Rate My Professor Michael Hazelton

Michael Hazelton is Professor of Mental Health Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery within the Faculty of Health and Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He holds qualifications including a PhD, RN, MA, and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (FACMHN). Throughout his career, Professor Hazelton has contributed to key projects such as scoping studies on the Australian mental health nursing workforce for the Australian & New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses (ANZCMHN) and the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council National Working Group on Mental Health in the early 2000s. He has led evaluations of dialectical behaviour therapy implementation in regional mental health services and research on extended-hours community mental health teams. His work has addressed mental health reform, citizenship, and human rights across countries.

Professor Hazelton's research focuses on mental health nursing practice, including patient-related violence in healthcare, seclusion and restraint in forensic mental health settings, women's experiences in secure facilities, weight gain associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, visual methodologies like autophotography and photo-elicitation in qualitative research, swearing and verbal aggression in inpatient settings, nurses with mental illness, borderline personality disorder interventions, and bibliometrics in nursing scholarship. Notable publications include 'Hear My Voice: One Woman's Experience of Seclusion: A Case Study in a Secure Forensic Hospital' (2025), 'Understanding Women and Seclusion Use in a Forensic Mental Health Setting: A Retrospective Study' (2025), 'Conducting mixed methods research with women in a forensic mental health setting: A reflexive account from a nurse as researcher' (2024), 'What do we know about the experience of seclusion in a forensic setting? An integrative literature review' (2022), 'The Double Whammy: Women's Experiences of Weight Gain After Diagnosis and Treatment for Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders' (2018), 'Visual Methodologies in Qualitative Research: Autophotography and Photo Elicitation Applied to Mental Health Research' (2017), 'Mental health reform, citizenship and human rights in four countries' (2005), and 'Scoping the prospects of Australian mental health nursing' (2001). With 59 publications cited over 2,112 times, his scholarship has shaped clinical practices, policy development, and education in mental health nursing. He has served in editorial capacities and on committees advancing mental health care.