JANICE M. MORSE
Career Pathway
LEGEND
New Zealand
1. Grey Hospital – Greymouth
1962-1966
Surname: Hambleton
Role: Student Nurse
United Kingdom
2. Royal Victoria Infirmary –
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland
1966-1967
Surname: Pearson
Role: Staff Nurse
New Zealand
3. Hutt Hospital – Wellington
1967-1969
Surname: Pearson
Role: Staff Sister
United States of America
4. State College PA
1969-1973
Surname: Pearson
Role: Spouse
United States of America
5. Harrisburg Hospital - Pennsylvania
1974
Surname: Pearson
Role: Student Nurse
United States of America
6. Pennsylvania State University - PA
1975-1977
Surname: Pearson
Role: Student, BS, MS
United States of America
7. University of Utah - UT
1978-1979
Surname: Morse
Role: Student, PhD (Nursing), MS, PhD (Anthropology)
Fiji
8. 1980-1981
Surname: Morse
Role: Dissertations (data collection)
United States of America
9. University of Utah - UT
1981
Surname: Morse
Role: Defend Dissertation
Canada
10. University of Alberta - Edmonton
1981-1991
Surname: Morse
Role: Faculty, Associate Professor, Professor
United States of America
11. Pennsylvania State University - PA
1991-1996
Surname: Morse
Role: Professor, College of Nursing
Canada
12. University of Alberta - Edmonton
1996-2007
Surname: Morse
Role: Professor, Faculty of Nursing; Director, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology
Phases of research (80s, 90s, 2000s) below.
United States of America
13. University of Utah - UT
2007-2020
Surname: Morse
Role: Professor/Distinguished Professor, College of Nursing; Professor Emerita University of Alberta
United States of America
14. University of California
Los Angeles - CA
2021-2022
Surname: Morse
Role: Visiting Professor
? Not dead yet...
The 80's at The University of Alberta
This was busy—and fun. So many students, funded as full time scholars, doing their masters’ degree in nursing. Canada was still negotiating for a PhD program. These students worked intensely, doing extraordinarily high-quality qualitative inquiry. All went far in nursing; all were published; most received a PhD once the program was in place. Some of these students are below.
Joan Bottorff; Jan; Joy Johnson, Jan, Gwen Andersen and Shirley Solberg, waiting for lightening to strike; Back row: Jan, Diane Gamble, Patricia, Front Sharon Wilson, Sharon Laskiwski; Dawn Friesen, Joann Greenlaugh; Self-portraits (before); Joy Johnson on the land line.
Apologies for so few photos, but most of the photos from this period focused on enjoying Canadian food. Who is missing? Marie Andree Chassé, Mary Applegate, Karin Olson, Liam Hyland, Kathy McIlveen, Don Flamming, Anne Dewar, Julie Boddie, Lorraine Telford, Wendy Neander, Beverly Lorencz, Carol Estabrooks, Bev Janes, Judy Norris, Nan McLeod, Karen Williams, Jennifer English, Judy Coté, and Dorothy Moonie. Post masters: Joy Edwards, Shirley Solberg, And our post docs, Beverly O’Brien, Gail Ewing, & Roberta Hewatt. (For Details, see CV).
I owe these students for the questions they asked, all of which clarified my thinking about qualitative methods. So, this was a period when I lived their research with them, accosted their problems, was challenged analytically, and was proud of their enthusiasm, their ability to conceptualize and to write. Most used grounded theory or ethnography; all selected relevant, clinical topics. All “broke” new ground. All published. From the myriad of clinical studies, I learned much about the patient experience, the nurse-patient relationship, the experiences of ‘others’, but mostly about suffering, comfort, and comforting.
The Penn State Years 1991-1996
Returning to Penn State in 1991 was like coming “home”. The College of Nursing gave me full support for my NINR grant and assisted with the renewal application, which was awarded for 5 years. My work on concepts was methodologically developing, and the exploration of trauma was ready to start. The trauma research took two perspectives: The patients’ experience of extreme pain during trauma, and nurses “management” of patients in agony when analgesics were delayed in trauma. Data collection was innovative and difficult—we got permission to video tape trauma care, to interview patients and families—under the rubric of comfort and comforting.
During this period my research was extremely productive, due in large part to the superb research team, some of whom are shown below.
Above, Left to Right: Janice Penrod, RA; Sue Doland, editor; Jan; Anna Lombard and daughter (no sick days here!); Anna Lombard, (The fastest fingers in the east); Video Lab; Ann Dewar, Visiting PhD student), Bob Intrieri, and food; Guest, Maritza Tasón, Jan and Anna; Jan, Maritza, Barb & Bob; Center: Miss Piggy (L) and Judy Hupcey RA (R).
Missing are Carl Mitcham, Sharon Wilson, Adele Proctor; Gail Havens; Betty Lenz, and Sasha Grutzeck. Also in our various data collection sites, we hired temporary assistance. Thank you!
In this stage of the research, the interaction of observational research, interview research, and concept development was integral to our understanding of suffering and comfort/comforting.
About 1996, I accepted a position to return to the University of Alberta, to develop the IIQM. Friends and faculty are listed in that document link.
Returning to The University of Utah
2007-2021
Oh, the mountains; the hot days, cool nights, (and mostly clear) air. Returning to Utah has been mostly a time of tying up loose ends. QHR came with me—and exploded. By my retirement from the journal in 2021, we were receiving about 1,200 manuscripts a year. I placed all of my concept work in a large volume, The Theoretical Basis of Nursing.
My fall research had changed from identifying the fall prone patient for fall prevention, to developing a safe hospital environment, including investigating optimal safe bed height; strategies patient use to exit the bed (especially ‘bouncing’) and the identification of frailty and imbalance in gait, (with colleagues in engineering). With Andrew Merryweather (Mechanical Engineering), preventing falls by improving the safety of bed exit.
I developed a method to link multiple mid-range theories addressing a larger topic, called theoretical coalescence, and complied a midrange theory of enduring and enduring behaviors in various populations and conditions. Work in developing mixed-methods continued. Doctoral students continued to develop clinically applied research, in particular addressing drug errors.
Retirement? What? Busier than ever these days. . . .