Western Australian Mental Health Nurse Research Network©
Established since 2024"Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes~
About this network
We are a group of mental health nurse researchers in WA that want to connect with our peers and colleagues who share our vision and mission. We welcome all Mental Health Nurses in WA (Academics, Clinicians, HDR students, ECR, MCR, SR) who are conducting and/or want to know more about research to join us.Our vision:
To promote excellence in mental health nursing research in WA.Our missions:
To increase mental health nursing research.To increase knowledge translation of research evidence to contribute positively to the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve.
Upcoming events
Monthly meeting (every last Thursday of the month)
Next meeting on 23rd Janurary 2025, 4pm, Microsoft TeamsPresentationAnnouncements
Transition to ACMHN Research SiG
Network Chairs
Dr Eric Lim
Eric is a credentialed mental health nurse with 20 years of clinical nursing experience and is a senior lecturer at Murdoch University School of Nursing. Eric's clinical research focuses on reducing health disparities to improve the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. His ISoLT research focuses on improving mental health nursing education. Eric is a Fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses. He is also invited honorary nurse research consultant (mental health) at Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group and Child and Adolescent Health Services.
Associate Professor Irene Ngune
Irene is the coordinator of postgraduate mental health courses at Edith Cowan University School of Nursing and Midwifery. She is a credentialed mental health nurse with over 20 years of experience as a practising clinician in acute general and mental health settings. Her research centres on the quality of patient care provided in acute mental health settings and the transition of care from hospital to primary care. Irene is passionate about involving consumers and their families in the care process to prevent re-admissions. She believes that partnerships in care are crucial for the well-being of consumers and their families and for ensuring that consumers receive the appropriate care they need.
Network Members
Dr Amanda Cole
Amanda is Edith Cowan Universities Lead, Mental Health and Project Lead, The Living Room. Amanda is a comprehensive trained Registered Nurse of 20 years, who has been specialising in mental health nursing in clinical settings and tertiary education for the past 10 years. A senior lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Amanda specialises in postgraduate and undergraduate mental health nursing, student wellbeing, and family research. Her PhD, titled "Narratives of 'living well': Exploring the experiences of family members living with a family member with depression," reflects her dedication to understanding the intricate dynamics of mental health, and mental health nursing within familial contexts. As the Project Lead for The Living Room, a pioneering low-barrier peer-led mental health service, Amanda is at the forefront of innovative initiatives aimed at enhancing student support systems and early intervention. Her multifaceted research interests also encompass teaching and learning in education, the promotion of wellbeing and primary mental healthcare nursing. Through her work, Amanda endeavours to advance knowledge and foster holistic approaches to mental health nursing and mental health care, striving for comprehensive well-being and transformative impact.
Ms Azlina Aripin
Azlina is a seasoned professional with 14 years of experience as a mental health nurse and a Curtin University School of Nursing lecturer. She did her undergraduate degree in nursing at Flinders University followed by master's in nursing at University of Notre Dame (Fremantle). Her research focuses on mental health nursing. She aims to explore on how mental health nurses recognise and respond to mental health clinical deterioration in acute mental health settings. The methodologies utilised are a mixed methodology approach.
She is currently enrolled in the PhD program at Curtin University.
Mr Ben Su
Ben is a PhD student researching neurodiversity using mixed methods at Murdoch University.
Mr David Kiguta
David is a credentialed mental health nurse with 13 years of experience as a registered nurse. He is a PhD candidate, conducting a formative evaluation of inpatient mental health nurses' psychotherapy practice in Western Australia using a mixed-methods methodology. David is committed to consolidating talk-based therapy and psychological support within the mental health nursing role. He works as a clinical nurse for the South Metropolitan Health Service in an inpatient mental health unit, where he applies his extensive experience to support patient care and therapeutic practices. David has also served as a sessional academic for Edith Cowan University and Notre Dame University, contributing to the education of future healthcare professionals. Through his research and clinical work, David aims to enhance the integration of therapeutic practices in mental health nursing, fostering improved patient outcomes and professional development within the field.
Ms Evah Ncube
Evah completed a postgraduate Perinatal Mental Health Certificate and a Diploma in Mental Health and is a practising midwife. She is currently completing her Master of Research focusing on the perceptions and practices of midwives regarding trauma-informed care in maternity services. Evah is very enthusiastic about this project and the expected findings and how they will contribute to positive health outcomes to the mother and infant dyad.
