Associate Professor Virginia Lewis entered the field of public health evaluation in 1987, working for the then Victorian Health Department. After completing her PhD, Virginia worked briefly at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, during which time she advised on methodology for a number of national longitudinal studies and undertook a study of children’s perceptions of work and life balance.

Virginia joined the Australian Institute for Primary Care and Ageing (AIPCA) atLa Trobe University in 2000, as a Senior Rese16 January, 2012d to a wide range of state-wide and national strategic evaluations including leading evaluations of the Victorian Primary Care Partnership Strategy, the Victorian Community Initiative Projects (CIPs) funded under the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS), the national school-based mental health promoting initiative MindMatters Plus and Mind Matters plus GP.  Virginia was co-author in 2003 of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing publication “A Manual to Guide the Development of Local Evaluation Plans: Evaluating initiatives within the LIFE Framework using a program logic approach”.

From 2006 to 2009 Virginia was Director of Research in the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (ACPMH) at the University of Melbourne, during which time she was responsible for the design, implementation and oversight of a range of research projects and evaluations, working closely with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in particular.  She continues in a part-time position providing expert advice to ACPMH.

Virginia returned to AIPCA as Director of Research and Evaluation and Head of the Centre for Health Systems Development (CHSD) in late 2009. As Head of the Centre for Health Systems Development Virginia contributes to a range of evaluation projects, including leading the team conducting the evaluation of the Connecting Healthcare in Communities (CHIC) Initiative in Queensland.   As Director of Research and Evaluation, Virginia supports the development and implementation of an AIPCA-wide Research Plan, and advises on research and evaluation matters.Virginia's academic research has been focused on social psychology, concerned particularly with attitude measurement and attitude-behaviour theory. She has extensive experience in questionnaire design, construction and analysis. Virginia has tutored at the University of Melbourne, lectured and tutored at Swinburne University, and lectured in Psychology at La Trobe University.  She has a diverse output related to research and evaluation in social psychology, public health and mental health: she has co-authored two book chapters, published refereed journal articles, prepared reports for government and other commissioners of research and presented conference papers.

Publications and Presentations
Refereed Articles and Book Chapters

• Merkes, M., Lewis, V., Canaway, R., (2010). Supporting good practice in the provision of services to people with comorbid mental health and alcohol and other drug problems in Australia: describing key elements of good service models. BMC Health Services Research, 10, 325. (ERA A Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Evans, L., Cowlishaw, Forbes, D., Parslow, R., Lewis, V.  (2010). Family functioning and the implications for treatment outcomes for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (A* journal/ FoR 1701)
• Lewis, V., Creamer, M., Failla, S. (2009). Is Poor Sleep in Veterans a Function of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Military Medicine, 174, 8:1  (ERA A Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Creamer, M., O’Donnell, ML., Carboon, I., Lewis, V., Densley, K., McFarlane, A., Silove, D., Bryant, R. (2009). Evaluation of the Dispositional Hope Scale in injury survivors. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(4): 613-617. (ERA A Journal/ FoR 1701)
• Forbes, D., Lewis, V., Parslow, R., Hawthorne, G., & Creamer, M. (2008). A naturalistic comparison of models of programmatic interventions for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 42(12), 1051-1059. (ERA B Journal/ FoR 1702 or 1103)
• Mitchell, P. and Lewis, V. (2003). A Manual to Guide the Development of Local Evaluation Plans: Evaluating initiatives within the LIFE Framework using a program logic approach. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra.  See http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs
• Hand, K. and Lewis, V. (2002). Fathers' views on family life and paid work. Family Matters no.61 Autumn: 26-29. Paper (PDF 234K)  (ERA C Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Lewis, V. with Hand, K., and Tudball, J. (2001). Family and work: the family’s perspective. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.   http://www.facs.gov.au/Internet/facsinternet.nsf/family/family_and_work.htm
• Lewis, V., Tudball, J., and Hand, K. (2001) Family and work: the family’s perspective. Family Matters no.59, Winter: 22-27.   http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2001/fm59/vl.pdf  (ERA C Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Sanson, A., and Lewis, V., (2001). Children and their family contexts: overview and introduction Family Matters, no.59, Winter. http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2001/fm59/as.pdf  (ERA C Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Kashima, Y., & Lewis, V.J. (1999). Where does the behaviour come from in attitude-behavior relations?  In Terry, D. and Hogg, M., Attitudes, Behavior and Social Context: The Role of Norms and Group Membership, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Lewis, V.J., & Kashima, Y. (1993). Applying the Theory of Reasoned Action to the Prediction of AIDS-Preventive Behaviour. In Terry, D., Gallois, C., and McCamish, M., The Theory of Reasoned Action: Its Application to Aids-Preventive Behaviour. Pergamon Press, Oxford, England, 1993
• Herrman, H., Singh, B., Schofield, H., Eastwood, R., Burgess, P., Lewis, V.J., & Scotton, R.  (1993). The Health and Well-being of Informal Caregivers: A review and study programme. Australian Journal of Public Health, Vol 17, No 3, September. (ERA B Journal/ FoR 1117)
• Borland, R., & Lewis, V.J. (1989). Changing behaviour to prevent the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Medical Journal of Australia, 18th September. (ERA A Journal/ FoR 11)

