Janice M. Morse is a pioneering scholar who revolutionized healthcare research through the development of qualitative health research as a distinct scientific discipline. She holds the prestigious Ida May "Dotty" Barnes and D Keith Barnes Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah College of Nursing, where she is recognized as a Distinguished Professor Emerita. Previously, she served as Professor at the University of Alberta, where she founded the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology, and held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Morse earned dual PhDs from the University of Utah in transcultural nursing and anthropology, establishing the interdisciplinary foundation that would drive her transformative contributions to healthcare research.
Dr. Morse is internationally acclaimed as the founder of qualitative health research, having developed rigorous methodological frameworks that established standards for qualitative inquiry in healthcare settings worldwide. Her seminal theoretical contributions, including criteria for rigor, generalizability, and theoretical coalescence in qualitative studies, challenged the dominance of purely statistical approaches in healthcare research. She created the Morse Fall Scale, a clinical assessment tool now used internationally to identify patients at risk of falling, which has significantly improved patient safety protocols across healthcare systems globally. Her conceptual work on suffering, comforting, and hope has profoundly influenced nursing theory, education, and clinical practice, with her publications forming essential foundations for qualitative research in healthcare.
As the founding editor of Qualitative Health Research journal and creator of multiple scholarly book series, Dr. Morse has mentored generations of researchers through her extensive educational initiatives and international workshops spanning three decades. She established the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta, which remains the world's longest-standing research institute dedicated to qualitative inquiry. Her current research continues to address critical healthcare challenges, focusing on reestablishing the Morse Fall Scale and developing safer hospital environments through optimal bed heights and patient mobility strategies. With over 460 publications and 21 books to her name, Dr. Morse's enduring influence extends through her authoritative texts that continue to shape qualitative research methodology and nursing practice worldwide.
