Thi Thuy Ha Dinh

Dr Ha Dinh joined School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University in March 2024 as a Research Fellow. Prior to Monash, Ha Dinh has worked as a nurse researcher at Queensland University of Technology (2018-2019) and University of Tasmania (2019-2024). Ha Dinh completed her PhD (Nursing) at QUT in 2016, and before this she has been a nurse academic at Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam. Ha Dinh is dedicated to pursue a research career in nursing and has successfully received two prestigious research fellowships (Endeavour Research Fellowship, APEC Women in Research Fellowship) to pursue her postdoctoral research at Queensland University of Technology. Ha Dinh has been establishing her skillsets to be expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her primary research interests involved initiatives and strategies to enhance self-management capacity for people with chronic diseases, and along the career trajectory she also grows her interests in other spaces including health literacy, learning and teaching in nursing education and cancer care.

Chronic disease self-management

This has been Ha’s original research interest which initiated her PhD at QUT. Ha focused on educational programs that enhanced people’s understanding of their diseases and empowered them to be actively pursuing a healthy life while living with a long-term chronic disease.

Related publications:

Dinh H, Bonner A, Ramsbotham J, Clark R. (2019). Cluster randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a self-management program using teach-back method for people with heart failure. Nursing and Health Sciences. 21(4): 436-444.

Dinh H, Bonner A, Clark R, Ramsbotham J, Hines S. (2016). The effectiveness of health education using the teach-back method on adherence and self-management in chronic disease: a systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews & Implementation Reports, 14(1): 210-247.

Health literacy

During Ha’s PhD intervention project teaching people with heart failure, Ha realised that many people do not understand about the health system or know what to do when they need medical help, which has driven her to do further research in health literacy, which provided her insights into barriers people face in seeking healthcare.

Related publications:

Dinh H & Bonner A. (2023). Exploring the relationships between health literacy,   social support, self-efficacy and self-management in adults with multiple chronic diseases. BMC Health Services Research. 23:923. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09907-5

Dinh H, Nguyen N, Bonner A. (2021). Health systems and professionals are key to improving health literacy in chronic kidney disease. 2021: 1-10. Journal of Renal Care. https://doi.org/10.1111/jorc.12395.

Dinh H, Nguyen N, Bonner A. (2020). Health literacy profiles of adults with multiple chronic diseases: A cross‐sectional study using the Health Literacy Questionnaire. Nursing and Health Science. 22: 1153– 1160. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12785

Nursing education

As being a nurse academic, Ha’s also interested in research that look into what makes learning effective for nursing students.

Related publications:

Ramsbotham J, Dinh H, Truong H, Nguyen H, Dang T, Nguyen C, Tran D, Bonner A.   (2019). Evaluating the learning environment of nursing students: A multisite cross-sectional study. Nurse Education Today. 79: 80 -85.

Dinh H, Tori K, Hines S. (2023). Interprofessional disaster exercises for undergraduate nursing students: A scoping review. JBI Evidence Synthesis. 2023; 21(8):1–28.

Francis K, Tori K, Dinh H. (2020). Strategies to support the growth and evolution of nursing and midwifery education in Tasmania. Australian Journal of Clinical Education, Special issue of Nursing and Midwifery Year. 8(1): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.29661.

Nursing workforce

During her time at UTAS, Ha Dinh also worked in several projects that discussed nursing workforce issues, especially in rural regions including lack of professional development opportunities, high proportion of part-time jobs and high demand work culture that need further investigations and strategies.

Related publications:

Tori K, Dinh H, Mather C. (2021). Healthcare professionals presenteeism during a Covid-19 outbreak in an Australian rural healthcare environment: A case analysis. International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health. 18(16): 8336; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168336.

Mather C, Hammersley J, Bennett‐Daly G, Smart L, Guzys D, Dinh H, Francis K. (2020). Tasmanian nursing workforce planning: A way forward in 2020? Australian Journal of Rural Health. 28: 417– 418. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12652

Instrument development

Ha Dinh has found interest in conducting psychometric testing of instruments used in her projects, and later on, brings the lessons learned in development of new instruments. 

Recent publications:

Ha Dinh, T.T., Bonner, A. Psychometric properties of the health literacy questionnaire tested in Vietnamese adults with chronic diseases. BMC Public Health 25, 44 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-21156-7

Kruss G, Dinh TTH, Van Huizen P, Yeganeh L, Mahony J, Morphet J, Brand G, Crawford-Williams F, Cook O. Development and Pilot Psychometric Testing of the Cancer Nurse Self-Assessment Tools for Early and Metastatic Breast Cancer. J Clin Nurs. 2025 Jan 22. doi: 10.1111/jocn.17609. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39838861.

Ha Dinh has successfully supported Master of Nursing students toward thesis completion and is currently co-supervising a PhD (Public Health) looking at health literacy in Nepalese refugees living in rural Tasmania. Ha Dinh’s supervision approach focuses on providing mentorship and guidance so students can grow their own interest and motivation in driving their chosen research topics. She is inclined to support students in multiple topics and a range of research methods, particularly systematic reviews, quantitative and mixed method projects.