Impact Story: Jon Gullidge

Researching the decisions that shape mental health care

For Jon Gullidge, curiosity has been a constant throughout his nursing career.

Having worked across acute, community and mental health services, and now serving as Chief Nurse for Health New Zealand in Taranaki, Jon has spent much of his career thinking about how health services work and how care can be improved for the people who rely on them.

That curiosity, combined with the opportunity to work alongside several inspiring nurses who had completed doctoral study, ultimately led him to doctoral research – and support from the Nursing Education and Research Foundation (NERF).

Through a McCutchan Trust Scholarship, Jon is undertaking a PhD exploring how community mental health services decide who receives care, how quickly they are seen and how resources are allocated.

At the centre of his research is a deceptively simple concept: “acuity”, a term commonly used in healthcare to describe the urgency, complexity or intensity of a person’s care needs.

In community mental health services, acuity can influence decisions about access to care, prioritisation and workforce allocation. Despite its importance, Jon says there is often no shared understanding of exactly what the term means in practice.

“Through my work in and alongside community mental health services, I repeatedly encountered the term ‘acuity’ being used to make decisions about access to care, prioritisation, caseload management and workforce allocation,” he says.

“Despite its importance, I noticed that people often meant different things when they used the term. There seemed to be an assumption that everyone understood what acuity was, yet there was little consensus about its meaning.”

That observation sparked a research project that has since grown into a substantial body of work examining how acuity is understood, interpreted and applied in everyday practice.

“The topic sits at the intersection of nursing practice, service delivery and equity,” Jon says.

“It felt like an opportunity to investigate a concept that is frequently relied upon in decision-making, yet remains surprisingly underdeveloped within the literature.”

Since receiving the scholarship, Jon has completed confirmation of candidature, gained ethics and locality approvals, undertaken practice observations, conducted focus groups and interviews, and progressed data analysis across multiple phases of the study.

He has also developed and submitted scholarly publications arising from the research.

“What began as an interest in a relatively underexplored concept has evolved into a rich body of work examining how acuity is understood, negotiated and applied in everyday practice,” he says.

“It has been exciting to see the project move from an initial idea into research that is generating meaningful insights from clinicians, service users and whānau.”

Jon says the NERF scholarship has provided both “practical and emotional support” throughout the journey.

“Undertaking a PhD while working in a senior nursing leadership role can sometimes feel like a marathon within a marathon. There are moments of excitement and discovery, but also periods where progress feels slow and the finish line seems a long way off. The scholarship helped create space to focus on key aspects of the research and maintain momentum throughout the journey.”

Just as importantly, he says, receiving support from NERF was a strong vote of confidence in both the research and his ability to undertake it.

“Knowing that the nursing profession saw value in the project was incredibly motivating and helped reinforce that the work was worthwhile.”

The experience has also strengthened his belief in the important role nurses play in generating new knowledge and improving healthcare.

“Nursing has a long tradition of identifying problems, challenging assumptions and finding better ways of caring for people,” he says.

“Being part of that tradition through research has been incredibly rewarding.”

Looking ahead, Jon hopes his research will contribute to greater transparency and consistency in how decisions are made within community mental health services.

By understanding how acuity is constructed, interpreted and applied, he believes services may be better positioned to make fair and consistent decisions about access to care, prioritisation and resource allocation.

More broadly, he hopes the research contributes to conversations about fairness, transparency and person-centred care.

“If this research helps clinicians, leaders and policymakers think more critically about those decisions and supports better outcomes for people accessing services, I would consider that a meaningful contribution.”

He also hopes to continue supporting a strong culture of nursing research in Aotearoa New Zealand and encouraging other nurses to consider postgraduate study. Looking further ahead, Jon would love to continue contributing to research alongside his leadership roles and helping create opportunities for future nurse researchers in the same way others created opportunities for him.

“Research is not something reserved for academics,” he says. “Some of the most important research questions come from nurses who are curious about how we can do things better.”