Professor Jane V. Appleton

PhD, RGN, RHV, BA (Hons), MSC, PGCEA, FiHV

Research Lead
Professor of Primary and Community Care

Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Jane is a Professor in Primary and Community Care in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences where she leads the Children and Families Research Group and is part of the Oxford Institute of Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Health Research (OxINMAHR). As a registered nurse and health visitor she has a long standing professional practice and research interest in child protection issues and work with vulnerable families.

Jane has conducted extensive work in social care and NHS services and has had research grants from a range of organisations including: Action for Children, the NSPCC, Burdett Trust for Nursing, DH, NHS England, Higher Education Academy, NIHR, Public Health England and the British Academy. Her current research programme centres on health visiting practice, work in schools, safeguarding children and child protection. Recent research work has led to the development of ‘Think Baby’ an online learning resource which is being rolled out across the UK to help student HVs build skills in assessing mother-infant interaction.

Jane is a Fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting, an expert nurse member (and vice chair) of Coventry and Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee (NRES), Senior co-editor of Child Abuse Review and a National Executive Committee member of the charity the Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP). Jane is an experienced research degree supervisor and a number of her students have won major national awards. Jane has externally examined 10 MPhil/PhDs, including international studies. She is a member of the NIHR HS&DR Grant Panel, a review panel member of the HEE/NIHR/NHS Clinical Doctorate Research Fellowship Scheme and the Pre-doctoral Local Authority (PLAF) scheme.

Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching:

MSc Research Supervision – Child Welfare and Wellbeing and SCPHN.
Co-Lead Applied Health, Nursing and Midwifery (UoA 3) Doctoral Training Programme
PhD Research Supervision

Supervision

Research Degree Students

Current students:

Helen Bosley ‘Maternal Attitudes to Antibiotic Use: A Community Based Case Study’. Director of Studies (DoS).
Sharon Brownie ‘Nursing and Health Service Leadership: The Power to Influenc’ DoS.
Sam Donohue. ‘What is the experince of professional enjoyment in nursing?’
Monica Duman ‘How are assessment tools and chronologies used by health and social care professionals to identify child neglect?’ DoS.
Grace Grove. University of Southampton. ‘Individual and area-based measures of disadvantage for improved risk stratification and possible intervention to improve health and reduce obesity in young families.’ Supervisory team: Prof. Nisreen Alwan, Dr Diana Smith, Prof. Jane Appleton and Dr Nida Ziauddeen
Josie Jacobs ‘A resilience intervention programme for parents in the 21^st Century: increasing wellbeing and promoting positive coping skills.’ DoS.
Elizabeth Jestico ‘What are parents’ experiences of being supported by significant others, when faced with making decisions about their child’s cancer case? A phenomenological study’. DoS.
Karen Lascelles. ‘Experinces and support needs of adult carers of adults at risk of suicide: a mixed methods study.’ DoS .
Catherine Lowenhoff ‘Moving on from ‘Listening Visits’: a mixed methods, multi-phase study exploring the support that health visitors provide to mothers with mental health problems’. DoS
Elaine Strachan-Hall. ‘The role of robots in nursing’.
Suzanne Watts ‘An Exploration of the referral and communication systems between primary health care professionals and children's social care services’ DoS.
Diana Yardley ‘An exploration of health care professionals’ perceptions of non-medical factors affecting management of Type 1 diabetes in children.’ Co-DoS Dr Olga Kozlowska and Prof. Jane Appleton.

Completed students:

Georgia Cooke – ‘Parental influences on children’s sleep’. Second supervisor.
Lauren Harding – ‘How do school nurses identify and work with school-aged children at risk of child abuse and neglect?’ Director of Studies (DoS).
Briony Enser – ‘Alcohol Driven Harm to Others’ Second supervisor.
Kimberley Harcourt – ‘Weight loss and weight loss maintenance using exercise, nutrition and behaviour change strategies among overweight men’. Second supervisor.
Jon Hyslop – ‘How do peer networks enable service users and informal carers to obtain and manage a personal budget?’ DoS.
Mark Mason. ‘The illegal drug use behaviours and social circumstances of older adult regular Class A drug users’. DoS.

