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Dr. Lydia Mainey

PhD, BA Health (Nurs), Grad Dip (Trop Nurs), MA PH (Health Promotion)
Academic
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Sciences
Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, Health Workforce Academy
About Me

Dr Lydia Mainey is an academic in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Science in Cairns, Australia. She is a Registered Nurse and has specialised in emergency nursing and, more recently, reproductive healthcare. She has a varied clinical background, working in emergency departments throughout Australia, the United Kingdom and Iraq, and as a public health nurse in Canada. Her management experience includes nurse unit management, shift management while under bombardment in Iraq, and she is now a post-graduate head of course. 
Lydia has been Head of Course of the Graduate Certificate in Nursing (Re-Entry) and Graduate Certificate in Nursing (International Registered Nurse Entry) since 2016. She leads curriculum development, external accreditation, and quality control processes in response to the broader health sector's needs. 
Lydia's research focuses on improving access to comprehensive, trauma-informed reproductive healthcare for women and pregnant women. Her research strength is intersectional qualitative design projects, though she also manages mixed-methods projects. She aligns her research with the following Sustainable Development Goals: #3 Good Health and Well-being, #5 Gender Equality and #16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

General
Background

Dr Mainey is a Registered Nurse who has had an exciting international career. She now specialises in abortion care, primarily at a strategic level. Lydia is a current member of the Queensland Health Termination of Pregnancy Working Group, MSI Australia technical advisory committee, and advises grassroots organisations and movements on abortion advocacy. Her doctoral thesis (2022) explored the experiences of nurses and midwives who provide abortion care to people victimised by gender-based violence. This research addresses a significant real-world problem (the lack of abortion access and equity) and has been heralded as cutting-edge with the potential to “change the way we think about nursing care itself” (Dr Ryan Essex, thesis examiner).

Lydia excels in creating boutique courses for unique student cohorts. She has designed and coordinated multiple student-centred units across the undergraduate and postgraduate nursing courses to prepare the nurses of the future. All her units align with the sustainable development goals and incorporate social justice content. She is an educational innovator, consistently exploring pedagogically sound ways to make her teaching more engaging, accessible, and authentic. For example, she has implemented Group Accountability Study (GAS) teams to create a strong learner community and audiobooks to make learning materials easier to access for non-traditional learners and people with busy lives. She also has a knack for teaching highly complex concepts in simple terms and in a highly supported manner. When times are tough, it is not beyond Lydia to ask students to attend class in fancy dress because she understands that creativity and laughter reduce stress and increase people's ability to learn.

Lydia is committed to creating environments where people from diverse backgrounds can flourish. She uses intersectional strategies, is self-reflective and values non-traditional learners, people affected by socio-economic hardship, LGBTIQ+ people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. 

Universities Studied At


Central Queensland UniversityBachelor of Health (Nursing)1999 - 2002
London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineGrad Dip Tropical Nursing2007
James Cook UniversityMasters Public Health (Health Promotion)2010 - 2014


Universities Worked At

CQUniversity Australia

Awards

Commendation - Student Voice Award for On-Campus Educator of the Year 2019

Commendation - Student Voice Award for Educator of the Year 2019

Commendation - Student Voice Award for Distance Educator of the Year 2019

Commendation - Student Voice Award for Distance Educator of the Year 2017

Media Citations

https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/partyline/article/call-rethink-abortion-service-accessibility

http://uninews.cqu.edu.au/UniNews/viewStory.do?story=4892

undefinedundefinedhttps://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/i-was-forced-into-an-abortion-by-a-nrl-player-and-i-regret-it/news-story/15628c8702428fe45bffe4dd427e3847?btr=515e8f1e60bb0060436c16c8f0082203

https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/news/reproductive-coercion-is-the-latest-tactic-used-by-domestic-abusers/news-story/0f53c77e2da14fa4f0e2557a3e084205


Professional Experience

Australia:
Registered Nurse - emergency, remote Indigenous primary care, academia.

United Kingdom:
Registered Nurse - emergency, family care (paediatrics)

Iraq:
Registered Nurse - emergency

Canada:
Registered Nurse - remote Indigenous public health

Professional Memberships

Member Australian College of Nursing

Australasian Sexual Health & HIV Nurses Association

Senior Fellow - Higher Education Academy

Research Supervision
Accreditation

I am currently accredited for supervision in the following:

  • 4205 Nursing
  • 4405 Gender studies
  • 4203 Health services and systems
  • 4206 Public health

At the level of Associate Supervisor


Current Capacity
I am currently available to supervise more research candidates
Current Supervision
Doctor of Philosophy
Exploring the adoption and use of social media by Queensland Health: challenges and pitfalls
Associate Supervisor
Research Interests
Health Sciences

Other health sciences - Other health sciences not elsewhere classified
Nursing

Health Sciences

Public health - Health equity

Human Society

Gender studies - Feminist methodologies

Publications
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Teaching
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