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CHAPTER 27 Ramona T. Mercer 539

to full professor in 1983. She remained in that role Parents at Risk, published in 1990, also received an
until her retirement in 1987. Currently, Dr. Mercer American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award.
is Professor Emeritus in Family Health Nursing at Parents at Risk (1990) focused on strategies for facili-
the University of California, San Francisco (Mercer, tating early parent-infant interactions and promoting
curriculum vitae, 2002). parental competence in relation to specific risk situa-
Mercer received awards throughout her career. In tions. Mercer’s sixth book, Becoming a Mother: Research
1963, while working and pursuing studies in nursing, on Maternal Identity from Rubin to the Present, was
she received the Department of Health, Education, and published by Springer Publishing Company of New
Welfare Public Health Service Nurse Trainee Award at York in 1995. This book contains a more complete
Emory University and was inducted into Sigma Theta description of Mercer’s Theory of Maternal Role At-
Tau. She received this award again during her years tainment and her framework for studying variables
at the University of Pittsburgh. She also received the that impact the maternal role.
Bixler Scholarship for Nursing Education and Re- Since her first publication in 1968, Mercer has
search, Southern Regional Board, for doctoral study. In written numerous articles for both nursing and non-
1982, she received the Maternal Child Health Nurse of nursing journals. She published several online courses
the Year Award from the National Foundation of the for Nurseweek during the 1990s and through early
March of Dimes and American Nurses Association, 2000, including “Adolescent Sexuality and Child-
Division of Maternal Child Health Practice. She bearing,” “Transitions to Parenthood,” and “Helping
was presented with the Fourth Annual Helen Nahm Parents When the Unexpected Occurs.”
Lecturer Award at the University of California, San Mercer maintained membership in several profes-
Francisco School of Nursing, in 1984. Mercer’s research sional organizations, including the American Nurses
awards include the American Society for Psychopro- Association and the American Academy of Nursing,
phylaxis in Obstetrics (ASPO)/Lamaze National Re- and was an active member on many national commit-
search Award in 1987; the Distinguished Research tees. From 1983 to 1990, she was Associate Editor of
Lectureship Award, Western Institute of Nursing, Health Care for Women International. Mercer served
Western Society for Research in Nursing in 1988; and on the review panel for Nursing Research and Western
the American Nurses Foundation’s Distinguished Con- Journal of Nursing Research and on the editorial board
tribution to Nursing Science Award in 1990 (Mercer, of the Journal of Adolescent Health Care, and she
curriculum vitae, 2002). Mercer has authored numerous was on the executive advisory board of Nurseweek.
articles, editorials, and commentaries. In addition, she She also served as a reviewer for numerous grant pro-
has published six books and six book chapters. posals. Additionally, she was actively involved with
In early research efforts, Mercer focused on the regional, national, and international scientific and
behaviors and needs of breastfeeding mothers, moth- professional meetings and workshops (Mercer, cur-
ers with postpartum illness, mothers bearing infants riculum vitae, 2002). She was honored as a Living
with defects, and teenage mothers. Her first book, Legend by the American Academy of Nursing during
Nursing Care for Parents at Risk (1977), received an the Annual Meeting and Conference in Carlsbad,
American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award California, in November 2003. Mercer was honored
in 1978. Her study of teenage mothers over the by the University of New Mexico in 2004, receiving
first year of motherhood resulted in the 1979 book, the first College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni
Perspectives on Adolescent Health Care, which also Award. In 2005, she was recognized as among the
received an American Journal of Nursing Book of the most outstanding alumni and faculty, and her name
Year Award in 1980. Preceding research led Mercer to appears on the Wall of Fame at the University of
study family relationships, antepartal stress as related California, San Francisco.
to familial relationships and the maternal role, and
mothers of various ages. In 1986, Mercer’s research on
three age groups of mothers was drawn together in Theoretical Sources
her third book, First-Time Motherhood: Experiences Mercer’s Theory of Maternal Role Attainment was
from Teens to Forties (1986a). Mercer’s fifth book, based on her extensive research on the topic beginning