Allison P Squires

Faculty

Prof. Allison P Squires headshot

Allison P Squires

PhD RN FAAN

Professor

1 212 992 7074

433 First Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Accepting PhD students

Allison Squires, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, is a Professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She is a global health services researcher with two focal areas of research: Creating a sustainable nursing workforce and improving immigrant health outcomes. Dr. Squires is also the Founder and Director of the Global Consortium of Nursing & Midwifery Studies (GCNMS). In addition to holding multiple national and international leadership positions in nursing organizations during her career, she has consulted with the Migration Policy Institute, the International Council of Nurses, and the World Bank on nursing and health workforce issues and produced several major policy analyses with their teams and continues to serve as an expert resource on nursing workforce issues globally.

She has several projects currently funded by domestic and international funders. Domestically, she is studying the impact of language barriers on hospital nursing practice and evaluating the impact of the Magnet journey on small hospitals.  Her current funded international studies focus on nursing workforce capacity building in Greece, Ghana, and Guyana. Her signature project, the GCNMS, is now an 87-country research consortium collaborating on research capacity-building projects in nursing and midwifery globally. The consortium's current research study is examining the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nursing and midwifery workforces globally.

Prior to entering academia full-time, Squires worked as a staff nurse in solid organ transplant and as a staff educator for 11 years in the U.S. healthcare system in rural and urban locations. Her practice has since shifted largely to community-based nursing roles as a volunteer.

Amongst her many honors and awards, Squires was the 2019–2020 Distinguished Nurse Scholar in Residence for the National Academy of Medicine where she worked on the consensus study "Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Equity." In 2023, she received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues interest group of Academy Health. Yale School of Nursing Alumni Association named her their 2025 Distinguished Alumna.

She is currently accepting Ph.D. students and/or post-doctoral fellows/associates with interests in the following areas: Global health, migration & immigrant health, and health services and workforce research.

Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Center for Health Outcomes & Policy Research -University of Pennsylvania
PhD - Yale University School of Nursing Doctor of Philosophy
MSN, Master of Science in Nursing Education - Duquesne University School of Nursing
BSN, Bachelor of Science in Nursing with a Minor in Latin American Studies - University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Global Health
Health Services Research
Immigrant Health
Midwifery Workforce
Nursing workforce

Academy Health
American Nurses Association
National Council for Interpreting in Health Care
Sigma International

Distinguished Alumna, Yale School of Nursing Alumni Association (2025)
Outstanding Mentor Award, Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues of Academy Health (2023)
Writing Award for Distinguished Manuscript on Geriatric/Gerontological Nursing (Ma et al. 2021), Gerontological Society of America Nursing Care of Older Adults Interest Group (2021)
Distinguished Nurse Scholar in Residence, National Academy of Medicine (2020)
Distinguished Nurse Scholar in Residence, National Academy of Medicine (2019)
Fellow Ambassador to the Media, New York Academy of Medicine (2018)
Fellow Ambassador to the Media, New York Academy of Medicine (2017)
Fellow, American Academy of Nursing (2015)
Distinguished Alumna, Duquesne University School of Nursing (2015)
Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine (2014)
Fellow, Yale World Fellows Program, Yale University (2003)
Inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International (1998)

Becoming a Promotora: A Transformative Process for Female Community Health Workers

Squires, A., & O’Brien, M. J. (2012). Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 34(3), 457-473. 10.1177/0739986312445567
Abstract
Abstract
Drawing from role theory, this study sought to explore the effects of assuming a new role on Latina community health workers (CHW) participating in a cervical cancer prevention program in a new Latino immigrant community located on the East Coast of the United States. Through a series of in-depth, Spanish language interviews with the 4 participants, the researchers explored the process and effects of assuming and enacting the CHW role through a narrative analysis approach. Themes that emerged from the analysis included "Reasons for becoming a promotora," "Vision and reality of the role," "Structuring interactions: The hierarchy of knowledge transmission," and "Transforming identities." Findings showed that assuming the CHW role had transformative effects on the participants that, in the end, allowed them to reconcile disparate aspects of their own immigrant identities. The findings have multiple implications for designing prevention programs employing CHWs and immigrant community strengthening.