Ms Isha Sharma
Dr Lesley Barr
Lesley has been a Registered Nurse for over 20 years, working in the United Kingdom and Australia (Victoria and Western Australia). She is passionate about nursing and has held senior nursing and managerial positions in correctional healthcare and public health.
Lesley completed her PhD and undertakes qualitative and quantitative research in forensic and acute mental health nursing, with a specific focus on reducing restrictive/coercive practices and improving the mental health care for First Nation Australians.
Ms Liz Tshabangu
Dr Michael Leocadio
Ms Mingxin Zhang
Mingxin is a PhD student at Murdoch University exploring mental health nurses' experiences of the support provided by their organisation after experiencing aggression. Her PhD project aims to promote greater awareness of what mental health nurses perceive as critical factors to reduce the psychological and emotional impacts of experiencing workplace aggression. Before coming to WA, she worked as a lecturer/research assistant at the University of Sanya.
Mr Regan Preston
Dr Shirley McGough
Shirley is a credentialed mental health nurse and an experienced teaching and research academic. She is currently the Director of Work Integrated Learning at the Curtin School of Nursing and has a joint position as Research Consultant at the Centre for Nursing Research, Charles Gairdner Osborne Park Health Care Group. She has extensive experience in curriculum development and implementation and is a Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy. Shirley’s research foci include cultural safety, mental health nursing and educational research experiences, predominantly using qualitative and mixed methods approaches. She has a number of HDR students and is a member of the SCGOPHC Human Research Ethics Committee.
Our 2024 publications
Anyango, E., Adama, E., Brown, J., Ngune, I. (2024). An examination of the career decision-making self-efficacy of final-year nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 138. 10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106196Anyango, E., Adama, E., Brown, J., Ngune, I. (Article in press). The impact of final-year clinical placements on nursing students' career planning for the graduate year and beyond. Nurse Education in Practice, 76. 10.1016/j.nepr.2024.103944Anyango, E., Ngune, I., Brown, J., Adama, E. (2024). "I changed my mind after my placement": The influence of clinical placement environment on career choices of final-year pre-registration nurses. Collegian: The Australian Journal of Nursing Practice, Scholarship and Research, 31(2), 69-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2023.11.004Cole, A., Pooley, J. A., & Whitehead, L. (2024). Family members’ experiences with depression through the lens of Frank’s illness narratives. Collegian. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2024.09.005Cole, A., Kemp, V., Pooley, J. A., & Whitehead, L. (2024). Living with depression in the family: A narrative inquiry methodology for seeking meaning through stories. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241274666Cole, A., Pooley, J.A., Kemp, V., & Whitehead, L. (2024). Family members’ experiences of ‘living well’ with a family member with depression, Collegian. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2024.02.003Cole, A. L., Navin, F., & Reid, D. (2024). Exploring university student mental health and wellbeing through a low barrier peer-led service: Emerging insights from The Living Room. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association. In press for publication online first, end Nov.Cole, A. L., & Reid, D. (2024). The Living Room peer support training: Leading the way in unlocking mental health benefits for university students in peer-led service models in higher education. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association. https://doi.org/10.30688/janzssa.2024-2-01Davies, H., Gallagher, O., Cole, A., Crevacore, C., Kang, E., & Jutsum, K. (2024). Nursing and medical students’ views before and after participation in a simulated ward-based interprofessional learning activity: An exploratory study. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 97, 101632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2024.101632Hamilton, J., Cole, A., Bostwick, R., & Ngune, I. (2024). Staff perceptions on the effectiveness of GRiP-S, a new approach to clinical supervision incorporating Safewards: An interpretive phenomenological analysis, Issues in Mental Health Nursing.