Kirsten Firminger

Current

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Management and Leadership at George Washington University
Doctoral Candidate at The Graduate Center - City University of New York
Research Associate at School of Public Affairs -- Baruch College/CUNY

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Past

Research Associate I/Data Manager at School of Social Work, University of Michigan
Research Assistant in the Department of Psychology at University of Michigan
Research Assistant at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at University of Michigan

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Education

City University of New York Graduate Center
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

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Connections

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Industry

Research

Kirsten Firminger’s Summary

Working across multiple research grants with Dr. Shoshanna Sofaer centered on reporting health care quality information to the public, Kirsten Firminger's expertise includes gathering and analyzing qualitative research data, including cognitive testing interviews and focus groups.

Ms. Firminger has also worked with Dr. Sofaer to develop several public reporting templates, which involves translating health care quality measures and data into interesting and easily understandable presentations suitable for the public.

As a Doctoral Candidate in Social Psychology at the Graduate Center - CUNY, Ms. Firminger's research focuses on individuals who have voluntarily chosen to reduce their consumption levels, including the process of learning to reduce one’s consumption of goods and the impact of social context of one’s reduced consumption practices.

Recent publications include:

S. Sofaer, S. Hopper, K. Firminger, N. Naierman, & M. Nelson, "Addressing the Need for Public Reporting of Comparative Hospice Quality: A Focus Group Study." The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 35: 422-429, 2009.

K. B. Firminger, "Is he boyfriend material? Representation of males in teenage girls' magazines." Men & Masculinities, 8(3):298-308, 2006. Reprinted in Joan Z. Spade and Catherine G. Valentine (Eds.), The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2007.

S. Sofaer, & K. Firminger, "Patient perceptions of the quality of health services." Annual Review of Public Health, 26: 513-559, 2005.

Kirsten Firminger’s Specialties:

qualitative research, conducting interviews, cognitive testing, conducting focus groups, qualitative data analysis, NVIVO, quantitative research, survey development, quantitative data analysis, SPSS, SAS, presentation of health care quality information, information dissemination, template development, program evaluation

Kirsten Firminger’s Experience

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Management and Leadership

George Washington University

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)

Adjunct Associate Professor for GWU Health Sciences' Distance Education Program. Teaching Research Methods for Health Professionals.
Doctoral Candidate

The Graduate Center - City University of New York

(Research industry)

September 2001 — Present (8 years 3 months)

As a Doctoral Candidate in Social Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Kirsten Firminger's research focuses on individuals who have voluntarily chosen to reduce their consumption levels, including the process of learning to reduce one’s consumption of goods and the impact of social context of one’s reduced consumption practices.

Publications include:
Firminger, K. B. (2006). "Is he boyfriend material? Representation of males in teenage girls' magazines." Men & Masculinities, 8(3):298-308. Reprinted in Joan Z. Spade and Catherine G. Valentine (Eds.), The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2007.
Research Associate

School of Public Affairs -- Baruch College/CUNY

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

August 2001 — Present (8 years 4 months)

Working across multiple research grants with Dr. Sofaer centered on reporting health care quality information to the public, Ms. Firminger's expertise includes organizing, conducting, and analyzing qualitative research, including cognitive testing interviews and focus groups.

Ms. Firminger has also worked with Dr. Sofaer to develop public report templates, which involves translating health care quality measures and data into easily understandable presentations suitable for the public.

Current research projects:

“Evaluating the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative” funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, Apr. 2008 - Mar. 2012

Past research projects include:

“Developing and Testing Nursing Measures with Consumers and Patients” funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under the Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) , Sept. 2006 - Aug. 2008.

“Developing a Template to Report on the Comparative Quality of Hospice Services – Phases 1 & 2” funded by the American Hospice Foundation, Nov. 2005 - Sept. 2006 & Jan. 2008 to Jul. 2008.

Nursing Home CAHPS, Hospital CAHPS, & Ambulatory CAHPS as part of CAHPS II, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) and other sources from Oct. 2005 to Aug. 2007 (Subcontract from Harvard Medical School and then Yale School of Public Health)

“Translating Data into Information: Designing Report Templates for the AHRQ QIs” funded by the AHRQ, (subcontract from Weill Cornell Medical College) Apr. 2006 - Jul. 2006.
Research Associate I/Data Manager

School of Social Work, University of Michigan

(Research industry)

September 1997 — August 2001 (4 years )

Working as the data manager and research associate on a large, longitudinal survey study of women with a mental illness coping with parenthood funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Ms. Firminger's responsibilities included:

Quality control, maintenance and organization of multiple, longitudinal databases, including merging and restructuring complex data files; and the develop documentation for internal and external use. Contributor to the ongoing multivariate analyses of longitudinal datasets, including scale reliability and validity. In-depth literature review and assistance in manuscript writing and editing.

Publications:
Oyserman, D., Mowbray, C., Allen-Meares, P., & Firminger, K. (2000). Parenting among mothers with a serious mental illness. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70(3), 296-315. Reprinted in Margaret E. Hertzig and Ellen A. Farber (Eds.), Annual Progress in Child Psychiatry and Child Development, 2000-2001. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Research Assistant in the Department of Psychology

University of Michigan

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 1996 — May 1997 (9 months)

Conducted interviews with children, ages 4 to 5 years old, and undergraduate psychology students about their intuitive categorization of objects as part of research study by Drs. Scott Atran and Susan Gelman entitled, "Why People Are Not Animals: A Quest for the Origin of an Erroneous Intuition." Provided assistance for the design, organization, implementation, and analysis of experiments.

Primary supervisor: David Schwartz
Research Assistant at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology

University of Michigan

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 1995 — May 1996 (9 months)

As part of the University of Michigan's Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, created an online version of the exhibition catalogue, Karanis: An Egyption Town in Roman Times, including transferring excavation records to electronic form, electronic tracing of mapped sites, archival research on excavated structures, cataloguing artifacts, scanning of photographic records of artifacts and the sites onto the computer, and writing the html code for the website: http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Karanis83/KaranisExcavation/KaranisExcavation.html

Primary supervisor: Dr. Terry Wilfong

Kirsten Firminger’s Education

City University of New York Graduate Center

PhD , Social Psychology , 2001 — 2010 (expected)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

BA , Psychology and Anthropology , September 1994 — May 1999

Additional Information

Kirsten Firminger’s Groups:

American Psychological Association, PermaTemp, Voluntary Simplicity Circle, The InterDependence Project - Integral Activism,

University of Michigan Alumni
Baruch School of Public Affairs Group
The Psychology Network
Graduate Center-City University of New York
Justmeans - Green, CSR, Good Work, Sustainability, and Social Enterprise News and Updates
Univ. of Michigan Alumni Club of NYC