Expertise
Social Science; Ethnography; Narrative and Participatory Methods; Health Inequalities; Migration
Biography
My research uses narrative, ethnographic and participatory approaches to examine the ways that people experience health and illness and make decisions over treatment use. I am particularly interested in understanding how health 'conditions' become medicalised, and the ways this inter-relates with poverty, disadvantage and health-related inequalities. I currently run an ESRC-funded project (DE-STRESS) examining how moral narratives relating to responsibility and welfare reform influence the medicalisation of distress and the uptake of antidepressants in low-income communities in the South West. I am also involved in a WHO-led project to improve health care for migrants through the promotion of intercultural competence and diversity sensitivity within public health systems.
Publications
- Asking about self-harm and suicide in primary care: Moral and practical dimensions
- Asking about self-harm and suicide in primary care: Moral and practical dimensions
- The impact of the Work Capability Assessment on mental health: claimants’ lived experiences and GP perspectives in low-income communities
- Health Publics: enabling cultures and environments for health.
- Moral narratives and mental health: rethinking understandings of distress and healthcare support in contexts of austerity and welfare reform