Professor John Unsworth

Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

John Unsworth has worked in Higher Education since 2007 and has held posts at the Higher Education Academy, University of Sunderland and at previously at Northumbria University. John’s research relates to all aspects of workforce and workforce policy. John hold a Professorial Chair in Community Nursing Workforce and Policy.

John has a background in primary and community care having been a Nurse Director in a geographically large Primary Care Trust in England. From 2001 to 2007 John was professional lead for nursing, allied health and adult social care / social work within Northumberland NHS Care Trust. Until 2018 he was Board Nurse on NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group.

John has held a number of senior and specialist nursing roles over the past 37 years. He is a specialist practitioner in District Nursing and was one of the first nurse consultants in the UK. In 2013 John was made a National Teaching Fellow in recognition of his work around simulation education and student assessment in 2013. He became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2016. John has worked internationally to develop practice and higher education teachers in Thailand, China, Hungary, Ghana, Vietnam, Bahrain, Ukraine and in Grenada (West Indies).

John is a holds several Fellowships including being a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN), a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), a Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science (FEANS) and a Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland.

John was awarded made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to community nursing and community nurse education.

John is a Global Nursing Leadership Institute Scholar with the International Council of Nurses and is a member of the ICNs Audit and Risk Committee and has a lead role in influencing UK policy as Chair of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Nursing and Health Policy, Workforce Policy, Patient Safety, Workforce Development, Community Healthcare, Competence, Assessment and Feedback

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Digital health competence among healthcare professionals: A cross-sectional cluster analysis across 19 countries and regions, Mikkonen, K., Tomietto, M., Lee, J., Ye, F., Mandysova, P., Pekara, J., Kommusaar, J., Kangasniemi, M., Liao, X., Cicolini, G., Simonetti, V., Unsworth, J., Vizcaya-Moreno, M., Domingo-Pozo, M., Liu, M., Yamakawa, M., Utsumi, M., Domeisen Benedetti, F., Fringer, A., Hanssen, T., Hagen, A., Stock, N., Andersson, J., Hallgren, J., Egger-Rainer, A., Paal, P., Riklikiene, O., Grochowska, A., Stefanowicz-Kocoł, A., Ramos, R., Macalintal, P., Woo, B., Tam, W., Zhou, W., Jarva, E. 1 Apr 2026, In: International Journal of Nursing Studies
Measuring Advanced Practice in Health Visiting: development and psychometric testing of the Health Visiting Advanced Practice Scale in public health nursing, Unsworth, J., Whittaker, K., Fanner, M., Beauchamp, H., Morton, A., Atkinson, J., Nichol, B., Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Cicolini, G., Tomietto, M. 25 Feb 2026, In: Journal of Clinical Nursing
The impact of social media addiction on vaccine hesitancy among nursing students: testing an empirical model, Nichol, B., Erfani, G., McCready, J., Gordon, C., Unsworth, J., Croston, M., Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Cicolini, G., Mikkonen, K., Keisala, J., Tomietto, M. 16 Mar 2026, In: Nursing Open
Clustering vaccine hesitancy and social media use of nurses and nursing students: a cross-sectional study, Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Totaro, M., Governatori, L., Pastore, F., Di Lorenzo, A., Tafuri, S., Keisala, J., Mikkonen, K., Unsworth, J., Tomietto, M., Cicolini, G. 1 Aug 2025, In: Applied Nursing Research
Development and Validation of the Family and Community Nursing Advanced Practice Scale, Unsworth, J., Oldman, C., Atkinson, J., Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Cicolini, G., Mikkonen, K., Tomietto, M. 1 Oct 2025, In: Journal of Clinical Nursing
Factors influencing digital health competence among healthcare professionals: A cross-sectional study, Erfani, G., McCready, J., Gibson, B., Nichol, B., Unsworth, J., Jarva, E., Mikkonen, K., Tomietto, M. 1 Apr 2025, In: Applied Nursing Research
Factors influencing nurses and nursing students’ attitudes towards vaccinations: a cross-sectional study, Keisala, J., Jarva, E., Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Cicolini, G., Unsworth, J., Tomietto, M., Mikkonen, K. 1 Feb 2025, In: International Journal of Nursing Studies
Identifying patterns and profiles of vaccination hesitancy among nurses for tailoring healthcare policies in the UK: A cross-sectional study, Erfani, G., McCready, J., Nichol, B., Gordon, C., Unsworth, J., Croston, M., Comparcini, D., Simonetti, V., Cicolini, G., Mikkonen, K., Keisala, J., Tomietto, M. 1 Jun 2025, In: International Nursing Review
Leadership competences in undergraduate nurse education: Scale development and model testing, Conner, T., Allan, J., Annesley, S., Leader, C., Unsworth, J., Tomietto, M. 1 Aug 2025, In: Nurse Education in Practice
More than 90 years of Nursing Migration to the United Kingdom: Have We Really Learnt Anything?, Unsworth, J., Puthenpurakal, A. 27 Sep 2025, Globalization and Integration of Internationally Educated Nurses, Cham, Switzerland, Springer

PGR Supervision

Peter Dryden What are the Lived Experiences of Children and Young People of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Transition Process? Start Date: 26/06/2024
Kevin Murphy Lone working in Community Nursing Healthcare Services Start Date: 01/10/2021
Ogechi Okorie EXPLORATION OF LIVED EXPERIENCE OF ADULTS WITH TYPE II DIABETES AND DEPRESSION Start Date: 01/11/2023
Noreen Kilkenny The conceptual understanding of Patient Safety for undergraduate first-year nursing students on clinical placement- a phenomenographic study. Start Date: 02/04/2025
Caroline Bohlender Professional Regulation’s Contribution to the Development of Advanced Practice Nursing: A European Exploration Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 20/12/2025
Christopher Parker Exploring health inequalities amongst homebound older adults: a mixed-methods study Start Date: 01/03/2024