Anita GibbsAssociate Professor Anita Gibbs

Contact Details

Rm G01, 262 Leith Walk
Tel 64 3 479 5677
Email anita.gibbs@otago.ac.nz

Office hours:

During semester - Monday to Friday 9.15pm - 1.45pm

Academic Qualifications

  • PhD (Bristol, UK)
  • CQSW Social Work (Bristol, UK)
  • Women’s Studies Cert. (Open University, UK)
  • Teaching Cert. (Bristol, UK)

Research Interests and Areas of Research Supervision

  • Policy and practice of Intercountry Adoption (ICA), domestic adoption and long-term fostering of vulnerable children.
  • Parenting vulnerable children. Children’s needs and rights.
  • Criminal justice and applied criminology, probation and alternatives to custody, electronic monitoring. Restorative justice and victims.
  • Social work research theory and method, and participatory action research approaches.
  • Undertaking biculturally competent research.

 

Select Publications

Gibbs, A. & Stirling, B. ‘It’s about people and their environment’: Social Work Student and Practitioner Definitions of Social Work Research, Social Work Education, under review.

Gibbs, A. (2011) ‘Going to Courts Twice: A Critical Appraisal of the UK’s Policy of Re-Adoption for Intercountry Adoptions’, Children and Society, published online 13 July. DOI:10.1111/j.1099-0860.2011.00391.x

Gibbs, A. (2011) ‘Having to Adopt Children Twice is Not in the Children’s Best Interests: An Analysis of Intercountry Adoption Policy in the UK and New Zealand’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, due October.

Gibbs, A. (2010) ‘Parenting Adopted Children and Supporting Adoptive Parents: Messages from Research’, Social Work Review, 22 (2): 44-52.

Johnstone, J., & Gibbs, A (2010) ‘Love them to bits; spend time with them; have fun with them’: New Zealand Parents’ Views of Building Attachments with their Newly Adopted Russian Children’, The Journal of Social Work, published online 8 November. http://jsw.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/11/04/1468017310381289

Gibbs, A. (2010) ‘Coping with compulsion: Women’s Views of Being on a Community Treatment Order’, Australian Social Work, 63 (2): 223-233.

Gibbs, A., & Stirling, B. ‘Reflections on Designing and Teaching a Social Work Research Course for Distance and On-Campus Students’, Social Work Education, 29 (4): 441-449. (2010).

Smith, R.G. & Gibbs, A. (2009) 'Electronic Monitoring in Australia and New Zealand' in Nellis, M., Bas, R., Beyens, K, and Kaminski, D. (eds.), Electronically Monitored Punishment: International and Critical Perspectives Willan Publishing, Devon. [ISBN 139781843922735]

Gibbs, A., McKenzie, M, & Dempster, C. (2007) '"It's a bonus, without it I wouldn't even have a visit": Parents' Views of Supervised Contact Centres in New Zealand', Practice, 19 (4): 285-297.

Gibbs, A. & McKenzie, M. (2006) Supervised Contact: The Views of Parents and Staff at Three Barnardos Contact Centres in the Southern Region of New Zealand. Wellington: Families Commission.

Walker, S., Eketone, A. & Gibbs, A. (2006) ‘An Exploration of Kaupapa Māori Research: its principles, processes and applications’, International Journal of Social Research, 9 (4): 331-344.

Mullen, R., Gibbs, A., & Dawson, J. (2006) ‘Family perspective on community treatment orders: a New Zealand Study’, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 52 (5): 469-478

Mullen, R., Dawson, J., & Gibbs, A. (2006) 'Dilemmas for clinicians in use of Community Treatment Orders', International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 29 (6): 535-550.

Gibbs, A., Dawson, J. & Mullen, R. (2006) ‘Community Treatment Orders for People with Serious Mental Illness: A New Zealand Study, British Journal of Social Work, 37 (7): 1-16.

Gibbs, A. (2005) ‘The Paradigms, Contexts and Enduring Conflicts of Social Work Research’ in F. Columbus (Ed.) Progress in Sociology Research, US: Nova Publications.

