Research Interests

A cultural anthropologist, her ethnographic research has focused on health care for the elderly; work, (non)retirement, and wellbeing among elderly diamond traders in NYC; and ethical decision-making, rites of passage, and reciprocity in US nursing homes. Formerly the Director of Research and Education at the Jewish Home for the Aged in Rhode Island and the Director of Education at Aging 2000, she conducts qualitative and mixed methods research at the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown. Her recent work includes research in the end-of-life care of nursing home residents, the exploration of physician perspectives and experiences in the treatment of patients near the end of life, and the various roles of physicians and family members in nursing homes.

Recent Publications

Curry L, Shield R., Wetle, T. Eds. in press. Applying Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Aging and Public Health Research. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association and the Gerontological Society of America.

Shield R. American Jews and the diamond business. In press. Encyclopedia of American Jewish History. Norwood SH and Pollack E, Eds.

Wetle T, Shield R, Teno J, Miller SC, Welch L. 2005. Family perspectives on end-of-life care experiences in nursing homes. The Gerontologist 45 (5): 642-650.

Shield R, Wetle T, Teno J, Welch L, Miller SC. 2005. Physicians "missing in action": Family perspectives on physician and staffing problems in end-of-life care in the nursing home. J Am Geriat Soc 53 (10): 1651-1657.

Wetle, T, Teno, J, Shield, R, Welch, L, Miller, SC. End of Life in Nursing Homes: Experiences and Policy Recommendations. Washington, D.C.: AARP Public Policy Institute, 2004.

Teno JM., Clarridge BR, Casey V, Welch LC, Wetle T, Shield R and Mor V. 2004. Family perspectives on end-of-life care at the last place of care. JAMA 291 (1): 88-93.

Shield, RR. 2003. Wary partners: Dynamics of interactions between nursing assistants and family members in nursing homes. In Stafford, Phil (ed). Gray Areas: Ethnographic Encounters in Nursing Home Culture. Santa Fe (NM): SAR Press.

Shield, RR and SM. Aronson, MD. 2003. Aging in Today's World: Conversations Between an Anthropologist and a Physician. NY: Berghahn Books.

Shield, RR. 2002. Diamond Stories: Enduring Change on 47th Street. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Shield, RR. 1998. Real world anthropology in two settings: A nursing home and a health care policy project. Practicing Anthropology 20 (2): 11-13.

Shield RR. 1997. Aging 2000: Case Study. Health Care Financing Administration Report.

Shield, RR. 1997. Liminality in an American nursing home: The endless transition. In Jay Sokolovsky, ed. The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives. NY: Bergin & Garvey.

Shield, RR. 1996. Managing the care of nursing home patients: The challenge of integration. In Robert Newcomer and Anne Wilkinson, eds. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, VOLUME 16. NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Shield, RR. 1995. Ethics in the nursing home: Dynamics of decision-making in an American nursing home. In J. Neil Henderson and Maria Vesperi, eds. The Culture of Long-Term Care: Nursing Home Ethnography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Shield, RR. 1988. Uneasy Endings: Daily Life in an American Nursing Home. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.