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Karen Willis

BA (Deakin) MA Hons (Wollongong) GradDip (Health Prom) (Curtin) PhD (La Trobe)

Senior Research Fellow

 

Email: k.willis@latrobe.edu.au

Telephone: 03 8341 8578

Fax: 03 8341 8555

 

Karen Willis is a health sociologist with expertise in qualitative research methods. Her position at MCHR is for one year (commencing February 2008) as a Team Investigator on COMPASS, with a focus on complex interventions in community settings. Her substantive position is Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania. In her PhD research (completed in 2001) Karen investigated the social and political context of women’s health policy in Australia, focusing on approaches to women’s health evident in the National Women’s Health Policy and BreastScreen.  She has also undertaken research on health consumer decision making: screening mammography, participation in chronic disease self management, and reasons for purchasing private health insurance.

 

MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS

 

Karen is interested in the intersections between health policy, social ideas and values, and individual health decision making. Her current research at MCHR is examining the implementation processes of complex interventions. She is particularly interested in developing knowledge about the research / intervention nexus and the contribution of qualitative methods in complex intervention research.

 

CURRENT PROJECTS

 

Qualitative Methods Advisor; Women and Weight project, Deakin University.

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

 

Refereed Journals

 

Natalier K, Willis, K. Taking responsibility or averting risk? A socio-cultural approach to risk and trust in private health insurance decisions. Health, Risk and Society, (2008 in press).

 

Willis K. ‘I come because I am called’: Recruitment and participation in mammography screening in Uppsala, Sweden. Health Care for Women International, 2008; 29: 135-150

 

Vogt, M, Willis K, Vince, J. Weighing up the risks – the decision to purchase housing on a flood plain. The Australian Journal of Emergency Management. 2008; 23(1): 49-53

 

Willis K, Daly J, Kealy M, Small R, Koutroulis G, Green J, Thomas S, Gibbs L. How to use social theory to produce qualitative public health research. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2007; 31(5):438-443

 

Green J, Willis K, Hughes E, Small R, Welch N, Gibbs L, Daly J. The contribution of data analysis in the production of high quality evidence from interview-based qualitative research.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 2007; 31(6): 545-550

 

Gibbs L, Kealy M, Willis K, Green J. Welch N, Daly J. What have sampling and data collection got to do with ‘good’ qualitative research? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 2007; 31(6): 540-544.

 

Whelan J, Willis, K. Problems with provision: barriers to drinking water quality and public health in rural Tasmania, Australia, Rural and Remote Health Journal 2007; 7 (online):627.

 

Daly J, Willis K, Small R, Green J, Welch N, Kealy M, Hughes E. A hierarchy of evidence for assessing qualitative health research. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2007; 60: 43-49

 

Willis K, Natalier K. Good Mothers and Good Workers: A Case Study Exploring the 'Seamless' Approach to Work and Child Care Responsibilities. Just Policy 2006; 39 39-44.

 

Willis K, Brown C, Sahlin I, Svensson B, Arnetz B, Arnetz J. Working Under Pressure - A Pilot Study of Nurse Work in a Postoperative Setting. Clinical Nurse Specialist 2005; 19 (2) 87-91

 

Willis K. Personal choice/social responsibility: women aged 40-49 years and mammography screening. Journal of Sociology 2004; 40(2):121-136

 

Willis, K,  Baxter, J, ‘Trusting technology: Women aged 40-49 years participating in screening for breast cancer - an exploratory study’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2003; 27 (3): 282-286.

 

Books and Reports

 

Willis K. Vogt M, Natalier K, Vince J. Flood Risk in Launceston: Understanding community perceptions and policy responses. 2008; Report prepared for the Launceston City Council, Launceston, February.

 

*Willis K, Elmer S. Society, Culture and Health: an introduction to health sociology for nurses, 2007; Oxford University Press, South Melbourne

 

Willis K, Craft C, Vogt, M, West M, Tree of Hope, 2006 Launceston City Council/University of Tasmania

 

Willis K, Craft, C. Fragile Pathways: the Trajectory from Child Protection to Youth Justice. 2005; Report prepared for the Tasmanian Government, Hobart, September.

 

Chapter in Book

Willis, K, ‘Analysing Qualitative Data’, Social Research Methods: An Australian Perspective, Oxford, Maggie Walter (ed), Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 257-279. (2006)

 

Willis, K. ‘Challenging the evidence: Women’s health policy in  Australia’, Evidence-based Health Policy Oxford University Press, Vivian Lin, Brendan Gibson (eds), South Melbourne: 211-223 (2003).

 

Conference Presentations (2008)

 

Willis, K, ‘Choosing to participate in intervention research’, British Sociology Association Medical Sociology Conference, Brighton, United Kingdom, 4-6 September, 2008.

 

Willis, K ‘Documenting an Intervention – Qualitative Research and Complex Interventions in Health Care’, 7th Qualitative Research Conference, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, 8-10 September, 2008.

 

Willis, K, Remaining relevant: teaching sociology in practiced based courses’, Australian Sociology Plenary, British Sociology Association Medical Sociology Conference, Brighton, United Kingdom,  4-6 September, 2008.

 

 

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Content Approved by: Director, Mother and Child Health Research
Page maintained by: Administrator
Last Updated: 24 November 2008