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University of Colorado College of Nursing

College of Nursing
 

Faculty Profile

Ruth A. O'Brien, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor

Ruth.Obrien@ucdenver.edu

Interdisciplinary research to enhance the national capacity to effectively disseminate and implement research interventions in community practice is an important goal of the NIH Roadmap Initiative.  Ruth O’Brien, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, has been a national leader in this area over the past 14 years through her research on the Nurse-Family Partnership, a home visitation program for low-income, first time parents.  As co-investigator with David Olds, PhD and colleagues from the School of Medicine for a clinical trial that examined the effectiveness of nurses, compared to paraprofessionals, she helped to establish the requisite for using nurses in delivering the home visitation intervention.

Dr. O’Brien’s early work in the translation and dissemination of the home visitation intervention, used in over 20 states, has included the development of a web-based Clinical Information System to track characteristics of families served, services provided, and maternal and child outcomes among the families enrolled in community practice settings.  Dr. O’Brien also was instrumental in facilitating the translation of the research protocols used in the trials into visit-by-visit guidelines for nurses engaged in delivering the home visitation intervention.  Currently, through funding from CDC she is comparing alternative training approaches for increasing nurses’ knowledge and clinical skills for program implementation with diverse populations.  Through a second grant from NIMH, she and colleagues with expertise in public affairs and communication are exploring contextual factors at the organizational and community level that may help to explain variations in program implementation across Nurse-Family Partnership sites.

In collaboration with Colorado Department of Health and Environment, Invest in Kids and Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office, Dr. O'Brien provides consultation on implementation of the Nurse-Family Partnership program in Colorado.

Degree Awarding Institution Field of Study Graduation Date
Ph.D. New York University, New York, NY Nursing Science 1978
M.S. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio Public Health Nursing 1966
B.S. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Nursing 1963
Title Organization Year
Sage Award for New Models of Care Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership 2009
Elizabeth H. Boeker Faculty Excellence in Research Award MortarboardCollege of Nursing, University of Colorado Denver 2006
Fellow American Academy of Nursing 2005
Kathryn Smith Lastreto Mentor Award Kappa Alpha Chapter -at- Large, STTI 2001
Faculty Mentor Award University of Rochester 1986
Excellence in Research Award, Epsilon Xi Chapter Sigma Theta Tau International 1984
  1. Main, D.S, Felzien, M.C., Magid, D.J., Calonge, B.N., O’Brien, R.A., Kempe, A., & Nearing, K. (2012). A community translational research pilot grants program to facilitate community-academic partnerships: Lessons learned from Colorado’s clinical translational science awards. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action, 6 (3), 381-387.
  2. O’Brien, R.A., Moritz, P., Luckey, D.W., McClatchey, M.W., Ingoldsby, E.M., & Olds, D. (2012). Mixed methods analysis of participant attrition in the Nurse-Family Partnership. Prevention Science,13 (3), 219-228.
  3. O’Brien, R.A. (2011). Biopsychosocial theoretical perspectives of family systems. In M. Craft-Rosenberg & S.R. Pehler (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Family Health, Volume 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  4. Beam, R.J., O'Brien, R.A., & Neal, M. (2010). Reflective practice enhances public health nurse implementation of Nurse-Family Partnership, Public Health Nursing 27 (2), 131-139.
  5. O'Brien, R.A., & Lundy, K.S. (2009). Foundations of family care. In K.S. Lundy & S. Janes (Eds.), Community health nursing: Caring for the public' health, 2nd Edition (pp. 734-757). Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett, Publishers.
  6. Gray, S., Sheeder, J., O'Brien, R., & Stevens-Simon, C. (2006). Having the best intentions is necessary but not sufficient: What would increase the efficacy of home visiting for preventing second teen pregnancies? Prevention Science, 7, 389-395.
  7. O'Brien, R. A. (2005). Translating a research intervention into community practice: The nurse family partnership. Journal of Primary Prevention, 26(3), 241-257.
  8. Moritz, P., & O'Brien, R.A. (2005). Client preference incorporated into a community-based intervention (Abstract). Communicating Nursing Research, 13, p.92. Portland, OR: Western Institute of Nursing.
  9. Moritz, P., & O'Brien, R.A. (2004). Public policy and community-based case management: The Nurse-Family Partnership. In E.L. Cohen & T.G.Testa (Eds.), Nursing case management: From essentials to advanced practice applications, 4th Edition (pp.227-237). Boston, MA; Elsevier, Inc.
  10. O'Brien, R.A. (2003). Foundations of family care. In K.S. Lundy & S. Janes (Eds.), Essentials of Community-Based Nursing (pp. 372-393) Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett, Publishers.
  11. Olds, D. L., Hill, P. L., O'Brien, R., Racine, D., & Moritz, P. (2003). Taking preventive intervention to scale: The nurse-family partnership. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 10, 278-290.
  12. Olds, D. L., Robinson, J. S., O'Brien, R., Luckey, D. W., Pettit, L., Henderson Jr., C., Ng, R., Shefff, K. L., Korfmacher, J., Hiatt, S., & Talmi, A. (2002) Home visiting by paraprofessionals and by nurses: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Pediatrics, 110(3), 486-496.
  • PI, Competency Training, Staff Performance and Family Outcomes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (09/30/04-03/31/10)
  • PI, Organizational Context, Clinical Learning of an Innovation, and Program Fidelity, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (02/07/06-04/30/08)
  • Faculty Sponsor, La Cuarentena: an ethnographic study of Mexican immigrant women post partum, Predoctoral Fellowship to Lisa Waugh funded by National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).