Ruby joined Victoria University in 2012 as a lecturer within the Bachelor of Nursing degree. Prior to this she worked within research for more than 10 years at a number of different institutions including:

  • Mother and Child Health Research (La Trobe University)
  • The Centre for Adolescent Health (Melbourne University)
  • the (then) Nurses Board of Western Australia.

Ruby’s nursing experience is in the area of surgical and neurosurgical nursing. She has a strong interest in the experiences of graduate nurses in their first 12 months of practice and also in interpersonal relating.

Ruby’s PhD investigated the use of play within nursing for graduate women nurses. With 15 years’ experience as a qualitative researcher, Ruby’s research strengths lie in:

  • feminist research
  • postmodern feminism
  • ethnography
  • participatory action research.

Ruby’s research interests are related to

  • women’s health
  • diversity
  • emotional health
  • the graduate nurse experience.

Recent publications

Journal articles

Taft, A.J., Hooker, L., Humphreys, C., Hegarty, K., Walter, R., Adams, C., Agius, P. & Small, R. (2015). Maternal and child health nurse screening and care for mothers experiencing domestic violence (MOVE): A cluster randomised trial. BMC Medicine, 13, 150.

Carolan-Olah, M., Kruger, G., Walter, R. & Mazzarino M. (2014). Final year students' experiences of the Bachelor of Midwifery course. Midwifery, 30(5), 519-525.

Taft, A.J., Small, R., Humphreys, C., Hegarty, K.L., Walter, R., Adams, C. & Agius, A. (2012), Enhanced maternal and child health nurse care for women experiencing intimate partner/family violence: Protocol for MOVE, a cluster randomised trial of screening and referral in primary health care. BMC Public Health.

Drew, S., Duncan, R., Walter, R. (2007), Qualitative epidemiology: Moving beyond an oxymoron, Australasian Epidemiologist, 14(2): 22-25.

Books & book chapters

Butler, H., Krelle, A., Seal, I., Trafford, L., Drew, S., Hargreaves, J., Walter, R. & Bond, L. (2011), The critical friend: Facilitating change and wellbeing in school communities, Camberwell: Australian Council for Educational Research.

Conference presentations

Walter, R. (2011), MOVE: Sustaining an enhanced model of practice for maternal and child health nurses responding to women experiencing intimate partner violence. Mother & Child Health Research 20th Birthday Conference, Healthy Motherhood: Planned Pregnancy, Normal Birth and Successful Breastfeeding.

Butler, H., Seal, I., Trafford, L., Drew, S., Hargreaves, J., Martinac, K., Walter, R. & Bond, L. (2008), Critical friends: Finding shared space to integrate research and practice school improvement and health promotion. 7th Annual Australian and New Zealand Adolescent Health Conference. Melbourne.

Butler, H., Trafford, L., Seal, I., Drew, S., Hargreaves, J., Martinac, K., Walter, R. & Bond, L. (2007), Insider/Outsider, data collector and data, researcher and researched: Implications for the professional practice of facilitators of complex interventions in schools. Association of Qualitative Research. Biennial Conference, Melbourne.

Butler, H., Trafford, L., Drew, S., Walter, R., Bissett, M. & Bond, L. (2007), Promoting productive partnerships between practitioners, researchers and systems (poster presentation). Australian Health Promotion Association. 17th National Conference Adelaide.

Bond, L., Butler, H., Drew, S., Trafford, L., Seal, I., Walter, R., Martinac, K. & Bissett, M. (2007), Transforming the work of schools to embed health promotion: The Adolescent Health and Social Environments Program. Symposium 19th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education, Health Promotion Comes of Age: Research, Policy & Practice for the 21st Century. Vancouver.

Teaching responsibilities

Coordination

Postgraduate research students and fellows

Current supervision

Co-supervision of 2 PhD students and 1 Masters student

Areas of expertise

  • Interpersonal relating
  • Public health
  • Women's health