Psych: Social Sciences and Health Research - Postgraduate Students

Simonetta Cengarle

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Prof Lenore Manderson and Dr Narelle Warren

Institution:  Social Science and Health Research Unit, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University

Research interests: cultural aspects of science and technology in society, stem cell research, ultrasound imaging and women’s health

Working title: Banking on the future: the hope and hype of umbilical cord stem cell banking: the case of Singapore

Project synopsis: The research will examine the social and cultural factors that influence the availability of, access to and utilization of umbilical cord blood banks. It will look at how parents ascribe new meanings to umbilical cord blood cells to redefine their ideas of family and kinship relations, closely linked with the idea of hope. It pushes the limits of definitions and responsibilities of family and kinship relations. The cells suspended in liquid nitrogen connect these new expanded affective ties to biological technologies. The meaning of “future” that parents hope to shape for their children will also be analysed. The dynamics behind banking umbilical cord blood will be looked through the general shift towards the privatization of health care facilities, or more specifically towards forms of neo-liberalism.

Ella Dilkes-Frayne

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Dr Cameron Duff, Dr Penelope Hasking

Institution: Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; School of Psychology and Psychiatry

Research interests: illicit drug use; harm reduction; international drug policy; drugs and human rights

Working title: A mixed methods analysis of social norms and contexts of youth illicit drug use in Melbourne, Australia

Project synopsis: This study builds on current literature addressing the normalisation of youth illicit drug use, focusing in particular on the limitations of normalisation theory in explaining the complexity of youth illicit drug use in Australia. While normalisation theory is useful for explaining broad shifts towards more tolerant attitudes regarding illicit drug use at the population-level, it is limited in its ability to explain differences in illicit drug use norms and behaviours both between groups and with respect to individuals’ drug use choices in particular social contexts. The study moves away from the macro population level, to the micro, individual or social group level. The study will examine the nature of the relationship between social norms, contexts and illicit drug use; the variability in social norms between social groups and settings that young people occupy; and the influence of social norms on drug use behaviour in different contexts. As such, this research will illuminate the complexities that underlie the apparent ‘normalisation’ of illicit drug use among young people in Australia, moving towards a theory that is better able to explain, and inform more effective responses to, illicit drug use among young people.

Liz Manton

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Dr Milica Markovic (primary supervisor); Professor Lenore Manderson (co-supervisor)

Institution: Social Sciences and Health Research Unit, School of Psychology and Psychiatry

Research interests: obesity, risk, social constructionism

Working title: Obesity and late-middle-aged Anglo-Australians: understanding the social context

Project synopsis: While obesity can be understood in terms of its pathology, it is also a social phenomenon, dependent on socially and culturally specific values and understandings. In this research I use discourse analysis and ethnography to further understanding of the social context of obesity.  I examine how the obesity discourse in Australia has been socially constructed by powerful institutions. Using an ethnographic approach, I seek to understand the social context of overweight and obesity in late-middle-aged Anglo-Australians in a relatively disadvantaged area of Melbourne. In Australia, in common with other developed economies, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is inversely associated with socioeconomic status, and this research addresses why. While much of the study of this relationship has been based on people suffering the deprivations associated with poverty, the ethnography is undertaken in a community of ‘ordinary’ working class people to examine what other factors may be in operation.  I also examine the potential for the community and local government sectors to contribute to obesity prevention and management as assumed in ‘top down’ public health policy approaches. This research has implications for those framing public health policies and programs who need to consider the wider social context in which people live and experience being overweight or obese.

Megan McCarthy

Degree: PhD

Primary supervisor: Dr Samia Toukhsati.
Co-supervisors: Prof Lenore Manderson and Prof Grahame Coleman.

Research interests: human–animal interactions; pet ownership; attitudes and behaviours to animal welfare.

Working title: Attitudes and Behaviours towards Pet Ownership in Thailand

Project synopsis: The behaviours people display towards companion animals are influenced by perceptions and attitudes, and these influence patterns of pet ownership. In addition, these factors impact animal numbers; levels of care; acceptability of control measures, and practices such as sterilisation and vaccination; and levels of exposure to diseases, and diagnosis and treatment, for both animals and humans. Knowledge of these factors in their local context is crucial in attempting to understand and improve pet care and alleviate breakdowns in the human-pet relationship, which can lead to pet abandonment, overpopulation and disease. Thailand, like numerous other developing nations, has a growing number of cats and dogs considered as pets and a significant stray population and inadequate animal management strategies.
The aim of this study is to identify factors that influence attitudes and behaviours towards companion animal ownership in Thailand. The goal is for the resulting knowledge to inform interventions and education programs that can assist in improving companion animal welfare and public health outcomes. This local knowledge is important for the planning and implementation of culturally appropriate pet health care programs and the promotion of responsible pet ownership.

