Contact
Biography
I am a mental health Nurse with clinical experience in medium secure forensic mental health care and acute mental health care. My research and academic work focuses on social determinants of health, particularly around health inequalities faced by LGBTQ+ people. I am very passionate about ensuring LGBTQ+ health needs are included in the nursing curriculum both at a university level but I am also seeking for this to be integrated into the NMC's standards for practice that shape our nursing curricula nationally.
My work involves a big mix of roles including teaching clinical skills, managing 'challenging behaviour', leadership and fundamentals of mental health care across our BSc and Graduate Entry Nursing programs. Additionally, I am an Admissions Tutor for the BSc Nursing (mental health) course and participate in our school and faculty level EDI initiatives as an LGBTQ+ Champion for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. This role is new in the Faculty and involves my Champion partner Leia Boote (School of Life Sciences) and I developing a range of initiatives for staff and students to increase LGBTQ+ visibility in the curricula and improving the experiences of LGBTQ+ staff and students across our Faculty.
Alongside my roles in the school, I am not someone that fits the typical description of a university lecturer for a range of reasons including the fact that I first started my post as a lecturer at just 23. However, as I am a firm believer that 'if you can see it, you can be it' I use my atypical position within our academic team to support students to realise their full potential as future nurses in whichever pathway they choose
Expertise Summary
My areas of interest, expertise and interest lie primarily in LGBTQ+ healthcare, in particular the specific health needs of transgender people. I am interested by the impact of health inequalities on mental health, and in identifying ways to minimise these through quality nursing care and nursing education, along with how Nurses can best manage discrimination in healthcare. As part of undertaking a MA in Research Methods, I am evaluating the potential benefits of using interactive e-learning resources for educating Student Nurses about LGBTQ+ health with the intention to develop this towards designing a curriculum guide for fellow clinical educators to use in teaching LGBTQ+ health and related topics.
I also have significant experience in managing challenging behaviour effectively through my clinical work and enjoy supporting students to build effective communication for deescalation from a least restrictive practice approach
Research Summary
Investigation into the relationships between BSc Nursing students' prior qualifications and their academic performance in the first year. This research intends to identify students who are more… read more
Recent Publications
Current Research
Investigation into the relationships between BSc Nursing students' prior qualifications and their academic performance in the first year. This research intends to identify students who are more likely to require additional support with the transition to Higher Education
I am currently completing an MA in Research Methods where my thesis is invesitgating the potential benefits of using interactive e-learning in teaching Student Nurses about LGBTQ+ health. The project aims to assess whether an e-learning resource can increase knowledge, skills, cultural competence, and confidence in Student Nurses in this area, along with evaluating the potential for this type of learning to lead to positive behavioural changes in clinical practice.
Along with research colleague Ash Collins, I am involved in a project assessing attainment gaps experienced by LGBTQ+ students in the School of Health Sciences. This work builds on Ash's primary work evaluating students' experiences of attainment gaps associated with disability and race by bringing to light disparities not currently recorded at the University of Nottingham or at other HEIs in the UK. Our aim is to use findings to implement localised support for LGBTQ+ students in the School of Health Sciences, and develop this where possible for students across other UoN faculties.
Past Research
Guerin, E. (2021) What Are the Benefits of Educating Nurses on Transgender Health? Transgender Health, 6(4), pp.185-187.
Jones, B.A., Bowe, M., McNamara, N., Guerin, E. and Carter, T. (2021) Exploring the mental health experiences of young trans and gender diverse people during the Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Transgender Health, pp.1-13.
Future Research
Once I have completed my MA in Research Methods, I aspire to undertake a PhD about nursing education on LGBTQ+ health. The intended output of my PhD project would be a curriculum guide for nurse educators to aid design and development of LGBTQ+ inclusive nursing curricula, including content guidance, evaluations of pedagogy and teaching modalities, and practical tools to enable successful application.
I am open to hearing from potential research collaborators and supervisors who would like to discuss developing future research in this area