Judith Wuest
MN (1989)
Professor Emerita
Dr. Judith Wuest is a professor emerita at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), Faculty of Nursing in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She received a BScN from the University of Toronto in 1967 and a PhD from Wayne State University in 1995.
International recognition
Her graduate work at Dalhousie University with Phyllis Noerager Stern inspired an enthusiasm for research methods that has persisted throughout her career. She is internationally known for her expertise in grounded theory methods and has numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Dr. Wuest’s research on women’s health has addressed two contexts: family caregiving and intimate partner violence.
Grounded theory methods
Grounded Theory methodology was the foundation for both programs of research but emerging questions from this work gave rise to her use of mixed methods and theory-testing approaches. Based on the findings of this program of research, she and her colleagues have developed a grounded theory-based nursing intervention to improve the health of women who have left abusive partners. Partnerships with government and community stakeholders have been key in exploratory studies of this intervention.
Funded research
Dr. Wuest has held continuous research funding from national funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canadian Nurses Foundation from 1998 to the present. She held a CIHR Investigator Award (salary support) and a UNB Research Scholar Award. Her service contributions include membership on grant review panels for agencies such as CIHR, the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Nurses Foundation, from which she asserts that she gained invaluable education for grant writing.
Investing in graduate nursing
Dr. Wuest took a leadership role in the initiation of a graduate program in Nursing at the University of New Brunswick and served as the first Director of Graduate Studies from 1995 to 2000. She invested particular energy in strengthening the nursing research culture at UNB and supporting new researchers in developing fundable programs of research.
Award winning researcher
For her significant contributions, Dr. Wuest has been recognized with numerous awards. Among them, she lists: the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International Award for Excellence in Nursing Research; the National Council on Family Relations; the Anselm Strauss Award for Qualitative Family Research; the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Reviewer of the Year; Canadian Association of Nursing Research Award for Excellence in Nursing Research; and the Maritime Centre for Excellence in Women’s Health - Leadership Award for Women’s Health.