Nursing Research

Rachel Jones, PhD, MS, BSN, FAAN

Dr. Rachel Jones was the principal investigator on two National Institute on Nursing Research funded grants that focused on HIV prevention in urban women and use of smartphones to deliver soap opera videos to reduce HIV risk; and one from the National Library of Medicine to tailor HIV prevention video feedback. She is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, School of Nursing and a Faculty Scholar at the Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice. Her primary scientific interests are reducing women’s HIV risk through innovative methods and theories. Dr Jones is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr. Jones’ formative research had indicated that unprotected sex serves relationship promoting needs in young adult urban women. In the genre of Entertainment-Education, she and her team scripted and filmed a 12-episode soap opera video series, Love, Sex, and Choices, as an intervention to reduce HIV risk behavior. This intervention was tested in a randomized controlled trial. Interviews were conducted using audio computer assisted self-interview (ACASI). The soap opera episodes were streamed weekly to smartphones opening-up a new channel to address health disparities. This work is published in several peer reviewed journals. Dr. Jones is an ad hoc reviewer for an NIH Special Emphasis Panel (Behavioral and Social Consequences of HIV/AIDS) Study Section. She has received several awards, including 2013 recipient of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Excellence in HIV Prevention Award, 2012 Presenter of Distinction by the Congress for the Advancement of Nursing Science, membership as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (2010), Lester Z. Lieberman Humanism in Healthcare Award from the Healthcare Foundation of NJ (2010); Esteemed Woman in the Field of Women and HIV/AIDS from Women and AIDS (NJWAN) (2009), and the New York Times Nurse Educator of the Year (2007). She holds a BSN from Case Western Reserve University, MS in family primary care (FNP) from Pace University, and PhD from New York University.