Dr Lauren Lines

Dr Lauren Lines (RN, BNhons, MN, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. Lauren has a background working clinically as a paediatric nurse for almost 10 years in acute medical and surgical environments. Lauren is a Credentialled Children and Young People's Nurse (CCYPN). In her current role, Lauren teaches undergraduate nursing and postgraduate child and family health nursing. Lauren’s PhD thesis (2020) focussed on nurses' experiences of responding to child abuse and neglect in child focussed settings in Australia.

Research Impact

In her post-doctoral work, Lauren is passionate about ensuring all children can live in safe, strong families and communities where they can reach their full potential. Funded projects included the Safeguarding Project which explored Australian nurses and midwives understanding of their roles in keeping children safe across, and the Educating Future Workforce Project which mapped interprofessional education for preservice (undergraduate) nurses, midwives and social workers to see if they are equipped for a collaborative public health response to child abuse.

Lauren's ongoing research builds capacity of the multidisciplinary child and family workforce to support children and families experiencing adversity. This includes exploring ways to better educate and equip early childhood professionals for interdisciplinary practice that support families experiencing adversity. Innovative strategies to better educate, equip and support the workforce include enhanced resourcing, ongoing support and practice development opportunities, including learning from the lived experiences of children and families.

Lauren's research interests include:

- Children and young people's health, development, safety and wellbeing

- Prevention and early support for child abuse and neglect

- Social determinants of health

- Health and welfare professionals' roles in supportin families experiencing adversity

- Paediatric nursing