Azam Naghavi

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Prof. Lenore Manderson Dr. Katie Vasey

Research interests: Qualitative research, women’s wellbeing, chronic disease and disability, migration, coping with traumatic events and child abuse

Working title: Motherhood, emotional wellbeing and marital relationships among Iranian immigrant women

Project synopsis: Immigration can be an experience of separation and displacement for many Iranians. They struggle with the grief of separation from their family, relatives, friends and their homeland. These experiences may affect adversely immigrant’s emotional wellbeing. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of immigration on Iranian women. I will focus on the relationship between the practices of mothering and the emotional wellbeing of women after the migration to Melbourne, Australia. In exploring women’s health and wellbeing, I will also look at patterns of marriage, marital stability, and conflict resolution after immigration.

Jacqueline Nixon

Degree: MPhil

Supervisor(s): Narelle Warren & Milica Markovic

Institution: Social Science & Health Research Unit, School of Psychology and Psychiatry

Research interests: Physical activity and the relationship with health and wellbeing; Foucault – theoretical application; ‘Care of the Self’; type 2 diabetes mellitus

Working title: Care of the Self: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Physical Activity

Project synopsis:  My MPhil research project is based upon two increasingly prevalent and complex phenomena in a society: that of high levels of physical inactivity combined with the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus.  This is a multi-stage research project involving a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods.  Stage 1 of my project will involve secondary analysis of data collected for the CAMelot project (Phase II) which surveyed individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus and/or cardiovascular disease. Data relating to type 2 diabetes mellitus and physical activity will be analysed to provide descriptive and correlational statistics on large cohort. Stage 2 of my project involves in-depth interviews with a subset of these individuals with type 2 diabetes, who are in midlife (40-60 years) and from low income households in Victoria, Australia, to explore their experiences of physical activity while living with type 2 diabetes mellitus.  This research will help inform any future research into these topics by providing a representation of the ‘lay person’s’ point of view regarding the use of physical activity in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. It will also add to a growing body of qualitative research regarding physical activity, as well as the self management of chronic conditions.

Nicola Pitt

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Lenore Manderson

Institution: School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University

Research Interests: Sociology of Mothering, Sociological Methodologies and Knowledge Practices, Sino-American Relations, Psychoanalytic Sociology

Working Title: The (Never) ‘Good-Enough’ Mother in 21st Century U.S. and China

Project Synopsis: The proliferation of material that is available online on the subject of mothering can certainly be a good source of information for mothers, or any interested individual even; but the onslaught of advice, commentary and opinion can also serve as a sort of ‘information-overload’ insofar as the topic is concerned. The purpose of my thesis is to question whether globalisation and the politics of online digital technologies have transformed our understandings of what constitutes good mothering is (i.e. that with seemingly more information available does it then become more obvious and better understood that there is never going to ever be one, single, right way to mother and/or to achieve this completely)? Or, whether the effects of technology and increased online media communication have instead, only further intensified the ideals into even more unrealistic and unachievable standards then ever before? It is my aim to understand and make sense of these questions through an analysis of US-Sino relations and the sort of underlying cultural anxieties between them as fostered through debates such as what it means to be a ‘good’ mother in the 21st century.  

Meagan Wilson

Degree: PhD

Supervisor(s): Professor Lenore Manderson and Professor Jill Astbury

Institution: Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Social Science and Health Research Unit

Research interests: forced migration, cross-cultural psychology, coping with psychological trauma, liberation psychology

Working title: ‘The emotional wellbeing of women from Burma living in Australia’

Project synopsis: The broad aim of this study is to explore the emotional wellbeing of migrant women from Burma living in Australia and the means by which these women cope with resettlement, using a holistic framework that draws on the fields of psychology and anthropology. More specifically, it will consider how ‘Burmese Australian’ women conceptualise mental health. This will involve exploring how factors such as culture, religion, politics and society influence perceptions of mental health, the means by which these women cope emotionally and their needs in terms of re-settlement support. This multi-site ethnographic study will initially involve 6 months of fieldwork with migrant women from Burma who are living in Thailand. This will provide valuable contextual information about transitional conditions in which ‘Australian Burmese’ migrants have lived, and the ways in which Burmese migrant women in Thailand negotiate the Thai-Burma border and marginal identity. A subsequent 12 months fieldwork will be conducted with ‘Australian Burmese’ women who are living in Melbourne. Study methods include in-depth interviews, participant observation, photovoice and focus groups. Use of a multidisciplinary qualitative framework in this exploratory study should lead to an increased understanding of the culturally specific emotional needs of the emerging Burma community in the Australian context.

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