Cross-cultural evaluation of the relevance of the HCAHPS survey in five European countries

Squires, A., Bruyneel, L., Aiken, L. H., Van Den Heede, K., Brzostek, T., Busse, R., Ensio, A., Schubert, M., Zikos, D., & Sermeus, W. (2012). International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 24(5), 470-475. 10.1093/intqhc/mzs040
Abstract
Abstract
Objective: To describe the systematic language translation and cross-cultural evaluation process that assessed the relevance of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey in five European countries prior to national data collection efforts. Design: An approach involving a systematic translation process, expert review by experienced researchers and a review by 'patient' experts involving the use of content validity indexing techniques with chance correction. Setting: Five European countries where Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian and Polish are spoken. Participants: 'Patient' experts who had recently experienced a hospitalization in the participating country. Main OutcomeMeasure(s): Content validity indexing with chance correction adjustment providing a quantifiable measure that evaluates the conceptual, contextual, content, semantic and technical equivalence of the instrument in relationship to the patient care experience. Results: All translations except two received 'excellent' ratings and no significant differences existed between scores for languages spoken in more than one country. Patient raters across all countries expressed different concerns about some of the demographic questions and their relevance for evaluating patient satisfaction. Removing demographic questions from the evaluation produced a significant improvement in the scale-level scores (P = .018). The cross-cultural evaluation process suggested that translations and content of the patient satisfaction survey were relevant across countries and languages. Conclusions: The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey is relevant to some European hospital systems and has the potential to produce internationally comparable patient satisfaction scores.

A qualitative study of the work environments of Mexican nurses

Squires, A., & Juárez, A. (2012). International Journal of Nursing Studies, 49(7), 793-802. 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.02.001
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Studies of the nursing work environment are increasingly common in developed countries, but few exist in developing countries. Because of resource differences between the two contexts, researchers need to clarify what aspects of the work environments are similar and different. Objectives: To study the perspectives of Mexican nurses about their work environments to determine similarities and differences to results from developed world studies. Design: A secondary, directed content analysis of qualitative data from 46 Spanish language interviews using workplace-oriented themes. Setting: Purposively selected Mexican states from four regions of the country that reflect the country's socioeconomic differences. Participants: Practicing Mexican nurses with at least 1. year of clinical experience and currently working in nursing. Participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Methods: Initial data collection occurred in 2006 and 2008 during a broader study about professionalization processes that occurred in Mexican nursing between 1980 and 2005. The secondary, directed content analysis focused on an in-depth exploration of a central theme that emerged from the two original studies: the workplace. The directed content analysis used themes from the global nursing work environment literature to structure the analysis: professional relationships, organizational administrative practices, and quality of care and services. Results: The three themes from the global literature were relevant for the Mexican context and a new one emerged related to hiring practices. By category, the same factors that created positive or negative perceptions of the work environment matched findings from other international studies conducted in developed countries. The descriptors of the category, however, had different conceptual meanings that illustrate the health system challenges in Mexico. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that studies that seek to measure nursing work environments will most likely apply in Mexico and other Latin American or middle-income countries. Instruments designed to measure the work environment of nurses in these countries may prove relevant in those contexts, but require careful adaptation and systematic translations to ensure it.

Exploring the Links Between Macro-Level Contextual Factors and Their Influence on Nursing Workforce Composition

Squires, A., & Beltrán-Sánchez, H. (2011). Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice, 12(4), 215-223. 10.1177/1527154411431326
Abstract
Abstract
Research that links macro-level socioeconomic development variables to health care human resources workforce composition is scarce at best. The purpose of this study was to explore the links between nonnursing factors and nursing workforce composition through a secondary, descriptive analysis of year 2000, publicly available national nursing human resources data from Mexico. Building on previous research, the authors conducted multiple robust regression analysis by federal typing of nursing human resources from 31 Mexican states against macro-level socioeconomic development variables. Average education in a state was significantly associated in predicting all types of formally educated nurses in Mexico. Other results suggest that macro-level indicators have a different association with each type of nurse. Context may play a greater role in determining nursing workforce composition than previously thought. Further studies may help to explain differences both within and between countries.

