Staff profile

Ms Maria Irini Avgoulas

Associate Lecturer, PhD Candidate (Deakin University)

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Public Health and Human Biosciences
Department of Public Health

HS1-128, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

PhD Candidate (Deakin University) - BA, BSW, MSW, PHRM (La Trobe University)

Area of study

Public Health

Brief Profile

Ms. Maria-Irini Avgoulas is currently employed at Latrobe University in Melbourne, Australia and holds the role of Associate Lecturer/Placements Co-ordinator Rehabilitation Counselling in the School of Public Health and Human Biosciences. Maria’s previous clinical experience includes several years of working in health (acute hospital settings and in-patient psychiatry). She was also employed for a number of years with Centrelink, an Australian Government statutory agency.

Teaching Units

Maria is the Placements co-cordinator for Rehabilitation Counselling as well as a co-cordinator for a Core First Year subject Perspectives of Health and Wellbeing.  Maria teachers in the Rehabilitation Counselling Major in the Bachelor of Health Science as well as a number of subjects in first year across Health Science.

Recent Publications

 

Avgoulas, M and Fanany, R (2013) “Food and folk health beliefs of the Greek community in Melbourne, Australia,” paper presented at the 1st Global Conference on Food- A making sense of: Project , Sydney, Australia, January 30- February 1, 2013.  

Avgoulas, M (2012) "Welcoming the new wave". Vanilla Cakes and Lounge Magazine, Summer 2012, p. 10

 

Avgoulas, M and Fanany, R (2012) "Cultural Understanding of Health and Adjustment to Cardiovascular Disease among the Greek Elderly". The International Journal of Aging and Society. 1(4): 61-74.

 

Avgoulas, M and Fanany, R (2012) “Traditional Health Beliefs of Elderly Greek Australian's,” paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Aging, Vancouver, Canada, November 5-6, 2012.

 

Avgoulas, M (2012) "Where does the Greek Diaspora call home?". Vanilla Cakes and Lounge Magazine, Spring 2012, p. 54

 

Avgoulas, M.-I. and Fanany, R. (2012) "Religion as a Source of Resilience for Elderly Greeks in Melbourne, Australia" Athens: ATINER'S Conference Paper Series, No: PSY2012-0089.

 

Avgoulas, M (2012) "Culture and Health", Vanilla Cakes and Lounge Magazine, Winter 2012, p.52

 

Avgoulas, M and Fanany, R (2012) “Religion as a Source of Resilience for Elderly Greeks in Melbourne, Australia,” paper presented at the 6th Annual International Conference on Psychology, Athens, Greece, May 28-31, 2012.

 

Avgoulas, M and Fanany, R (2011) “Cultural Understanding of Health and Adjustment to Cardiovascular Disease among the Greek Elderly,” paper presented at the Aging and Society Conference, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, November 8-9, 2011.

 

Fanany, R and Avgoulas, M (2011) “The Role of Religion in Understanding and Coping with Disaster in Indonesia,” Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Psychology and the Behavioural Sciences, IAFOR, Osaka, 1-19.

 

 

 

Research projects

Ms. Avgoulas commenced her PhD in 2012 at Deakin University examining "The Transmission of Culturally Determined Health Beliefs among Three Generations of Greek families in Melbourne, Australia". Ms. Avgoulas will present initial findings from her PhD at the 1st Global conference Making Sense of Food in Sydney, Australia in January 2013. The 3rd International Conference on Health, Wellness and Society in Sao Paulo, Brazil in March 2013 and in May 2013 further findings will be presented at the 7th Annual International Conference on Psychology in Athens, Greece.

 

In 2011 a qualitative study was undertaken by Ms. Avgoulas examining "The cultural understanding of health and adjustment to cardiovascular disease among the Greek elderly of Melbourne, Australia". This study explored the health beliefs of elderly Greek Australians and the ways in which they understand both health and disease. It examined more closely the conceptualization of health of this group, their understanding of heart disease and the factors associated to becoming a person at risk, and, in turn, the social and cultural determinates of risk behavior. This study provided insight into specific issues affecting this population and can serve as the basis for interventions specific to this population. To date, the data has been used by Ms. Avgoulas for five refereed conference presentation/publications. Ms. Avgoulas has  attended the Aging and Society Conference held at University of California-Berkeley, in November, 2011 to present some of her findings, the Second International Conference on Health, Wellness and Society Conference at The University of Chicago in March, 2012,  the 6th Annual International Conference on Psychology in Athens, Greece in May 2012, the 10th International Conference on new directions in the Humanities in Montreal, Canada in June 2012  and  the Second Aging and Society Conference at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in November 2012.