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Ruth A. Anderson

Ruth A. Anderson

Professor Emerita in the School of Nursing
School of Nursing
ruth.anderson@duke.edu
Box 3322 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
School of Nursing, 1003 Clipp, Durham, NC 27710

Overview

My research program is concerned with understanding and improving nursing management practices and their impact on outcomes, with a particular interest in resident outcomes in nursing homes. I use complexity science, organizational and nursing theory to bring together the constructs of communication and decision processes, relationship and interaction, organizational structures, context, resource allocation and health care outcomes. In my most recently NIH/NINR funded study, “Outcomes of Nursing Management Practice in Nursing Homes,” I worked with a multidisciplinary team to explore relationship patterns and management practices that enable nursing homes to attain high quality resident outcomes in a series of eight comparative case studies, identifying management practices that are distributed through all levels of workers and appear to build capacity for high quality outcomes. From this work, we developed a new intervention for improving staff interactions and information exchange in long term care settings. I now engaged with this multidisciplinary team in a VA-Funded study to test the intervention for its impact on reducing patient falls. I have expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor Emerita in the School of Nursing · 2015 - Present School of Nursing
Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging · 1998 - Present Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Institutes and Centers

In the News

Published June 19, 2014
Nursing ADAPT Center Marks Two Years of Improving Care of Chronic Illness

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Recent Publications

Nursing home staffing and operations in Taiwan and the United States: A comparative pilot study.

Journal Article International journal of nursing studies advances · June 2026 Introduction: The global aging population has precipitated a surge in demand for long-term care, particularly in nursing homes. While the United States operates under a multipayer system, Taiwan utilizes a single-payer National Health Insur ... Full text Cite

Exploring Safety Concerns in Assisted Living Communities: A Qualitative Comparison of Resident, Family, and Staff Perspectives.

Journal Article Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · December 2025 ObjectivesSafety concerns in assisted living (AL) communities are critical, yet understudied from the perspectives of residents, family caregivers, and staff. This study aimed to explore and compare safety concerns across these 3 groups.Design ... Full text Cite

Poststroke Fatigue Adaptation Between Stroke Survivors and Care Partners: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis.

Journal Article Research in nursing & health · October 2025 Poststroke fatigue severely affects stroke survivors (SSs) physically and mentally. Although the literature acknowledges the critical role of care partners (CPs) in survivors' fatigue adaptation, this topic remains under-explored. This study, guided by the ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants

Care-partner assisted intervention to improve oral health of individuals with mild dementia

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by New York University · 2018 - 2025

Mentoring Intervention Development in Fall and Fracture Prevention

ResearchAdvisor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2015 - 2021

Outcomes of Nursing Management Practice in Nursing Homes

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1994 - 2017

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Education

University of Texas, Austin · 1987 Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania · 1981 M.S.N.