Skip to main content
Nursing

Diane Cocozza Martins

Ph.D., R.N.

Associate Professor


Education
Ph.D., Nursing, University of Connecticut, 2003
M.A., Medical Sociology, University of Connecticut, 1987
M.Ed., Community Health Nursing Education, Columbia University, 1981
B.S., Salve Regina University, 1974
Curriculum Vita (PDF)
Contact
dcmartins@uri.edu
401.874.5328
Research Interests
Dr. Martins' research and scholarly work is with vulnerable populations in the community and includes a descriptive phenomenological study of the homeless person’s health care experiences, analysis of food insufficiency and hunger with homeless families, strategies used to survive in the lives of woman facing adversity, and methods to increase nursing students’ knowledge and appreciation with older adults in the community and with the prison population. Dr. Martins has co-authored articles on critical interactionism, risk and vulnerability, elder abuse, and nursing education strategies.

Bio
Dr. Martins' teaching, research, and service commitments are to public health/community health nursing and vulnerable populations. She teaches courses in community health nursing theory, community health clinical practice, practice theory and deductive theory. She is also a faculty member in the HRSA funded interdisciplinary RI Geriatric Education Center.

At the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Martins has been a multicultural faculty fellow, an interdisciplinary faculty fellow in geriatrics and gerontology, faculty in the President’s Partnership for Food, Hunger and Nutrition and a faculty fellow in Public Service and Ethics. She received an award for outstanding outreach from the University of Rhode Island for her work on behalf of people who are homeless. In the community, Dr. Martins works collaboratively with Intercultural Nursing with service trips to the Dominican Republic, the Honors Program Cuban Study Abroad Initiative and is currently in a planning group with the Feinstein Hunger Center, Department of Human Service, and RI Coalition for the Homeless working to make policy changes in the state’s SNAP program.

Selected Recent Publications

Articles
Martins, D. C. and Burbank, P. (2011) Critical Intereractionism. An Upstream-Downstream Approach to Health Care Reform. Advances in Nursing Science, Vol 34, No 4, pp 315-329.

Mc Curry, M. and Martins, D. C. (2010) Teaching Undergraduate Nursing Research: A Comparison of Traditional and Innovative Approaches for Success with Millennial Learners. Journal of Nursing Education Vol 49, No. 5, pp 276-279

Burbank, P. & Martins, D. C. (2010) Symbolic Interactionism and Critical Perspective: Divergent or Synergistic? Nursing Philosophy, Vol 11, No. 1, pp. 25-41.

Martins, D.C. (2008) Experiences of Homeless People in the Health Care Delivery System: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study. Public Health Nursing, Vol 25, No. 5, 420-430.

Oh, J, Kim, H.S, Martins, D.C. and Kim, H. (2006) A Study of Elder Abuse in Korea International Journal of Nursing Studies Vol 43, No. 2, pp 203-214

Book Chapters
Martins, D. C. (2011) Thinking upstream: Nursing theories and population-focused nursing practice. Chapter 3 In M. Nies & M. McEwen, Editors, Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations.5th Ed. Elsevier: St Louis, MI

Martins, D. C. and Burbank, P. (2011) Community health planning, implementation, and evaluation. Chapter 7 In M. Nies & M. McEwen, Editors, Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations. 5th Ed. Elsevier: St Louis, MI

Mlinac, M. Sheeran, T. H. ,Blissmer, B. Lees, F. and Martins, D. C. (2011) Older Adults and Resilience. In Barbara Resnick’s Editor, Resilience in Aging. Elsevier.

Kim, H.S, Lauzon Clabo, L, Burbank, P. Leveillee, M, and Martins, D.C. (2010) Chapter 8: Application of Critical Reflective Inquiry in Nursing Education, In N. Lyons ( Ed.) Handbook of Reflection and Reflective Inquiry: Mapping a Way of Knowing for Professional Reflective Inquiry. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Martins, D.C. and Sullivan, M. A (2006), Older adults who are homeless: Health Issues in P. Burbank’s Vulnerable Older Adults. New York: Springer Publishing Company

Martins, D.C. and Sullivan, M.A. (2006) Older adults who are homeless: Strategies and interventions. In P. Burbank’s Vulnerable Older Adults. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Smyer, T., Gragert, M. & Martins, D.C. (2006) Older adults in prison: Strategies for meeting health care needs of the aging offender In P. Burbank’s Vulnerable Older Adults. New York. Springer Publishing Company