Senior Lecturer in Early Years Practice
I am an experienced academic nurse with over 30 years working in roles as a nurse, midwife, health visitor, and child protection advisor. I have substantial professional experience working with and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of children and families. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a registered Nurse Teacher with the NMC. I am the External Examiner for the PG Diploma in SCPHN (health visiting and school nursing ) programmes at Leeds Beckett University with a sound understanding of the regulatory standards governing healthcare education. I have experience as an NMC Registrant Visitor for the approval and monitoring of NMC approved programmes and have acted as External Panel member for other HEIs NMC Approval events.
I joined the University of Stirling at the beginning of December 2014.
Currently I am Programme Director for the MSc Early Years Practice (Health Visiting) and MSc Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (Health Visiting) programmes and lead on curriculum design and development and the support and co-ordination of the programme team. I am the Project Lead Lecturer for Unicef UK Baby Friendly University and Achieving Sustainability Standards and successfully led the programme to full accreditation as Baby Friendly in 2021 and reaccreditation in September 2024. l am the Deputy Fitness to Practice Lead for the BSc Nursing and BSc Paramedic programmes and an investigating officer. I have recently taken on the role of Learning and Teaching Officer for Health Sciences and I am a mentor for the university SFELTE Experience Route.
My research interests are in the field of vulnerable children, child protection, children's mental health and public health nursing (health visiting and school nursing). I am particularly interested in interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people, and the role of the school nurse.
I recently completed my PhD in Health Sciences investigating the mental health work of the school nurse in the context of Scotland. My study is titled "The role of the school nurse in supporting the mental health of primary school children: A mixed methods study".
Awards 2021 Winner Student Nursing Times Award (Education Provider of the Year (Post-registration)MSc Early Years Practice (Health Visiting) Progrmme 2018 2nd Place in Journal of HV Awards (HV Educator of the Year) MSc Early Years Practice (Health Visiting) Programme 2018 Joint 3rd place in Journal of HV Awards (HV Educator of the Year) Alison Hackett
My research interests are in the field of vulnerable children, child protection and public health nursing. I am particularly interested in interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people, and the role of the school nurse.
External Examiner
Leeds Beckett University
Commenced role as External Examiner for SCPHN HV and SN programmes at Leeds Beckett University on 1st November 2022
NMC QA Registrant Visitor
Mott MacDonald
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Higher Education Academy
Senior Fellowship Higher Education Academy
Higher Education Academy
Registered Community Prescriber
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Registered Nurse (Adult)
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Registered Teacher
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Specialist Community Public Health Nurse-Health Visitor
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Article
Hackett A, Stoddart K & Mannion G (2026) Understanding School Nurses’ Role in Supporting Children's Mental Health From the Perspective of Children, Parents, Teachers, and School Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study in Scotland. Journal of School Nursing. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10598405261416903; https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405261416903
Book Chapter
Building Effective Safeguarding Skills: A shift from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ in practice
Hatt J & Hackett A (2022) Building Effective Safeguarding Skills: A shift from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ in practice. In: Burrows P & Cowie J (eds.) Health Visiting: Specialist Community Public Health Nursing. 3rd ed. London: Elsevier, pp. 231-250. https://www.elsevier.com/books/health-visiting/burrows/978-0-7020-8007-4
Book Chapter
Social Policy, Context of Public Health and Organisation of Health Visiting Provision
Hackett A, Clarke K & Wilkinson J (2022) Social Policy, Context of Public Health and Organisation of Health Visiting Provision. In: Burrows P & Cowie J (eds.) Health Visiting: Specialist Community Public Health Nursing. 3 ed. London: Elsevier, pp. 71-86. https://www.elsevier.com/books/health-visiting/burrows/978-0-7020-8007-4
Article
Brown A, O’Donnell R, Eadie D, Ford A, Mitchell D, Hackett A, Sweeting H, Bauld L & Hunt K (2021) E-cigarette use in prisons with recently established smokefree policies: a qualitative interview study with people in custody in Scotland. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 23 (6), pp. 939-946. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa271
Article
Using the framework approach to analyse qualitative data: a worked example
Hackett A & Strickland K (2018) Using the framework approach to analyse qualitative data: a worked example. Nurse Researcher, 26 (3). https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.2018.e1580
Article
Bringing School Nurses into the safeguarding fold
Hackett A (2014) Bringing School Nurses into the safeguarding fold. Every Child Journal, 4 (3), pp. 18-24. http://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/bringing-school-nurses-into-the-safeguarding-fold.htm
Article
The role of the school nurse in child protection
Hackett A (2013) The role of the school nurse in child protection. Community Practitioner, 86 (12), pp. 26-29. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cp/cp/2013/00000086/00000012/art00009
Book Review
Good Practice in Safeguarding Children: Working Effectively in Child Protection
Hackett A (2010) Good Practice in Safeguarding Children: Working Effectively in Child Protection. Review of: Good Practice in Safeguarding Children: Working Effectively in Child Protection edited by Liz Hughes and Hilary Owen, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009. 288pp. ISBN 978143109457. Child Abuse Review, 19 (1), pp. 71-73. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.1104
Article
Risk, its perception and the media: the MMR controversy
Hackett A (2008) Risk, its perception and the media: the MMR controversy. Community Practitioner, 81 (7), pp. 22-25. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cp/cp/2008/00000081/00000007/art00007
Programme Director MSc Early Years Practice (Health Visiting) Programme Project Lead Unicef BFI University Standards Learning and Teaching Officer for Health Sciences Fitness to Practice Investigating Officer Academic Assessor
Module Co-ordinator for: EYPP10 (Action Research Dissertation) NURU236 (Health Visiting in Practice) HVPP003 (Autonomous Health Visiting Practice) HVPP006 (Safeguarding children: building effective health visiting practice)
