Dr Louise Alexander
Senior Lecturer
SoNMP
Areas of expertise: mental health; mental health nursing; forensic mental health; stigma; mental health nursing education; mental health nursing simulation.
Phone: 03 9953 3108
Email: Louise.alexander@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Melbourne Campus
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1686-1476
Dr Alexander is a mental health nursing academic and researcher. Louise has worked as a forensic mental health nurse for over 10-years and has developed mental health nursing and correctional health curriculum at the post-graduate and undergraduate level. Louise is the course coordinator for the Masters of Mental Health (Nursing) at ACU. Her research interests include forensic mental health nursing, stigma, mental health nursing simulation, and perceptions of dangerousness. Louise has several publications and is the first author of a core mental health nursing textbook. Louise is currently co-supervisor of several honours, MPhil and PhD projects.
Download curriculum vitae
Select publications
- Alexander, L., Rinehart, N.J., Hay, M., Boyd, L. & Foster, K. (2022). Nursing students' attitudes and experiences with mental illness: A cross-sectional study. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, in press. https//doi.org/10/1016/j.teln.2022.09.011
- Hercelinskyj, G. & Alexander, L. (2022). Mental health nursing - applying theory to practice (revised edition). ISBN: 9780170387521. Cengage: Singapore.
- Hercelinskyj, G. & Alexander, L. (2019). Mental health nursing - applying theory to practice. ISBN: 9780170387521. Cengage: Singapore.
- Foster, K., Giandinoto, J.A., Furness, T., Blanco, A., Withers, E. & Alexander, L. (2021). 'Anyone can have a mental illness': A qualitative inquiry of pre-registration nursing students' experiences of traditional mental health clinical placements. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30(1): 83-92.
- Alexander, L., Sheen, J., Rinehart, N., Hay, M. & Boyd, L. (2018). The role of television in perceptions of dangerousness. Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, 13(3): 187-196. doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-02-2017-0006.
- Alexander, L., Sheen, J., Rinehart, N., Hay, M. & Boyd, L. (2018). Mental health simulation with student nurses: a qualitative review. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 14: 8- 14. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2017.09.003.
- Alexander, L. & Dearsley, A. (2013). Using standardized patients in an undergraduate mental health simulation: a pilot study, The International Journal of Mental Health 42:2-3, 149-164.
- Alexander, L. & Dearsley, A. (2012). Integrated simulation-based education in undergraduate nursing students. Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 7(1):62.
Projects
Project 1
- Title: Mental health entry-to-practice evaluation.
- Partnership between NWMH & ACU.
- Years: 2022 (no funding)
- Team: Prof Kim Foster (CI), Mr Nigel Toomey, Dr Louise Alexander & Mr James Metcalfe.
- Project details: There is a substantial mental health nursing workforce shortage in Victoria. To address this shortfall, the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) has been funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to increase the number of nurses in their entry-to-practice training programs. These programs build mental health nursing capacity at RMH through enabling registered and enrolled nurses with an interest in mental health to transition into this workforce through dedicated mental health academic and clinical training programs. This project involves the evaluation of these programs in a mixed methods study involving several phases (T1 and T2 data collection).
- Progress-to-date: T1 data has been collected and analysed (resulting paper under review). Data has been collected for T2 and the paper is underway.
Project 2
- Title: Resilience in healthcare trainee's study.
- International study involving universities from AU, South Africa, NZ, Taiwan, Hong Kong & the UK.
- Years: 2022 (no funding)
- Team: Professor Kim Foster (CI), Dr Louise Alexander, A/Prof Alicia Evans, Prof, Beth Jacob, Mr. Ron Trejo, Dr Mike Steele & Mr James Metcalfe.
- Project details: A mixed methods study exploring the factors contributing to psychological resilience in university healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Progress-to-date: Data collection (phase 1 & 2) complete; focus groups/interviews complete; data analysis underway. There will be several papers resulting from this project in 2023-24.
Project 3
- Title: Mental Health Intensive Care Response (MHICAR) Pilot Evaluation
- Partnership between NWMH & ACU.
- Years: 2022 (no funding)
- Team: Prof Kim Foster (CI), Mr. James Melcalfe, Dr Louise Alexander.
- Project details: The Mental Health Intensive Care Area Response (MHICAR) is a newly developed system response to implement evidence-based interventions to reduce the incidence of restrictive interventions and violence and aggression in inpatient mental health units. This exploratory descriptive mixed methods evaluation design aims to explore the impact and experiences of multidisciplinary staff and team leaders of the MHICAR team approach.
- Progress-to-date: Quant data collection (underway); focus groups (scheduled end-Oct); data base extraction (scheduled end Nov). Qual data analysis to commence soon. At least one paper from this project in 2023.
Completed Projects
- Evaluating the effectiveness of a pilot project embedding blended and simulation-based learning in the mental health curriculum of the Bachelor of Nursing course in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine. 2017-18. Teaching & Learning Grant, ACU. $5,000.
- Risk aware: enhancing students' clinical competence in risky environments through blended simulation-based learning. 2016-18. OLT Grant, Canberra. $209,000.
- Facilitating excellent teaching practices in role-play for the Health Sciences: A toolkit for staff and students informed by drama. Innovation Grant: ACU. $20,000.
Accolades and Awards
- Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT). Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (Educational Partnerships & Collaborations with Other Organisations), 25/02/2020.
- 2012 Outstanding Staff Member, Teaching & Educational Excellence, Holmesglen Institute - Finalist.
- Best Poster (as voted by conference delegates) for Alexander, L. & Dearsley, A. (2011) Integrated Simulation Based Education in Undergraduate Nursing Students, poster presented at SimHealth Sydney Australia, September 12-15, 2011.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Member of Australian Nursing Midwifery Foundation
- Member Mental Health Nurse Expert Advisory Group (Victorian Government, Safer Care) 2021- current
International journal review panels
- International Journal of Mental Health Nursing
- Clinical Simulation in Nursing
