Rate My Professor Brenda Happell

Professor Happell's research specializations are in mental health nursing, with a 100% focus on the field of research code 420504 Mental Health Nursing. Her key interests include consumer participation and expert-by-experience involvement in mental health services, education, and research; physical health care for people with mental illness, including cardiometabolic health and nurse-led interventions; attitudes of nursing students and health professionals toward mental illness; recovery-oriented practices; and workforce issues such as burnout and role expansion. She has produced over 400 peer-reviewed publications, three books—such as Sickness in Health: Bullying in Nursing and Other Health Professions (2024), Clinical Helper for Mental Health Nursing: The Vital Guide for Students and New Graduates (2020), and Introducing Mental Health Nursing: A Service User-Oriented Approach (2020)—and nine book chapters. Among her most cited works are "On exploratory factor analysis: A review of recent evidence, an assessment of current practice, and recommendations for future use" (2014, International Journal of Nursing Studies, 884 citations) and "The high prevalence of poor physical health and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours in individuals with severe mental illness" (2011, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 570 citations). She has received the TheMHS Exceptional Contribution Award (2019), Life Membership of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (2019), Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council Inaugural Lifetime Ally Award (2018), and Vice-Chancellor’s Outstanding Researcher of the Year at CQUniversity (2012). Professor Happell previously served as Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing and has contributed to policy advisory councils and international collaborations in mental health nursing education.