Research

Jane’s programme of research has centred on health visiting and school nursing practice and safeguarding children. It encompasses a body of work spanning over 25 years, which has had considerable impact across the UK and internationally on public health nurses’ clinical practice in the recognition of children and their families in need of help. This programme of research has helped to unpack the distinctive contribution of public health nursing in safeguarding and child protection work. Jane's current research interests include:

Safeguarding children and child protection
Professional assessment in public health nursing
Health visiting practice
Children and young people's emotional health and wellbeing
Parenting
Childhood overweight and obesity

Research group membership

Jane is a member of OxINMAHR - the Oxford Institute of Nursing and Midwifery and Allied Health Research.

She leads the Faculty Children and Families Research Group and is co-Lead of the cross University Children and Young People Research Network

Externally Jane is an expert nurse member (and vice chair) of Coventry and Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee (NRES). She is a member of the NIHR HS&DR Grant Panel, a review panel member of the HEE/NIHR/NHS Clinical Doctorate Research Fellowship Scheme and the NIHR Pre-doctoral Local Authority (PLAF) scheme.

She is also a Visiting Professor and Member of the Children’s and Young People’s Health in Social Context CYPHiSCO, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, Sweden.

Research grants and awards

Current Research Grants

Appleton J.V., Aveyard H, Mumby-Croft, K. and Malone M. A synthesis of the evidence for effective parenting support.Public Health England. (Principal Investigator)
Malone M., Watson E, Appleton J.V., Brett J., Henshall C. et al. Investigating how nurse education prior to and during Covid prepares nurses for the pandemic: an analysis of what works. UKRI/ESRC/COVID- 2020-2022. (Co-investigator)
Appleton J.V. (PI) Think Baby - Take 2. Oxford Brookes University Central Research Fund. Research Excellence Award. (Start 2021-2022). (Principal investigator)
Paavilainen E., Appleton J.V., Baldacchino A. et al. “ERICA-Stopping Child Maltreatment through Pan-European Multiprofessional Training Programme: Early Child Protection Work with Families at Risk”. (RDAP-GBW-AG-2018-2 Domestic violence/European Commission). 2019-2021. (Lead investigator in England, UK).
Alwan N., Smith D., Roderick P., Vassilev I., Slater K., Appleton J.V. et al…. Combining individual and area-based measures of disadvantage for risk stratification and intervention to improve health in Wessex’s young families: The Wessex FRIEND Toolbox (Family Risk IdEntificatioN and Decision). 2019- Sept. 2021. NIHR ARC Wessex. (Co-investigator)
Burch K, Moultrie K, Kerslake A, Daru J, Green C, Sharpe M, Taylor V, Appleton J.V. (2017) Evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund. DfE. 2018-2021.

Publications

Professional information

Membership of professional bodies

Professional Body and Organisational Memberships:

Nursing and Midwifery Council (August 1986-date)
Honorary contract, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting (August 2014-date)
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) (August 1986-date)
Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) (Sept. 1989-date)
HEA – Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (August 2001-date)

Committees and Board Memberships:

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) – HS&DR Grant Prioritisation Committee since 2019.
Health Education England/NIHR/NHS – Review panel member Clinical Doctorate Research Fellowship Scheme 2018-ongoing.
NIHR Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (PLAF) Scheme Selection Committee since 2021.
Global School Nurse Research Consortium
Vice-chair alternate and expert nurse/HV member of Coventry and Warwickshire NRES Research Ethics Committee. Jan 2016 – Date.
Association of Child Protection Professionals (AoCPP) Anne Paterson Research Award Scheme

Editorial Boards and Expert Panels

Co-Editor Child Abuse Review (journal website).
Previous expert nurse/HV member to the National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health (NCC-WCH) Guideline Development Group on When to Suspect Child Maltreatment for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Staff Profiles