Gibbs, A., Dawson, J., Ansley, C., & Mullen, R. (2005) ‘How patients in New Zealand view community treatment orders’, Journal of Mental Health, 14 (4): 357-368.

Cunningham, P. & Gibbs, A. (2005) ‘At the Margins: Victim Contact Work in the New Zealand Probation Service’, British Journal of Community Justice, 3, (2): 51-62.

Books:

Gibbs, A. & McKenzie, M. (2006) Supervised Contact: The Views of Parents and Staff at Three Barnardos Contact Centres in the Southern Region of New Zealand. Wellington: Families Commission. 64p. [ISBN 0478292678]

Book chapters/ contributions:

Gibbs, A. ‘Focus Groups and Group Interviews in Education’ in Arthur, J., Waring, M., Coe, R. & Hedges, L. (eds), Research Methodologies and Methods in Education, London: SAGE. (due early 2012)

Smith, R.G. & Gibbs, A. (2012) ‘Extending the Electronic Net in Australia and New Zealand: Developments in electronic monitoring down-under’ in Nellis, M., Bas, R., Beyens, K, and Kaminski, D. (eds.), Electronically Monitored Punishment: International and Critical Perspectives Willan/Routledge Publishing, Devon. [ISBN 978-1-84392-273-5]

Dawson, J., Romans, S., Gibbs, A., & Ratter, N. (2005) ‘Ambivalence about Community Treatment Orders’, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26, (3): 243-255 in J. Peay (Ed.) Seminal Issues in Mental Health Law: The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory. UK, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. [ISBN 0754624196]

Gibbs, A. (2005) ‘The Paradigms, Contexts and Enduring Conflicts of Social Work Research’ in L. Stoneham (Ed.) Advances in Sociology Research US: Nova Publications. [ISBN 15945412654]

Recent and Upcoming Conference Papers and Presentations

Gibbs, A. (2011) ‘What Works for Me as a Teacher’. Pecha Kucha presentation at The University of Otago Third Spotlight on Teaching and Learning Colloquium, Otago, 29-30th August.

Gibbs, A. (2011) ‘Parenting Adopted Children and Supporting Adoptive Families – Messages from Research’. Paper presented at the Consumer and Applied Sciences Centenary Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, 7-9 February.

Gibbs, A. (2010) ‘Parenting Adopted Children: The importance of relationships and support’. Paper presented at the Third International Conference: Childhood and Youth in Transition, Sheffield, UK, 6-8 July.

Gibbs, A. (2010) ‘New Zealand Parents’ Views of Building Positive Relationships with Their Adopted Children and Support that Parents Need to Keep the Positive Relationships Going’. Poster presented at the 3rd International Conference on Adoption Research, Leiden, Holland, 10-15th July. (2010).

Gibbs, A. & Stirling, B. (2009) 'Reflections on Designing and Teaching a Social Work Research Course to On-Campus and Distance Students'. Paper to be presented at the 7th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, Hawaii, USA, 3-8th January.

Gibbs, A. & Stirling, B. (2008) 'Teaching Social Work Students about Social Work Research'. Paper presented at the Spotlight Colloquium on Tertiary Teaching and Learning, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 19, 20th November.

Gibbs, A. & McKenzie, M. (2007) 'Supervised Contact Services in New Zealand: Findings from Research'. Paper presented to The Social Policy, Research and Evaluation Conference 2007, Wellington Convention Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 3-5th April.

Gibbs, A. & McKenzie, M. (2006) 'Parent and Staff Views of Supervised Contact Services Provided by Barnardos'. Invited speakers to the Inaugural Blue Skies Seminar, Families Commission, Wellington, New Zealand, 14th June.

Gibbs, A. (2006) 'Electronic Monitoring in New Zealand and Australia' Paper presented to the Crime, Justice and Surveillance Conference, University of Sheffield, UK, 5-6th April.

Teaching Areas

Crime, Justice and Society available from 2012 second semester. (SOCI206)

Social work research (SOWK321)

Modules in the areas of crime and research on other SOWK or SOCI courses.

University of Otago Department of Social Work and Community Development