Associate Professor
Postgraduate Research Director
BA(Hons) (Canterbury), MA (Dist) Canterbury, PhD (Canterbury), PGCertHighE
Email lee.thompson@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 364 3644
Department of Population Health
University of Otago, Christchurch
PO Box 4345
Christchurch 8140
Background
Associate Professor Lee Thompson is a social scientist with expertise in health related research and theoretically informed qualitative methods. She has a background as a Registered Nurse and a PhD in Human Geography. Her research interests lie in two main areas - health professionals and professional identity, and critical public health.
In the field of professional identity, she has explored professional identity construction in remote area nursing, the professional identity negotiations that public health physicians engage in as they make the transition from clinical to non-clinical work, and the ways that community pharmacists manage external drivers to modify their professional roles. Her most recent project in this field is an investigation of professional identity formation and performance in a new graduate entry Master of Nursing programme.
In the critical public health field she has broadly explored the way that population sub-groups negotiate public health and health promotion activity designed to modify health-related behaviour. Lee has a particular interest in the unintended consequences of health promotion initiatives, chiefly those that may widen health inequalities within populations. Her most recent project in this field involves investigating the way that discussions of human pleasures are left out of the discourse and practise of public health and health promotion.
Lee has attracted research funding from the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, University of Otago, Lotteries Health and has worked on a large Health Research Council funded project and is currently an Associate investigator on a Marsden funded project.
Teaching
Lee teaches postgraduate Diploma of Public Health papers, contributes to undergraduate medical student teaching and supervises dissertation and Masters and PhD Theses.
- PUBH 713 Society, Health & Health Promotion
- PUBH 743 Health promotion Programme Planning & Evaluation
- PUBH 744 Healthy Public Policy (Contributor)
Research interests
Lee has a broad range of research interests that extend beyond professional identity and critical approaches to health promotion and is willing to discuss a range of potential student research topics, but she particularly welcomes inquiries from students interested in the following areas:
- Professional identity, particularly of health professionals
- Critical approaches to public health and health promotion
- Social and spatial aspects of health inequities
- Critical social and spatial theory
- Tobacco control
- HIV
- Chronic Pain
Professional activities
- Member of Scientific Assessing Committee of the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation (2011-2017)
- Member of Health Research Council Scientific Assessing Committee (2012- 2015)
- Organiser of Qualitative Theory and Method discussion group (2012 - 2014)
- Public Health Association, Canterbury & West Coast Branch committee member (2010- 2014)
- Public Health Association, Canterbury & West Coast Branch Conference Organising Committee (2010-2011)
- Member of the University of Otago Senate
Projects
- Public Health Physicians: Making the transition from clinical to non-clinical work (UORG)
- Role evolution and community pharmacy in Christchurch
- The ‘lived experience’ of HIV: aging, place and social support
- General practitioners, patients and conversations about chronic pain
- Betwixt two worlds? Disruptive technology and negotiating identity change
- Graduate entry nursing: learning, teaching and practising
Student supervision
Student: Hebe Gibson
Degree: MPH (in progress)
Topic: Electronic scooters sharing space on footpaths
Co-supervisor: Angela Curl
Student: Claire Weinhold
Degree: PhD (in progress)
Topic: Decriminalisation and the management of brothels in New Zealand
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Lev Zhuravsky
Degree: PhD (in progress)
Topic: Creating Resilience in Health Care Organizations. Role of Shared Leadership in Realigning a Gap between Work as Imagined and Work as Done.
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Rosee Hodgson
Degree: PhD (in progress)
Topic: Shaping cities for youth: Transport and urban planning to improve young people’s access to education, employment, and training
Co-supervisors: Alex Macmillan & Tony Moore
2020
Student: Toyin Kolawole
Degree: PhD
Topic: Negotiating intimate relationships: A study of black African women in New Zealand
Co Supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Susan Bidwell
Degree: PhD
Topic: Discourse, materiality and power: Dietary supplements and their users
Co Supervisor: Gillian Abel
2018
Student:Chidimma Aham-Chiabuotu
Degree: PhD
Topic: Exploring Alternative Resources for Raising Awareness, Prevention and Reporting of Sexual violence against Internally Displaced Women of Reproductive Age in North Eastern Nigeria.
