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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 4177
Email
pauline.norris@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Research Professor
Qualifications
MA(Canterbury) PhD(Victoria)
Research summary
Social pharmacy; access to and use of medicines
Teaching
Pharmacy practice, sociology and research methods to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Memberships
Editorship of Health, Risk and Society, International Editorial Advisor, (1999–present)

Research

My research focuses on access to, and use of, medicines. I am particularly interested how lay people understand and use medicines, and looking at particular population groups and barriers they face in accessing and using safe and appropriate medicines. I use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The major areas I am currently working in are:

  • Research in the Pacific and with Pacific people in New Zealand. This includes work on antibiotic use in Samoa, and a new project on the accuracy of ethnicity recording for Pacific people.
  • Medicines use in Tairawhiti. This major project explored patterns of medicines use by age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and rurality, and has led to on-going work on access to medicines in Tairawhiti.
  • Medications in everyday life. This is a large qualitative project led by Professor Kerry Chamberlain at Massey University Albany.

I am also currently supervising projects on elderly people and their medicines, the effect of licensing and subsidy decisions in different countries on which medicines are available and how much people pay for their medicines, and on how people interpret and respond to minor symptoms.

Professor Norris on Google Scholar

Additional details

Pauline is based at the Va’a o Tautai and is a research professor with particular expertise in social pharmacy including the access to and use of medicines. Her research interests include how lay people utilise medicines and barriers experienced by groups and populations in New Zealand and the Pacific. Her work and research have resulted in significant changes in government policies to support peoples access to affordable medicines.

Pauline is of NZ European descent.

Publications

Keddell, E., Colhoun, S., Norris, P., & Willing, E. (2024). The heuristic divergence between community reporters and child protection agencies: Negotiating risk amidst shifting sands. Children & Youth Services Review, 159, 107532. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107532 Journal - Research Article

Norris, P., Horsburgh, S., Waterhouse-Perry, G., & Napier, P. (2024). Inequities in medicines use are probably much worse than we thought. Journal of Primary Health Care, 16(1), 99-100. doi: 10.1071/HC23114 Journal - Research Other

Peacocke, E. F., Fusheini, A., & Norris, P. (2023). Community pharmacists’ views about prescription medicine co-payments and potential implications for equitable access to medicines: A critical realist interpretation. Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy & Practice, 16, 156. doi: 10.1186/s40545-023-00673-7 Journal - Research Article

Young, A., Willing, E., Gauld, N., Dawson, P., Charania, N. A., Norris, P., & Turner, N. (2023). Midwives' perceptions of enablers and barriers to pertussis and influenza vaccination in pregnancy and information sharing. New Zealand College of Midwives Journal, 59, 29-38. doi: 10.12784/nzcomjnl59.2023.4.29-38 Journal - Research Article

Carrington, S. D., Norris, P., Priest, P., & Wyeth, E. H. (2023). Māori expert views of antimicrobial resistance using a One Health approach: A qualitative study. MAI Journal, 12(2), 170-181. doi: 10.20507/MAIJournal.2023.12.2.1 Journal - Research Article

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