The Child and Family Health specialisation is offered by the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and is completed as part of the Master of Nursing (Coursework and Specialisation). 

This is to be read in conjunction with the course rule for the Master of Nursing (Coursework and Specialisation).

Admission requirements

Applicants must normally hold an approved degree or equivalent qualification and must be registered nurses.

However, the Board may, under certain circumstances and subject to specific conditions, admit others who can show evidence of fitness for candidature.

In addition, applicants must have a minimum of one year post-registration experience and must provide a supporting statement from their employer stating their willingness to facilitate the extended clinical practice components of the course within their workplace and/or provide evidence that an affiliated health agency will facilitate the clinical practice in a supernumerary capacity or nominate their requirement for university sourced professional experience placement.

This specialisation involves a Professional Experience Placement (PEP).  Please check additional requirements on the School of Nursing & Midwifery PEP web pages.

Specialisation aims

The specialisation aims to

  • facilitate development of specialised knowledge, skills and attributes for application in child and family health environments
  • extend student knowledge in research for practice development

Learning outcomes 

In addition to the Learning Outcomes of the Master of Nursing (Coursework and Specialisation), on completion of this course, students in the Child and Family Health specialisation will be able to:

  • identify the key concepts related to working with children and their families. These include keeping children safe, growth and development, attachment theories and engaging with infants, children and families;
  • contextualise working with children and their families in a broad primary health care
    framework;
  • develop the knowledge required to be able to support infants, children and their families to manage a range of parenting and child health issues;
  • identify and critique information required to be able to promote the health and wellbeing of infants and children being raised in circumstances that render them vulnerable;
  • demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and skills on how to affect social and behavioural change to improve the health of infants, children and families within communities; and
  • demonstrate clinical competency at an advanced level in the special area of child and family health nursing in community settings.

Program of study

Students choosing this specialisation undertake an 18 unit specialisation, 27 units of coursework and 9 units of option topics. 

To qualify for the Master of Nursing (Coursework and Specialisation) with Child and Family Health specialisation, a student must complete 54 units with a grade of Pass or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study set out below.

Except with permission of the Faculty Board:

  • no topic may be attempted more than twice;
  • a student may not include a topic which repeats work previously undertaken;

The award of a grade of Fail (F) in the same topic on more than one occasion or in 9 units or more, or failure to complete the course within eight consecutive semesters may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purpose of the University's Policy on Student Progress.

Not all elective topics will be available in any given year or semester.

Specialisation - Child and Family Health - Core topics

18 units comprising:

NURS8720  Primary Health Care Constructs and Contexts (4.5 units)
NURS8821  Health Maintenance for Infants, Children and Young People (4.5 units)
NURS8823  Clinical Practice for Child and Family Health Nursing (4.5 units)
NURS8824  Introduction to Working with Infants, Children and Families (4.5 units)

Core - Coursework topics

plus 27 units comprising:

NURS8825  Working with Vulnerable Families  (4.5 units)
NURS8826  Advanced Clinical Practice for Child and Family Health Nursing  (4.5 units)
NURS8827  Working in Communities for Children and Families  (4.5 units)
NURS9219  Introduction to Research (4.5 units)
NURS9222  Capstone: Advancing Research Knowledge to Inform Healthcare Practice (9 unit)

Option - Year 1 & 2 topics

plus 9 units selected from:

NURS9708  Social Context of Health and Ageing (4.5 units)
NURS9710  The Three Ds -Dementia, Delirium and Depression (4.5 units)
NURS8721  Community and Primary Health Care Nursing (4.5 units)
NURS8730  Diabetes Management (4.5 units)
NURS8733  Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes Management (4.5 units)
NURS9123  Epidemiology and Population Studies for Health Care Practice (4.5 units)
NURS9124  Advanced Thinking, Communicating and Problem Solving for Health Professionals (4.5 units)
NURS9126  Leadership in Health Studies (4.5 units)

In consultation with the Course Coordinator, students may select as their option topic(s) other postgraduate topics offered by the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science, excluding Professional Experience Placement (PEP) topics.