Co Supervisor: Gillian Abel
2012
Student: Gerida Birukila
Degree: PhD
Topic: Culture, Risk and HIV: The Case of Black African Migrants and Refugees in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Co-supervisors: Cheryl Brunton and Nigel Dickson
2019
Student: Michelle Cole
Degree: MPH
Topic: Wellbeing and relationships between people, space, place and time
Co-supervisor: Dave Carlyle
Student: Aaron Hapuku
Degree: MPH
Topic: Tū Manawa Ora - Tū Manawa Toa
Co-supervisor: Christina McKerchar
Student: Claire Salter
Degree: MPH
Topic: Attitudes of people with long-term conditions who decline support from community physical activity programmes
2018
Student: Kath Goodyear
Degree: MPH
Topic: Talking about menopause: Exploring the lived experience of menopause for nurses
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Nabura Ioteba
Degree: MPH
Topic: Leprosy in Kiribati.
Co-supervisor: Steve Chambers
2017
Student: Mary-Anne Stone
Degree: MPH
Topic: Clients, informal caregivers and formal care provider: Understanding relationships.
2016
Student: Judith Clarke
Degree: MPH
Topic: Velcro babies: A Qualitative Study Exploring Maternal Motivations in the Night-time Care of Infants
Co-supervisor: Jen Desrosiers
Student: Donna Southorn
Degree: MPH
Topic: “I’m Just a Young Mother” Teenage Mothers’ Perspectives on Early Parenthood
Co-supervisor: Christina McKerchar
2015
Student: Claire Greensmith
Degree: MHealSc
Topic: Still a couple? A case study of sexuality and intimacy concerns in Residential Care Facilities from the residents’ and care staff perspective
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Margaret Kyle
Degree: MPH
Topic: An exploration of the Experience of Rural Lead Maternity Care Midwives in Canterbury
Student: Warren Nairn
Degree: MPH
Topic: The Impact of Homeless men's use of City Spaces on their Wellbeing
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Rosee Neville
Degree: MPH
Topic: Who You Know and How You Are Known: Children's Perception of Neighbourhood.
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
2012
Student: Susan Bidwell,
Degree:MPH
Topic: Talking about 1080: risk, trust and protecting our place.
Co-supervisor: Cheryl Brunton
Student: Naomi Gough
Degree: MPH
Topic: The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: what are the opportunities for Tino Rangatiratanga and Maori health in the indigenous right to self-determination?
Co-supervisor: Tania Huria
Student: Arif Mohamed
Degree: MPH
Topic: Religion, culture and mental health in Somali refugees in Christchurch, New Zealand.
2011
Student: Melissa Ludeke
Degree:MPH
Topic: I believe once I'm happy with myself I won't need to smoke: Women's views on smoking, tobacco control and cessation.
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Jo Powel
Degree: MHealSc
Topic: “It’s a different feeling of satisfaction dealing with old people”; perceptions of paid caregivers working in aged residential care.
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
2010
Student: Cheryl Ford
Degree:MPH
Topic: Practitioners' perspectives of the barriers to health promotion evaluation.
Co-supervisor: Gillian Abel
Student: Sarah Kowalczewski
Degree: MPH
Topic: The importance of culturally appropriate health promotion.
Co-supervisor: Cheryl Brunton
2019-2020
Anna Rumbold
Topic: Experiences of the Master of Nursing Science programme and transition to practice
Supervisors: Associate Professors Lee Thompson and Philippa Seaton
2016-2017
Madeline Weston
Topic:Burwood Assessment, Screening and Evaluation for Chronic Pain: An evaluation
Supervisors: Lee Thompson, John Alchin, Bronny Trewin, Jonathan Williman
2011-2012
Neela Bhana
Topic: Managing patient expectations about chronic pain.
Supervisors: Lee Thompson, John Alchin, Bronwyn Thompson
Publications
Aham-Chiabuotu, C. B., Abel, G., & Thompson, L. (2019). 'Men don't have patience': Sexuality, pleasure and danger in displacement settings in Northcentral Nigeria. Global Public Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1690539
Coveney, J., & Thompson, L. (2019). Health care professionals "coming out": A critical dialogue. Ethnologie Française, 176(4), 803-812.