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2023.2280198Hon, K., Hamamura, T., Lim, E., Goh, Y. S. S. (2024). Nursing students' empathy in response to biological and psychosocial attributions of depression: A vignette-based cross-cultural study. Nurse Education Today, 141, 106309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106309Jones, R., Jackson, D., Rice, K., Fisher, M., Callega, P., Hopkins, M., West., C., Irwin, P., McGough, S., Luck, L., Walker, F., Whiteing, N. & Usher, K. (2024). Nursing/midwifery students' perceptions of caring pedagogy and online learning during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Advanced Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16224Kalembo, F., Wilson, S., Solomons, T., Ngune, I., Lim, E., Bosco, A., Kebble, P., Taplin, J., & Brown, J. (2024). Factors that influence international nursing students’ experiences and perceptions of their learning environments: A scoping review. JBI Evidence Synthesis.Kelly , M., Slatyer, S., Tutticci, N., Ramsbotham, J., Johnston, S., Ngune, I., Theobald, K. (2024). Challenging the nuances of pain assessment with co-designed audio-visual simulations in nursing education: A descriptive study. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 87(Article in press), Article number 101510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2024.101510.Lim, E., Nair, A., Zhou, J., Kalembo, F., Chen, W., & Dantas, J. (2024). Critical factors of international students to remain in their host country during a pandemic: A Q methodology study. Teaching and Learning in Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2024.10.005Lim, E., Wynaden, D., & Heslop, K. (2024). Mental health nurses' attitudes towards mental illness and recovery-oriented practice in acute inpatient psychiatric units: A non-participant observation study International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, doi: 10.1111/inm.13152. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 33(1), 189-191. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1111/inm.13224Lim, E., Tate, R., Sewell, A., Higham, K., Ferraz, K., Harban, K., Murdock, J., & Delahunty, S. (2024). Consumers’ experiences of comprehensive-prepared graduate nurses and their nursing care in acute mental health settings, Issues of Mental Health Nursing, 9, 1-7.Moyes, A., McGough, S., & Wynaden, D. (2024). Hidden and unacknowledged: The mental health and psychosocial interventions delivered by school nurses in Western Australia. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 33(2): 463-472. doi: 10.1111/inm.13261Nair, A., Kalembo, K., Zhou H., Ng, L., Hawley, G., Grogan, A., Ng, L., Chen, W., Daire, J., Lim, E. (2024). Mental health and coping strategies among international health science students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 19(1), e208-e216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2023.10.022Ngune, I., Wynaden, D., Heslop, K. (2024). Physical health of people with mental illness: A snapshot of consumer engagement in the provision of care in primary care. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2024, 7. 10.1080/01612840.2024.2312180Ngune, I., Ewens, B., Bell, S., Burns, B., Sutton, C., Creswell, C., Middlewick, Y. (2024). Nursing assessment of mental health issues in the general clinical environment: A descriptive study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 00, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16214.Preston, R., Christmass, M., Lim, E., McGough, S., & Heslop, K. (2024). Diagnostic overshadowing of chronic hepatitis C in people with mental health conditions who inject drugs: A scoping review. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. Doi: 10.1111/inm.1339
| Network peers | Area of research |
|---|---|
| Amanda Cole | |
| Azlina Aripin | Mental health clinical deterioration. |
| Ben Su | Neurodiversity. |
| David Kiguta | Role of mental health nurse in providing psychotherapy. |
| Eric Lim | Q-Methodology; Qualitative research methods; Acute mental health; Virtual reality aggression management; CaLD mental health. |
| Evah Ncube | Trauma-informed care in maternity services. |
| Irene Ngune | Quantitative and qualitative research methods; Nursing sensitivity indicators; Physical health of consumers; Self injury and suicide. |
| Isha Sharma | Child and adolescent mental health graduate nurse education. |
| Lesley Barr | Quantitative and qualitative research methods; Forensic and acute mental health nursing; Reducing restrictive/coercive practices; Improving the mental health care for First Nation Australians. |
| Liz Tshabangu | |
| Michael Leocardio | Mindfulness. |
| Mingxin Zhang | Organisational support for nurses who experienced aggression in acute mental health settings. |
| Mr Regan Preston | Hepatitis C in persons with drug and alcohol addiction; IV drug users. |
| Shirley McGough | Qualitative research methods; Cultural safety; mental health nursing; educational research; industry-driven research. |
Novice Nurses’ Experience and Readiness in Managing Individuals with Mental Health Conditions in a General Hospital: A Mixed Method Study - This study is an international collaborative work between MHN researchers from Singapore, Western Australia, Philippines, and Hong Kong.
Male Normative Alexithymia in men with mental illness at risk for aggression (MAMIRA) - This study is a statewide collaborative work between MHN researchers from South, North, and East metropolitan health services.