Professor Pauline Norris

Research

My research focuses on access to, and use of, medicines. I am particularly interested how lay people understand and use medicines, and looking at particular population groups and barriers they face in accessing and using safe and appropriate medicines. I use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The major areas I am currently working in are:

• Research in the Pacific and with Pacific people in New Zealand. This includes work on antibiotic use in Samoa, and a new project on the accuracy of ethnicity recording for Pacific people.
• Medicines use in Tairawhiti. This major project explored patterns of medicines use by age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and rurality, and has led to on-going work on access to medicines in Tairawhiti.
• Medications in everyday life. This is a large qualitative project led by Professor Kerry Chamberlain at Massey University Albany.

I am also currently supervising projects on elderly people and their medicines, the effect of licensing and subsidy decisions in different countries on which medicines are available and how much people pay for their medicines, and on how people interpret and respond to minor symptoms.

Professor Norris on Google Scholar