Strategic Policy Approaches to Advancing Interdisciplinary Nursing Research: Challenges and directions for systemic change

Abstract

As a response to the complex demands of contemporary health systems, interdisciplinary research has been a central strategy in the development of nursing practice, education, and scholarship in Iran. Despite being pivotal, the advancement of interdisciplinary research in nursing is impeded by a lack of enduring institutional infrastructure and restricted faculty capacity to perform successful cross-disciplinary collaboration. 

Nursing's four pillars education, clinical practice, research, and leadership/management are significant opportunities for strengthening its interdisciplinary nature. Each pillar overlaps naturally with adjacent disciplines, including educational sciences, psychology, health sociology, ethics, and public policy. The "Four-Season-Symphony" conceptual model of intellectuality, spirituality, ethics, and aesthetics provides both philosophical justification and practical guidance for integrating interdisciplinary perspectives into nursing research. The model promotes a richer epistemological understanding of nursing.

To implement this vision, we recommend revising academic and research policies in all medical universities to highlight building interdisciplinary competencies among nursing faculty. Approaches include establishing interschool research centers that transcend faculties, developing interdisciplinary curricula for academics, initiating targeted research funding for interdisciplinary projects, revising faculty promotion criteria to recognize interdisciplinary work, and establishing international research partnerships. Collectively, these measures will facilitate innovative, impactful nursing scholarship and its contribution to interdisciplinary health research.