Thompson, L. (2019). Pleasure, space and health. Proceedings of the 18th International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS). (pp. 92). Retrieved from http://www.imgs2019.com
Abel, G., & Thompson, L. (2018). "I don't want to look like an AIDS victim": A New Zealand case study of facial lipoatrophy. Health & Social Care in the Community, 26(1), 41-47. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12459
Thompson, L., & Coveney, J. (2018). Human vulnerabilities, transgression and pleasure. Critical Public Health, 28(1), 118-128. doi: 10.1080/09581596.2017.1309356
Other Research Output
Reeder, A.I., Thompson, L., & Abel, G. (2010, May). FOBT as CRC screening tool: Perceived barriers & facilitators: A NZ qualitative study. Ministry of Health Bowel Cancer, Cancer Sector Capability & Innovation Directorate Meeting, Wellington, New Zealand. [Invited Seminar].
Authored Book - Research
Barnett, R., Moon, G., Pearce, J., Thompson, L., & Twigg, L. (2016). Smoking geographies: Space, place and tobacco. Wiley-Blackwell.
Journal - Research Article
Aham-Chiabuotu, C. B., Abel, G., & Thompson, L. (2019). 'Men don't have patience': Sexuality, pleasure and danger in displacement settings in Northcentral Nigeria. Global Public Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1690539
Abel, G., & Thompson, L. (2018). "I don't want to look like an AIDS victim": A New Zealand case study of facial lipoatrophy. Health & Social Care in the Community, 26(1), 41-47. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12459
Thompson, L., & Coveney, J. (2018). Human vulnerabilities, transgression and pleasure. Critical Public Health, 28(1), 118-128. doi: 10.1080/09581596.2017.1309356
Green, J. K., Gardiner, S. J., Clarke, S. L., Thompson, L., Metcalf, S. C. L., & Chambers, S. T. (2018). Antimicrobial stewardship practice in New Zealand's rural hospitals. New Zealand Medical Journal, 131(1481), 16-26. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Moon, G., Barnett, R., Pearce, J., Thompson, L., & Twigg, L. (2018). The tobacco endgame: The neglected role of place and environment. Health & Place, 53, 271-278. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.06.012
Ergler, C. R., Lovell, S., Watkins, A., Milligan, C., Thompson, L., Exeter, D. J., & Kearns, R. (2017). Looking back and moving forward: Health geography in Aotearoa and beyond. New Zealand Geographer, 73(3), 205-217. doi: 10.1111/nzg.12169
Calder, K., Begg, A., Thompson, L., Williams, D., Bidwell, S., & Brosnahan, N. (2017). Education setting-based health promotion in New Zealand: evaluating the wellbeing and vitality in education (WAVE) programme. Health Promotion International, 34(2), 236-247. doi: 10.1093/heapro/dax076
Thompson, L., & Abel, G. (2016). The work of negotiating HIV as a chronic condition: A qualitative analysis. AIDS Care, 28(12), 1571-1576. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2016.1191615
Bidwell, S., & Thompson, L. (2015). GPs, community pharmacists and shifting professional boundaries. New Zealand Medical Journal, 128(1414). Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Thompson, L., & Bidwell, S. (2015). Space, time, and emotion in the community pharmacy. Health & Place, 34, 251-256. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.06.003
Thompson, L. (2015). Leaving the stethoscope behind: Public health doctors and identity work. Critical Public Health, 25(1), 89-100. doi: 10.1080/09581596.2014.894241
Bhana, N., Thompson, L., Alchin, J., & Thompson, B. (2015). Patient expectations for chronic pain management. Journal of Primary Health Care, 7(2), 130-136. doi: 10.1071/HC15130
Bidwell, S., & Thompson, L. (2015). Place invaders: Identity, place attachment and possum control in the South Island West Coast of New Zealand. New Zealand Geographer, 71(2), 81-90. doi: 10.1111/nzg.12083
Thompson, L., Reeder, T., & Abel, G. (2012). 'I can't get my husband to go and have a colonoscopy': Gender and screening for colorectal cancer. Health, 16(3), 235-249. doi: 10.1177/1363459311403948
Thompson, L., & Kumar, A. (2011). Responses to health promotion campaigns: Resistance, denial and othering. Critical Public Health, 21(1), 105-117. doi: 10.1080/09581591003797129
Abel, G. M., & Thompson, L. E. (2011). General practitioners, specialists and surveillance guidelines: Interpreting the socio-clinical context of decision-making. Health, Risk & Society, 13(6), 547-559. doi: 10.1080/13698575.2011.615826
Abel, G. M., & Thompson, L. (2011). What do specialists and GPs think about the introduction of colorectal cancer screening? A qualitative study. New Zealand Medical Journal, 124(1338). Retrieved from http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/124-1338/4756/content.pdf
Pykett, J., Jones, R., Whitehead, M., Huxley, M., Strauss, K., Gill, N., … Thompson, L., & Newman, J. (2011). Interventions in the political geography of 'libertarian paternalism'. Political Geography, 30(6), 301-310. doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.05.003