International recruitment: Many faces, one goal-part 2

Squires, A. (2011). Nursing Management, 39(10), 18-26. 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000338303.02631.12

International recruitment: Many faces, one goal—part 1

Squires, A. (2011). Nursing Management, 39(9), 16-21. 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000335253.23789.98
Abstract
Abstract
Make ethically informed choices about international nurse recruitment that not only balance your staffing needs, but also minimize the potential negative aspects of nurse migration.

Måleinstrumentet "The Nursing Work Index-Revised" - oversettelse og utprøvelse av en norsk versjon [The instrument "Nurses Work Index-Revised" - translation and assessment of the Norwegian version]

Stromseng Sjetne, I., Tvedt, C., & Squires, A. (2011). Sykepleien Forskning [Nursing Research - Norway], 6, 358-365.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Mexican nursing

Squires, A. (2011). Health Policy and Planning, 26(2), 124-132. 10.1093/heapol/czq024
Abstract
Abstract
In the context of nurse migration, experts view trade agreements as either vehicles for facilitating migration or as contributing to brain-drain phenomena. Using a case study design, this study explored the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the development of Mexican nursing. Drawing results from a general thematic analysis of 48 interviews with Mexican nurses and 410 primary and secondary sources, findings show that NAFTA changed the relationship between the State and Mexican nursing. The changed relationship improved the infrastructure capable of producing and monitoring nursing human resources in Mexico. It did not lead to the mass migration of Mexican nurses to the United States and Canada. At the same time, the economic instability provoked by the peso crisis of 1995 slowed the implementation of planned advances. Subsequent neoliberal reforms decreased nurses' security as workers by minimizing access to full-time positions with benefits, and decreased wages. This article discusses the linkages of these events and the effects on Mexican nurses and the development of the profession. The findings have implications for nursing human resources policy-making and trade in services. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

A pilot study of a systematic method for translating patient satisfaction questionnaires

Liu, K., Squires, A., & You, L. M. (2011). Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(5), 1012-1021. 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05569.x
Abstract
Abstract
Aims. This paper is a report of a descriptive comparative pilot study of use of a method that simultaneously tests the content validity and quality of translation of English-to-Chinese translations of two patient satisfaction questionnaires: the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. Background. Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of healthcare services. In China, however, few good translations of patient satisfaction instruments sensitive to nursing services exist. Methods. The descriptive pilot study took place in 2009 and used content validity indexing techniques to evaluate the content, context and criterion relevance of a survey question. The expert raters were 10 nursing faculty and 10 patients who evaluated the two patient satisfaction questionnaires. The experts evaluated the relevance of each item on a scale of 1-4 and the research team compared their responses to choose the most appropriate. Only the nurse faculty experts, who were bilingual, evaluated the quality of the translation using a binary rating. Results. The 'Nurse Rater' relevance scores of the LaMonica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems were 0·96 and 0·95 respectively, whereas the patient's overall relevance scores were 0·89 and 0·95. A Mann-Whitney U-test demonstrated that results between the two groups were statistically significantly different (P=0·0135). Conclusions. Using content validity indexing simultaneously with translation processes was valuable for selecting and evaluating survey instruments in different contexts.

Health system reconstruction: Perspectives of Iraqi physicians

Squires, A., Sindi, A., & Fennie, K. (2010). Global Public Health, 5(6), 561-577. 10.1080/17441690903473246
Abstract
Abstract
In conflict or post-conflict situations, health system reconstruction becomes a critical component of ensuring stability. The purpose of this study was to determine the priorities for health system reconstruction among Iraqi physicians residing in the northern region of the country. A convenience sample of practicing male and female physicians residing in the Kurdish region completed a 13-item survey about health system reconstruction. A total of 1001 practitioners completed the survey with gender breakdown of 29% female and 71% male, all working in different specialty areas. Significant differences between the providers based on gender (p=0.001), specialty (p=0.001) and geographic location (p=0.004) were found to affect the responses of the participants. This study demonstrates that input from healthcare professionals is important for health system reconstruction, but that gender, geography and medical specialty make the process complex.