DHSc Capstone Project Examples: From Topic to Final Product

Schweidenback studied tensions in telehealth implementation through interviews with administrative, medical, and technology leaders. The repository identifies a qualitative approach and a framework connecting implementation tensions with management strategies. The project asks how an organizational change works, rather than whether telehealth is simply good or bad.

The planning lesson is to identify the people who experience the implementation problem and a method for understanding their perspectives. Before proposing a similar study, establish whether you can recruit the relevant roles and obtain the approvals your university requires. Do not assume that employment at a health system gives you permission to interview staff for research.

Planning Lesson: A model for narrowing an organizational implementation question.

Apply It Carefully: This is a thesis example; your program must approve its own scope and method.

New Haven describes Bardhi's doctoral work on barriers to mercury-exposure screening and the need for evidence-based guidance. The study used qualitative research with primary care clinicians. The university reports publication in Public Health Reports and selection for a 2026 public-health conference presentation.

This example starts with a practical gap in how a health issue is addressed. For your own project, distinguish identifying a problem from proving that an intervention solves it. A study of clinicians' perspectives can produce useful implementation questions without claiming a measured change in patient outcomes.

Planning Lesson: A model for examining a practice gap through a defined group of clinicians.

Apply It Carefully: Publication and conference selection are outcomes of this graduate project, not requirements or promises for every DHSc.

Yousafi's thesis examined barriers to recruitment and retention among underrepresented populations in cancer clinical trials. New Haven's account describes the move from doctoral work to a journal manuscript. It is an example of taking a broad interest in equity and focusing on a specific process within clinical research.

The transferable planning idea is the process boundary. Recruitment and retention are related, but they involve different stages, staff decisions, and sources of evidence. Define which stage your project can realistically examine. Avoid promising to solve a system-wide disparity when your access is limited to one team or setting.

Planning Lesson: A model for narrowing a health-equity interest to a specific organizational process.

Apply It Carefully: Keep the scale of your conclusions consistent with the evidence you can obtain.

MCPHS describes Farrar's work with a faculty collaborator on evidence concerning silver diamine fluoride in pediatric dentistry. The university connects the research to her dental-hygiene and public-health background and reports its later publication in a professional dental journal.

The lesson is to use your professional background to frame a question you understand, while still choosing an appropriate scholarly method. A focused evidence project can be different from collecting new patient data or implementing a clinical intervention. The example is about the structure of doctoral work, not advice to use a particular treatment.

Planning Lesson: A model for connecting a defined evidence question with existing professional expertise.

Apply It Carefully: Your supervisor must approve the research design and final product for your own degree.