The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has developed a major focus on building a culture of health (COH) among individuals, families and communities. Nurses are particularly well-positioned to lead efforts that promote a COH, as evidenced by the American Academy of Nursing’s designated “Edge Runners”—nurses who have designed models of care that have a strong evidence base with positive health outcomes, and are cost-effective. The Foundation provided the Academy with a grant to partner with the RAND Corporation to systematically examine how nurses contribute to COH and how the experiences of nurses in promoting a COH can inform similar efforts by other provider groups. 

In this webinar hosted by the IRGNI IG, Diana J. Mason, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, moderates and provides an overview of the Edge Runner program and its relevance to building a COH among individuals, families and communities. Nancy Fishman, M.P.H., discusses the COH framework used by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and this study. Grant Martsolf, Ph.D., M.P.H., RN, describes the study methods and key findings from a literature review, online survey, telephone interviews, and site visits. Antonia Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, discusses the implications of the findings for researchers and policymakers, including lessons learned about how care delivery organizations and health professionals can help to build a culture of health in local communities.

Watch Online 

Learning Objectives

After viewing this webinar, viewers will:

  • Receive an overview of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s framework for a Culture of Health; 
  • Understand the unique role of nurses in culture of health work; and
  • Hear about the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned about building a culture of health among individuals, families and communities from nurses who have designed innovative models of care.

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm ET

Faculty:  Diana J. Mason, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, (moderator) co-director, Center for Health, Media & Policy; Nancy Fishman, M.P.H., senior program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Grant Martsolf, Ph.D., M.P.H., RN, policy researcher with the RAND Corporation; and Antonia Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Faculty Bios

Diana J. Mason, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, is the co-director of the Center for Health, Media, and Policy and held the Rudin Professor of Nursing endowed chair at Hunter College, City University of New York until 2016. Dr. Mason serves as the senior policy service professor at George Washington University School of Nursing. She is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Nursing, former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing, and co-producer and moderator of a weekly radio program on health care issues since 1985. She is the lead editor of the award-winning book, Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, now in its 7th edition, and is the author of over 200 publications. Her scholarship focuses on health policy and what can be learned from nurse-designed models of care. Dr. Mason is the co-principal investigator for a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore how nurses address building a Culture of Health in their innovative models of care; the study is a collaboration between the American Academy of Nursing and the RAND corporation. She is a member of the board of directors for the Primary Care Development Corporation and the National Advisory Board for Kaiser Health News. Dr. Mason holds two honorary doctorates, as well as numerous awards for her teaching, policy leadership, publications, and journalism.

Nancy Wieler Fishman, M.P.H., is a senior program officer in the Research, Evaluation and Learning Unit at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Fishman's portfolio of evaluation/research grants covers a wide range of health and health care topics reflecting the Foundation's mission. Her current work focuses on effective policies that impact the integration of health systems, public health, and community services. In addition Ms. Fishman works on the Foundations change leadership programs and is program officer for a number of grants reflecting her interest in issues around increased community capacity for long-term care for the elderly. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1997, she worked as a research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health. During her time in Pittsburgh she worked as program director for a community outreach, education, and research project on cancer screening, and as a project coordinator on a number of National Institutes of Health-funded registries and clinical trials in the area of cardiovascular research. Ms. Fishman’s favorite nursing position was as a visiting nurse in the Boston metropolitan area. Ms. Fishman holds an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a B.S. in nursing from the University of Connecticut.

Grant Martsolf, Ph.D., M.P.H., RN, is a policy researcher at RAND, a registered nurse, and an adjunct assistant professor of health policy and management and nursing at the University of Pittsburgh. His research has focused primarily on primary care innovations, nursing workforce, and interprofessional issues affecting health delivery systems. He has also published extensively on related topics in peer-reviewed journals such as Health Affairs, Health Services Research, Nursing Outlook, and the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry. He has received related research support from various funders such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Antonia Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, is the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and director of the School’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. As a bilingual and bicultural researcher, Dr. Villarruel has extensive research and practice experience with Latino populations, health promotion, and disparities. Using a community-based participatory approach, she has been the priciple investigator/co-principle investigator of over eight Randomised Controlled Trials on reducing high risk behaviors in teens. One program, to reduce sexual risk behavior among Latino youth – entitled Cuídate! is disseminated nationally. Dr. Villarruel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing; serves as chair of the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities and co-chair of the Strategic Advisory Council of the AARP/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.