Los Angeles Times article relies on nursing scholar, but fails to identify her as doctorally prepared, even though it so identifies non-nurse researcher

April 21, 2003 -- An article by Shari Roni in today's Los Angeles Times describes recent studies suggesting that calcium may help teens control their weight, relying on quotes and the work of Creighton University's Joan Lappe, RN, Ph.D. The piece notes that girls and women need calcium to maintain bone health and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, yet many adolescents shun dairy products that contain calcium because of the common misperception that they cause weight gain. So the studies by Dr. Lappe and the other researchers described in the article could be valuable tools in persuading teens to get the calcium they need.

The media should identify nurses as being doctorally prepared when it does so for other scholars. Failure to identify nursing scholars in this way may reinforce mistaken assumptions that nursing education does not extend to the doctoral level. The result could be to discourage the best and brightest students from entering the field.

See Shari Roni's article "More calcium may help teens control weight" in the Los Angeles Times.

See more on why nurse experts should be identified by their Ph.D.'s.