Cupples, J., & Thompson, L. (2010). Heterotextuality and digital foreplay: Cell phones and the culture of teenage romance. Feminist Media Studies, 10(1), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/14680770903457063
Thompson, L. E., Barnett, J. R., & Pearce, J. R. (2009). Scared straight? Fear-appeal anti-smoking campaigns, risk, self-efficacy and addiction. Health, Risk & Society, 11(2), 181-196. doi: 10.1080/13698570902784281
Thompson, L., Pearce, J., & Barnett, R. (2009). Nomadic identities and socio-spatial competence: Making sense of post-smoking selves. Social & Cultural Geography, 10(5), 565-581. doi: 10.1080/14649360902974431
Thompson, L., & Clay, T. (2008). Critical literacy and the geography classroom: Including gender and feminist perspectives. New Zealand Geographer, 64, 228-233. doi: 10.111/j.1745-7939.2008.00148.x
Thompson, L. (2008). The role of nursing in governmentality, biopower and population health: Family health nursing. Health & Place, 14, 76-84. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.05.001
Thompson, L., & Cupples, J. (2008). Seen and not heard? Text messaging and digital sociality. Social & Cultural Geography, 9(1), 95-108. doi: 10.1080/14649360701789634
Thompson, L., Pearce, J., & Barnett, J. R. (2007). Moralising geographies: Stigma, smoking islands and responsible subjects. Area, 39(4), 508-517. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2007.00768.x
Journal - Research Other
Coveney, J., & Thompson, L. (2019). Health care professionals "coming out": A critical dialogue. Ethnologie Française, 176(4), 803-812.
Thompson, L. (2012). [Review of the book Deathscapes: Spaces for death, dying, mourning and remembrance]. Emotion, Space & Society, 5(2), 139. doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2012.04.001
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Thompson, L. (2019). Pleasure, space and health. Proceedings of the 18th International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS). (pp. 92). Retrieved from http://www.imgs2019.com
Thompson, L. (2018). People, pleasures and public health. Proceedings of the In Sickness & In Health (ISIH) 7th International Conference: Technologies, bodies and health care. (pp. 54). Retrieved from https://isihconference.com/
Thompson, L. (2010). Public health physicians: Prestige, specialisation and non-clinical medical work. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA): Social Causes, Private Lives. (pp. 100). Retrieved from http://www.soc.mq.edu.au/tasa-conference/draft%20program/index.php
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thompson, L. (2017, November). The role and place of pleasure in public health: What does this mean for smoking cessation and vaping? Verbal presentation at the Achieving a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025 Seminar, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Thompson, L. E. (2016, February). Nicotine and the complexity of spatial purification. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Geographical Society Conference: Geographical Interactions, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Thompson, L. (2016, October). Pleasures and public health. Verbal presentation at the ASPIRE Workshop, Wellington, New Zealand.
Kearns, R., Milligan, C., Exeter, D., & Thompson, L. (2016, February). New Zealand health geography: Achievements and challenges. Panel discussion at the New Zealand Geographical Society Conference: Geographical Interactions, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Thompson, L. (2015, May). Electronic cigarettes, vapers and population health: Symbolic objects and willful subjects. Verbal presentation at the Eleventh International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Thompson, L. (2013, February). Tobacco control, social theory and public health research. Verbal presentation at the Christchurch Medical School 40th Anniversary Celebrations, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Bolger, C., Thompson, L., & Parkyn, W. (2013, February). Community Contact Weeks: Otago, Christchurch, Wellington & Auckland. Verbal presentation at the Undergraduate Rural Programme Summit, Whangarei, New Zealand.
Thompson, L. (2012, August). Leaving the stethoscope behind: Public health physicians and the spectre of the 'real' doctor. Verbal presentation at the 2nd International Sociological Association (ISA) Forum of Social Justice & Democratization, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Thompson, L. (2008, July). Gender, abjection and decay. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Geographical Society 24th Conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Thompson, L. (2006, July). Seen and not heard? Text messaging and digital sociality. Verbal presentation at the International Geographical Union (IGU) Conference and Joint Meeting of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the New Zealand Geographical Society, Brisbane, Australia.
