College of Nursing and Health Sciences DNP Defense - Stephanie Bettencourt
College of Nursing and Health Sciences DNP Defense – Stephanie Bettencourt
Title: The Impact of an Educational Intervention on Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners’ and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialists’ Knowledge and Confidence to Prescribe Esketamine
DNP Student: Stephanie Bettencourt
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Time: 3:00PM
ZOOM: dhoffman@umassd.edu
Committee:
Dr. Christine Saba Rezendes, DNP, AGCNP-BC, ACNS-BC
Dr. Valerie Seney, PhD, MA, LMHC, PMHNP-BC
Dr. Gulcan Bagcivan, PhD, RN
Abstract
Recurrent depressive episodes and suicidality remain a major issue in the psychiatric field, despite current treatment options. Suicide remains the tenth leading cause of death in ages fifteen to thirty-four in the United States (Mann, J.J., et al., 2021). Oral medications can often be ineffective, leading to Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) (U.S.N.L.M., 2024). A relatively new N-methyl-D-asparte (NMDA) receptor antagonist, esketamine, has demonstrated an ability to rapidly reduce symptoms with minimal side effects, and produce faster recovery periods in those with TRD (Hannan & Kennedy, 2022; Mann, J. J., et al., 2021). This DNP scholarly project aims to address the lack of knowledge and confidence regarding esketamine, by implementing an online educational intervention regarding the NDMA receptor antagonist esketamine. The educational intervention was provided to a convenience sampling of Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialists with full prescriptive authority in New England. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test comparison was used to analyze pre and post intervention self-rated levels of knowledge and confidence collected from pre and post surveys after completion of recorded educational intervention. Self-rated pre-intervention knowledge levels (Mdn= 2.00, M=2.87) were noted as significantly lower than self-rated post-intervention knowledge levels (Mdn= 5.00, M=5.73). Self-rated pre-intervention confidence levels (Mdn= 1.00, M=2.27) were noted as significantly lower than self-rated post-intervention knowledge levels (Mdn= 5.00, M=4.73). Results obtained illustrate a positive effect from implementation of an educational intervention regarding increasing knowledge and confidence of esketamine and potential increase in future treatment utilization.
ZOOM
Deanna Hoffman
dhoffman@umassd.edu