Barbara J. Bowers, PhD, RN, FAAN
Position title: Emerita
Email: bjbowers@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-263-5189
Address:
4220#7 Signe Skott Cooper Hall
PhD, University of California, San Francisco: Sociology, 1984
MS, Wayne State University: Nursing, 1976
BS, University of Michigan: Nursing, 1973
Dr. Bowers’ research focuses on frail, older adults and people with lifelong disabilities, in both community and residential settings. She is interested in how public policies, organizational practices and models of care delivery influence quality of care and quality of work life for caregivers. Her interest in work life quality for workers in long term care systems has led her to examine causes of staff turnover, the relationships among organizational structure, organizational culture, management practices, and care outcomes, and to explore ways to improve the effectiveness of staff development. Her work with informal caregivers at home has led to the development of tools to provide anticipatory guidance and support caregiver decision making.
Professor Bowers is the founding director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Aging Research and Education.
Professor Bowers is an expert in qualitative research methods. She serves on the editorial board of Qualitative Health Research, The Western Journal of Nursing Research and The International Journal of Older People Nursing. She is associate editor (qualitative and mixed methods research manuscripts) for The Gerontologist and oversees Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Resources in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.