Dr. Lois Lowry

As of July 31, 2007, Dr. Lois Lowry, will officially retire from the ETSU College of Nursing.  Dr. Lowry has focused on four major areas in her research career: maternal-infant health, critical thinking in nursing students, spirituality and aging, and development of the Neuman Systems Model as a theoretical basis for research and education.  Using the Neuman Model as a guide, Dr. Lowry began her research by studying the pre-natal care needs of indigent obstetrics patients.  This study was funded by the ANF and AWHONN and it eventually led to re-planning and re-structuring of health care services in public health clinics in Tampa, FL.   After coming to ETSU in 1999, Dr. Lowry received an RDC grant to conduct a qualitative study centered on the role of spirituality in the lives of elderly Appalachians.  Her research findings were published in the article “Exploring the Meaning of Spirituality with Aging Adults in Appalachia”; and, they will be reported at the Oxford round table conference on Successful Aging in August, 2007. She has also examined, in a study funded by an IDC grant, methods for teaching critical thinking skills to nursing students.  Dr. Lowry now is collaborating in a multi-site study funded by the University of Massachusetts, now in data analysis phase, on the functional status of vulnerable, pregnant women.  This collaboration with Dr. Jacqueline Fawcett will add to the literature in support of changing legislation for increasing maternity leave.

Over her career, Dr. Lowry has published 26 manuscripts in refereed journals, 20 book chapters, and edited a book, The Neuman Systems Model and Nursing Education:  Teaching Strategies and Outcomes. Currently, she is also consulting with colleagues in Holland, where the Lowry-Jopp Neuman Model Evaluation Instrument is being tested, and she is engaged in a longitudinal study of the efficacy of using a nursing model for clinical practice in a psychiatric setting.  Dr. Lowry has served as the director of the Doctoral Program and works with DSN students as an advisor, mentor and dissertation committee chair or member.  In her time at ETSU, Dr. Lowry has exemplified the faculty role in research, bringing her teaching, clinical interest and scholarship together in a very holistic manner.  After retirement, Dr. Lowry plans to travel and pursue her consultation and research work.  For more information, please contact Dr. Lowry at: lowry@etsu.edu.