Prof Kim Usher ~ Adjunct Professor

Professor Kim Usher is an experienced mental health nurse and researcher. She is currently the Deputy Dean for Graduate Research Studies at the Cairns campus, Director of Research Education, and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Education and Research Capacity Building in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Nutrition. Kim is also a member of the Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Research, a Fellow of the Cairns Institute and researcher with the Queensland Tropical Health Alliance (QTHA).

In-keeping with her background in mental health nursing, Kim’s research areas of interest include psychopharmacology, the psychosocial impact of emergencies and disasters, substance misuse and the impact on the family unit, family centred care and family carers, consumer experiences in health services, and workforce issues. External research funding received includes numerous consultancy grants from the World Health Organization and AusAID,  APHCRI funding (2012-2015), Perpetual Trust grants, Queensland Nursing Council grants, and funding from other professional bodies and consumer groups.

Kim has published extensively in the nursing literature with well in excess of 100 peer reviewed publications and co-authored one book and many book chapters including ones on mental health nursing and research. She has supervised numerous PhD students to completion and continues to supervise a number of Higher Degree Research students undertaking studies in areas related to her research interests. Kim is also regularly sought after to examine PhD theses for other universities.

Kim is a current editor for Collegian and is a member of the editorial Board of Contemporary Nurse and Nursing and Health Sciences. She continues to review for many other nursing, health and workforce related journals. Kim is a past Chair of the Council of Deans of Nursing, is a member of the working party of the Asia-Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network (APEDNN), for whom she recently developed a course on the psychosocial impact of disasters now being used across the Asia-Pacific region, and has been a participant on many national and state level working groups.  

Interests

Research

• Metabolic syndrome related to antipsychotic medications; Psychotropic medication administration; PRN medications and related issues; Mental health; Substance misuse; Health workforce; Family health; Qualitative methodologies; Emergency and disaster response and preparedness;

Teaching

• Research methodologies; Mental health nursing; Ethics;

Experience

• 2010 to 2013 - Deputy Dean for Graduate Research, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 2006 to 2013 - Professor of Nursing, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 1998 to 2007 - Head of School of Nursing, Midwifery & Nutrition, James Cook University (Townsville/Cairns)
• 1993 to 1998 - Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville)

Research Disciplines

• Nursing (4205)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing (4504)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Provision of health and support services (2003)
• health (2099)

Awards

• 2009 - Vice Chancellor's Awards for Research Supervision
• 1999 - Golden Key National Honor Society

Fellowships

• 2000 - Fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
• 2000 - Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing

Memberships

• 2010 - Working Party of the Asia-Pacific Emergency and Disaster Nursing Network (APEDNN)

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Usher K, Fagan A, Brown J, Mather C, Marlow A, Power T, van de Mortel T, West C, Hutchinson M, Zhao L, Terry V, Woods C and Lea J (2022) The financial challenges for Australian nursing students attending placement-based work-integrated learning. Collegian, 29 (2). pp. 154-160
• Chamberlain-Salaun J, Usher K and Mills J (2020) Outsiders in the experts' world: a grounded theory study of consumers and the social world of health care. SAGE Open, 10 (1).
• Barrett F, Usher K, Woods C, Harrison S, Nikles J and Conway J (2018) Sun protective behaviors at an outdoor entertainment event in Australia. Nursing and Health Sciences, 20 (1). pp. 132-138
• Usher K, Woods C, Brown J, Power T, Lea J, Hutchinson M, Mather C, Miller A, Saunders A, Mills J, Zhao L, Yates K, Bodak M, Southern J and Jackson D (2018) Australian nursing students' knowledge and attitudes towards pressure injury prevention: a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 81. pp. 14-20
• Taylor S, McDermott R, Thompson F and Usher K (2017) Depression and diabetes in the remote Torres Strait Islands. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 28. pp. 59-66
• Saunders V, Usher K, Tsey K and Bainbridge R (2016) If you knew the end of a story would you still want to hear it? Using research poems to listen to Aboriginal stories. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 29 (1). pp. 1-13
• Usher K, Woods C, Lynch P, Pointing S, Budden L, Barker R, Catchpoole J and Clough A (2016) Is population flow an unintended consequence of alcohol management plans? Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26 (5-6). pp. 668-677
• Warsini S, Mills J, West C and Usher K (2016) Living through a volcanic eruption: understanding the experience of survivors as a phenomenological existential phenomenon. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 25 (3). pp. 206-213
• West R, Foster K, Stewart L and Usher K (2016) Creating walking tracks to success: a narrative analysis of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing students' stories of success. Collegian, 23 (4). pp. 349-354
• Nurjannah I, Mills J, Park T and Usher K (2015) Human rights of the mentally ill in Indonesia. International Nursing Review, 62 (2). pp. 153-161
• Robertson J, Stevenson L, Usher K, Devine S and Clough A (2015) A review of trends in indigenous Australian tobacco research (from 2004 to 2013), its associated outputs and evidence of research translation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17 (8). pp. 1039-1048
• Saunders V, Sherwood J and Usher K (2015) If you knew the end of the story, would you still want to hear it?: the importance of narrative time for mental health care. Qualitative Report, 20 (10). pp. 1594-1608

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 174+ research outputs authored by Prof Kim Usher from 2000 onwards.

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

• Laupu, W. (2015) The efficacy of garcinia mangostana L. (mangosteen) pericarp as an adjunctive to second-generation antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia: A double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. James Cook University

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
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