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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 474 0999 extn 57375
Email
kate.scott@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Psychological Medicine (Dunedin)
Qualifications
PhD(Cambridge) MA(Appl) Clin Psyc(Victoria)
Research summary
Psychiatric epidemiology; mental-physical comorbidity; health psychology
Memberships
  • Member, University of Otago Human Ethics Committee (Health)
  • Executive Committee Member, WHO World Mental Health Surveys Initiative
  • Chair and Member, Health Research Council Science Assessing Committees

Research

Kate Scott is a psychiatric epidemiologist and senior investigator in the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys Initiative, a coordinated series of household epidemiologic surveys of mental disorders in over 30 countries around the world. Her interests are in cross-national psychiatric epidemiology, the inter-relationship between mental and physical disorders, and gender differences in mental disorders. Her research has been funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the James Hume Bequest Fund and the NZ Lotteries Board.

Kate trained as a clinical psychologist at Victoria University. She worked as a clinician in adult mental health in the Wellington region for several years before being awarded a Rutherford Scholarship to undertake a doctorate in experimental psychopathology at Cambridge University.

Post-doctorate, she worked for the Ministry of Health as a senior analyst in the national health surveys program until her appointment as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine, Wellington School of Medicine. During her time at the Wellington School of Medicine she also worked part time as a Senior Clinical Psychologist with medical patients in the Liaison Psychiatry Team at Wellington Hospital. In 2011 she was appointed Associate Professor and Head of Behavioural Science in the Department of Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, and promoted to Professor in 2014.

Publications

Pozuelo, J. R., Vigo, D. V., Kazdin, A. E., Harris, M. G., Stein, D. J., Viana, M. C., … Scott, K. M., … and World Mental Health Survey collaborators. (2025). Predictors and barriers to minimally adequate treatment among treated individuals with mental disorders: Results from the World Mental Health surveys. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 19, 34. doi: 10.1186/s13033-025-00686-6 Journal - Research Article

Stein, D. J., Vigo, D. V., Harris, M. G., Kazdin, A. E., Viana, M. C., Hwang, I., … Scott, K., … and the WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators. (2025). Patterns and predictors of 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys: Treatment in the context of perceived need. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 19, 10. doi: 10.1186/s13033-025-00661-1 Journal - Research Article

Viana, M. C., Kazdin, A. E., Harris, M. G., Stein, D. J., Vigo, D. V., Hwang, I., … Scott, K. M., … and World Mental Health Survey collaborators. (2025). Barriers to 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 19, 6. doi: 10.1186/s13033-024-00658-2 Journal - Research Article

Banchoff, E. M., Axinn, W. G., Ghimire, D. J., & Scott, K. M. (2025). Intergenerational associations of maternal depression with daughters' family formation. Journal of Marriage & Family, 87, 415-436. doi: 10.1111/jomf.13030 Journal - Research Article

Meron Ruscio, A., Rassaby, M., Stein, M. B., Stein, D. J., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Al-Hamzawi, A., … Scott, K. M., … on behalf of the World Mental Health Survey collaborators. (2024). The case for eliminating excessive worry as a requirement for generalized anxiety disorder: A cross-national investigation. Psychological Medicine, 54, 3447-3458. doi: 10.1017/s003329172400182x Journal - Research Article

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