Contact Details
- Position
- Senior Lecturer
- Department
- Department of Psychological Medicine (Christchurch)
- Research summary
- Psychological distress in youth
Research
Kat completed her medical studies at Oxford University in the UK and completed her psychiatry training in Christchurch, spcialising in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She works part-time at Child and Family Mental Health services for the CDHB and has special interests in Eating Disorders and Co-existing Problems (Addiction), as well as Youth Psychiatry.
Kat completed research as part of her Psychiatry Fellowship training with the Toku Oranga survey in 2019 and 2020, exploring psychological distress and burnout in medical students and postgraduate thesis students at the University of Otago, Christchurch.
Kat is currently working with the March 15th Study group and hopes to add a Child and Youth perspective to that area of research.
She will be teaching clinical medical students as part of their Developmental Psychiatry modules.
Publications
Theobald, P., Harding, A. J., Taylor, M., Donovan, K., Moltchanova, E., Stevens, A., Tikao, K., … Rucklidge, J. J. (2026). Efficacy of oral micronutrients and online mindfulness for emotional dysregulation in children aged 6–10 (The M&M Trial): A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Nutritional Psychiatry, 2, 100014. doi: 10.1016/j.nupsyc.2026.100014 Journal - Research Other
Foulds, J. A., Boden, J. M., Kerr, J. A., Douglas, K. M., Pettie, M., Young, J. T., … Donovan, K., & Porter, R. (2025). Long-term outcomes associated with adolescent ADHD symptomatology: Birth cohort study. British Journal of Psychiatry. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2025.10475 Journal - Research Article
Donovan, K., & Dean, S. (2024, August). Weaving our own path: An integrated group intervention to support wellbeing in adolescents from a community impacted by the March 15 attacks: A randomized controlled trial (protocol and initial findings). Verbal presentation at the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Donovan, K., & Dean, S. (2024). Youth group wellbeing project for adolescents impacted by the March 15 attacks: Protocol for a pilot randomised waitlist-controlled trial. BJPsych Open, 10(Suppl. 1), (pp. S32). doi: 10.1192/bjo.2024.139 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Donovan, K. A., Beaglehole, B., Frampton, C. M. A., Currie, M., Boden, J. M., & Jordan, J. (2023). Tōku Oranga: The subjective wellbeing and psychological functioning of postgraduate and medical students in Ōtautahi Christchurch. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 136(1586), 51-62. Retrieved from https://journal.nzma.org.nz/ Journal - Research Article