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Alumnus Caleb Armstrong Earns PhD in Nursing

The ����ԭ�� family extends its warmest congratulations to Dr. Caleb Armstrong (’19) for earning his PhD in Nursing from UT Tyler School of Nursing. This distinction is not merely a degree, but the culmination of dedication, perseverance, intense study, and sacrifice. Additionally, Caleb received the 2025 PhD Dissertation Award. Such presentations acknowledge exceptional research which makes significant original contributions impacting their specific discipline.

Following graduation from ����ԭ��, Caleb worked in the intensive care units of a large public hospital. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he reports, “the overwhelming amount of suffering and death that I witnessed on a daily basis drove me to look for ways to better support both critically ill patients and their family members.” He recognized the negative physical and emotional strain the responsibility of decision making had on surrogate decision-makers (SDM) and the crucial need for trust between SDM and healthcare professionals (HCPs). However, to “develop interventions to increase trust and improve SDM outcomes, trust must be quantifiable,” and there was no “validated instrument with which to measure” it. That “tool” became Caleb’s dissertation focus.

He probed the “antecedents” and “consequences of trust” and reviewed literature to “map” what was known, applying a “conceptual model.” He identified “trust-building interventions and trust-related outcomes,” eventually devising a 22-item scale to quantify SDM trust in HCPs. Thus, Caleb titled his dissertation “Development and Validation of the Surrogate Decision-Maker Trust Scale.” He hopes it is the first step in “a career-long journey to improve the care of patients and their family members in the adult ICU setting.”

The dissertation process “can be incredibly complex,” Dr. Armstrong admits, “especially when you’re dealing with the ethical requirements and legal regulations surrounding human-subject research.” Successful completion, however, is not only gratifying, but it also opens new “doors to avenues of both research and work.” Though currently employed full-time as an ICU nurse, Caleb is fulfilling a long-standing ambition to teach on the university level, a desire sparked by tutoring lower-level nursing students at MBU, a desire that motivated his PhD pursuit. Serving locally as an adjunct assistant professor, Dr. Armstrong hopes to transition to full-time teaching next year.