department of Nursing and vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at UIC Barcelona. 

This year’s edition, the first held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, received a total of 10 entries in the category of final master’s degree projects and six in the category of doctoral theses. In the category of final master’s degree projects, the first-place award went to Sofía Jeannine Montenegro for her project “Process of adaptation of adolescent sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic: A grounded theory-based proposal”. The second-place prize was awarded for the project “Implementation of improvements in inter-professional cooperation in an Intensive Care Unit through participatory action research”, presented by Maria Pérez, while third place went to the research project submitted by Sandra Liz, entitled “Emergency nursing experiences in the care of terminally ill patients at the end of life”.

In the doctoral thesis category, the first-place award went to the research presented by Dr Silvia Bleda, entitled “Professional values among nursing students”. Dr Ariadna Huertas received the runner-up award for her thesis “Understanding reproductive decision-making in women with HIV, a challenge in improving care”, while the third-place award went to the research project “Advances in mHealth: Positive mental health intervention for the carers of people with chronic disease”, by Dr Jael Lorca.

The award ceremony featured a jury made up of Dani Regaña, director of Projects and Continuous Improvement at the Sagrat Cor University Hospital; Dr Paola Galbany, president of the Official Nurses’ Association of Barcelona; Dr Cristina Monforte; Dr Nuria Obrador, from the University of Manresa; and Dr Margarita García de Vicuña, from Blanquerna-URL. 

As in previous editions, the projects were assessed by a jury of experts comprised of holders of a PhD in Nursing from the various Catalan universities that offer degrees in Nursing, as well as members of Catalan care institutions such as the Official Nurses’ Association of Barcelona.