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Emeritus Professor
Helen Edwards
Faculty of Health,
Office of the Executive Dean, Health
Biography
BackgroundProfessor Helen Edwards has worked in tertiary education for 28 years, and has been Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at QUT since 1997. Under her direction, the School has developed a leading reputation nationally and internationally, and is known for its extensive range of courses, positive graduate outcomes, effective industry linkages, quality PhD program, and high research profile.
Professor Edwards’s own research has focussed on clinical and educational interventions related to ageing and chronic disease. In particular Professor Edwards research interests include
- self management
- wound healing
- quality of life and family care giving
- intervention trials.
She has received significant funding, including NHMRC and ARC grants, to examine models of
- care for people with chronic leg ulcers
- self management of chronic disease
- family care-giving
- resident-staff interactions
- the impact of quality of care on quality of life.
From this, she has authored 80 refereed articles, seven book chapters, and 15 research reports. Professor Edwards co-edited the medical-surgical textbook that has been adopted by most Australian nursing schools (Brown, D., Edwards, H. (2007) Lewis’s Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems 2nd ed Australia: Elsevier).
She has also been a Director of Queensland Villages, an organisation that manages three retirement villages in Queensland. Professor Edwards is the Director for the Queensland Dementia Training and Study Centre and a member of the Dementia Collaborative Reserach Centre - Carers and Consumers. She is also a Program Leader for the Cooperative Research Centre for Wound Management Innovation.
Project highlights
- 2010-2018: Cooperative Research Centre for Wound Management Innovation. Commonwealth Government
- 2010-2013: Queensland Dementia Training and Study Centre (Department of Health and Ageing)
- 2009-2010: Pathways to healing: determining effective care pathways for chronic wounds for timely healing, prevention and cost effectiveness, Australian Research Council Linkage
- 2009-2010: Online Geriatric Assessment, National Health and Medical Research Council.
- 2008-2012: Preventing hospital readmissions and loss of functional ability in high risk older adults: a randomised controlled trial, Australian Research Council
- 2008-2010: Creating Champions for Skin Integrity – Encouraging Best Practice in Residential Aged Care, Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing.
- 2007 - 2010: Can a palliative care framework ameliorate complicated grief and improve medium term health outcomes in carers of people at the terminal stage of a dementing illness, Alzheimer’s Australia Research (Scholarship).
Industry research activities
- 2008 -2012: Strategic Development of nursing through nurse education in Viet Nam, Atlantic Philanthropies
- 2009: Wound Healing Outreach Program, QUT Engagement Innovation Fund
- 2007- 2008: Wound Healing Community Outreach Service Project, Cecilia Kilkeary Foundation.
Personal details
Positions
- Emeritus Professor
Faculty of Health,
Office of the Executive Dean, Health
Keywords
Ageing And Dementia, Chronic Disease And Symptom Management, Clinical Interventions, Family Care Giving, Models Of Care, Pain Management, Wound Management
Research field
Nursing
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Dr of Philosophy (University of Queensland)
- BA(Hons) (University of Queensland)
- DipAppSc (Queensland Inst. of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
- Association of Queensland Nurse Leaders
- Australian Association of Gerontology
- Australian Masters in Aged Care Services (AMACS)
- Australian Wound Management Association
- Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses
- Commonwealth Department of Health & Ageing—Aged Care Workforce Committee
- Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia & New Zealand)
- International Partners in Self-management and Empowerment Research Group
- International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (INDEN)
- Queensland Health Nursing and Midwifery Education Alliance
- Queensland Nurse Academic Forum
- Royal College of Nursing Australia (Fellow)
- Sigma Theta Tau International—Zeta Omega
Publications
- Edwards, H., Courtney, M., Finlayson, K., Shuter, P. & Lindsay, E. (2009). A randomised controlled trial of a community nursing intervention: improved quality of life and healing for clients with chronic leg ulcers. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(11), 1541–1549. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/20396
- Finlayson, K., Edwards, H. & Courtney, M. (2009). Factors associated with recurrence of venous leg ulcers: A survey and retrospective chart review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46(8), 1071–1078. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31364
- Gordon, L., Edwards, H., Courtney, M., Finlayson, K., Shuter, P. & Lindsay, E. (2006). A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Two Community Models of Care for Patients with Venous Leg Ulcers. Journal of wound care, 15(8), 348–353. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/8775
- Pan, I., Edwards, H. & Chang, A. (2009). Taiwanese nursing students' attitudes toward older people. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 35(11), 50–55. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/32081
- Huang, M., Courtney, M., Edwards, H. & McDowell, J. (2009). Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the diabetes coping measure scale. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 41(4), 385–390. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31613
- Graves, N., Courtney, M., Edwards, H., Chang, A., Parker, T. & Finlayson, K. (2009). Cost-effectiveness of an intervention to reduce emergency re-admissions to hospital among older patients. PLoS One, 4(10), 1–9. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/29946
- Courtney, M., Edwards, H., Chang, A., Parker, T., Finlayson, K. & Hamilton, K. (2009). Fewer emergency readmissions and better quality of life for older adults at risk of hospital readmission : a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of a 24-week exercise and telephone follow-up program. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 57(3), 395–402. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/18910
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Helen, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/h.edwards
Supervision
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- A mixed-methods investigation of foot self-care practices among people with diabetes mellitus in Qatar (2024)
- An Exploration of Discharge Planning Practices in a Hospital in Indonesia (2024)
- Effectiveness of the champions for skin integrity model for facilitating uptake of evidence-based diabetic foot ulcer care among healthcare professionals in Sri Lanka (2023)
- Adherence to Wearing Removable Cast Walkers in Patients with Diabetes-related Foot Ulcers: A Mixed Methods Investigation (2021)
- "Bereavement without Death": Improving Psychosocial Support of Spousal Family Carers of People with Dementia Following Placement into Residential Care (2020)
- Alcohol Use and Associated Health Behaviours of Women who have Been Treated for Breast Cancer (2019)
- Development and Validation of a Surgical Wound Assessment Tool for use in Vietnam (2019)
- Foot Self-Care among Patients with Diabetes in Vietnam: The Effectiveness of an Education Program to Fill the Self-Care Gap (2019)
- Investigation of Predictors of Recurrent Venous Leg Ulcers and Validation of a Recurrence Risk Assessment Tool (2019)
- Risk Factors Associated with Infection in Patients with Chronic Leg Ulcers (2019)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.