Selected Reports 2005-2010

• Lewis, V., Gardner, L., and Parslow, R. (2010). Evaluation of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Mental Health Initiative 2007-2010.  Final Report, September 2010. Report prepared for Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).
• Gardner, L., and Lewis, V. (2010). Barriers to Rehab Australian Government Mental Health Lifecycle Package. A Study into the Barriers to Rehabilitation. Phase Two – Evaluating the Feasibility of a Routine Outcome Measure for DVA Rehabilitation Clients. Final Report, October 2010. Report prepared for Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).
• Gardner, L., and Lewis, V. (2010). Barriers to Rehab Australian Government Mental Health Lifecycle Package. A Study into the Barriers to Rehabilitation. Phase Two – Evaluation of DVA’s Trial of an Electronic Needs Assessment Final Report, October 2010. Report prepared for Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).
• Lewis, V., & Parslow, R. (2009). Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS) Counselling Data Analysis. Report prepared for VVCS, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA).
• Hanley, F., Matthews, L., & Lewis, V., (2009). Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Veterans: a Literature Review. Commissioned by Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA).
• Lewis, V., Weiland, P., Parslow, R., and Densley K., (2008). Critical Incident Mental Health Support in the ADF – Implementation Evaluation, Final Report, June 2008. Prepared for Directorate of Mental Health, Australian Department of Defence.
• Redfern, J. and Lewis, V.  (2006). Victorian National Suicide Prevention Strategy-Funded Community Initiative Projects: Investigation of Sustainability. Prepared for Department of Health and Ageing, Victorian Office.
• Lewis, V., Macmillan, J., Redfern, J., and Bakacs, L., (2006). Evaluation of the Australian Network for Prevention, Promotion and Early Intervention for Mental Health (Auseinet). Report to Auseinet. Submitted to Department of Health and Ageing.
• Lewis, V., Marsh, G., Redfern, J., and Bakacs, L., (2005). Evaluation of MindMatters Plus and MindMatters Plus GP, November 2005 (not yet for public distribution). Report for Australian Professional Association Professional Development Council (APAPDC). Submitted to Department of Health and Ageing.
• Lewis, V., Redfern, J., Bakacs, L., Mitchell, P., et al., (2005). Cluster Evaluation of the Victorian National Suicide Prevention Strategy-Funded Community Initiative Projects, Report on Activities 2002–2004, July 2005, updated June 2006. Prepared for Department of Health and Ageing, Victorian Office
• Silburn, K., and Lewis, V., (2005). Evaluation guide for organisations implementing the Respecting Patient Choices Program, prepared for Austin Health, Victoria.
• Livingstone, C., Silburn, K., Lewis, V., Wain, D., & Bakacs, L. (2005). Allied Health Workforce Projects Evaluation. Prepared for the Department of Human Services, Victoria.
• Lewis, V., Jordan, L., Redfern, J., & Bakacs, L. (2005). An evaluation of the Primary Care Partnership Strategy, October 2005. Prepared for the Department of Human Services, Victoria. www.health.vic.gov.au/pcps/downloads/eval_pcp_strat.pdf

Conference Presentations (peer-reviewed and invited, 2005-2010)      

• Matthews, L., Lewis, V., Gardner, L., Hanley, F., Adams, K. (2010). Identifying and responding to the rehabilitation needs of Australian Veterans. International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, November 5-7th.
• Lewis, V., Silburn, K., and Marsh, G. (2010). Evaluating complex interventions in systems: logic models are more than pretty picture. Australasian Evaluation Society International Conference, Wellington, New Zealand. August 30th – September 3rd.
• Silburn, K., Lewis, V., Barry,S., and Akyalcin, J. (2010). Evaluating complex multi-level health system interventions: a framework and evidence from the Primary Care Partnership Strategy in Victoria. Paper presented at the Primary Health Care Research Conference, Darwin, NT. June 30th – July 2nd.   
• Adams, K., Lewis, V., and Matthews, L. (2009). What is a ‘successful’ outcome in rehabilitation for military veterans with physical and mental health conditions? Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Conference, Canberra, December 2-4th.
• Hanley, F., Matthews, L., and Lewis, V. (2009). Best practices in psychosocial rehabilitation for veteran populations: key areas for reform.  Paper presented at the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Conference, Canberra, December 2-4th.
• Averill, L., Parslow, R., Lewis, V., Forbes, D. (2009) Alcohol Use and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Australian Military Veterans. Paper presented at theInternational Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Meeting, Atlanta, USA, November 5-7th.
• Silburn, K., Lewis, V., and Marsh, G. (2009). Evaluating partnership approaches to primary healthcare reform. Paper presented at the General Practice and Primary Health Care Research Conference, Melbourne, July 15-17th.
• Lewis, V., Creamer, M., O’Donnell, M., Forbes, D., and Couineau, A. (2008). From Evidence to Practice: Knowledge synthesis, dissemination and transfer for better PTSD treatment. Symposium presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Meeting, Chicago, USA, November 12-15th.
• Lewis, V. (2008).  Current Research Impacting on Rehabilitation: A Study into Barriers to Rehabilitation. Presentation by invitation at Rehabilitation: Reflecting on the past – positioning for the future, a national colloquium, 7-8 October, Canberra, ACT.
• Lewis, V., Marsh, G., and Redfern, J., (2006). Mind Matters Plus: systematic delivery of evidence-based mental health programs in schools. Paper presented at the 17th World Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, 10-14 September, Melbourne.