Associate Professor Lee Thompson, Our people, University of Otago, Christchurch, University of Otago, New Zealand

Associate Professor
Postgraduate Research Director

BA(Hons) (Canterbury), MA (Dist) Canterbury, PhD (Canterbury), PGCertHighE

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.

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

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

2019

Student: Chidimma Aham-Chiabuotu
Degree: PhD
Topic: Suffering, solidarity and spirituality: the lived experiences of internally displaced women in Northern 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

2020

Student: Hebe Gibson
Degree: MPH
Topic: The implications of e-scooters and pedestrians sharing transport space
Co-supervisor: Angela Curl

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

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

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Publications

Thompson, L., Dowell, A., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Stubbe, M., & Alchin, J. (2021). How do patients and General Practitioners talk about pain and negotiate empathy in consultations? A direct observational study. Health & Social Care in the Community. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13259

Gibson, H., Curl, A., & Thompson, L. (2020). E-scooter riders and pedestrians experiences of sharing space on paths. Proceedings of the New Zealand Geographical Society (NZGS) Biennial Conference. (pp. 91-92). Retrieved from https://nzgsconference2020.gitlab.io

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

Other Research Output
Authored Book - Research
Journal - Research Article
Journal - Research Other
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Awarded Doctoral Degree

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 Presentation].

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Authored Book - Research

Barnett, R., Moon, G., Pearce, J., Thompson, L., & Twigg, L. (2016). Smoking geographies: Space, place and tobacco. Wiley-Blackwell.

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Journal - Research Article

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

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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

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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

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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.

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Awarded Doctoral Degree

Thompson, L. E. (2006). Profession and place: Contesting professional boundaries at the margins (PhD). University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. 345p.

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