Associate Professor Maria Stubbe - Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, Our people, University of Otago, Wellington, University of Otago, New Zealand

Associate Professor & Research Leader

Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice

Background and Interests

M Stubbe 2018-01

Maria Stubbe is a social scientist with expertise in qualitative health research, interactional sociolinguistics and the study of professional communication. She has worked in the Department as a health researcher since 2003 and joined the permanent staff as senior lecturer and research director in 2008. Maria is a founding member and co-director of the Applied Research on Communication in Health (ARCH) Group, and is a member of the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee (Health.)

She has a PhD in Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington where she worked as a researcher and lecturer in sociolinguistics/applied linguistics from 1989 to 2003. She was in the team that constructed the New Zealand English section of the International Corpus of English, and was a senior researcher on the NZ Language in the Workplace Project (LWP) from 1996-2003, and continuing since then as an honorary Research Associate. She is the New Zealand national representative on the Advisory Committee of EACH, The International Association for Communication in Healthcare.

Her current research focuses on various aspects of communication in health settings (especially the detailed study of patient-provider interactions using conversation analysis, and research into patient experiences of health and illness), along with projects on health service delivery, research ethics and clinical education. She has particular experience in multidisciplinary and qualitative research, and has published widely in the fields of sociolinguistics, workplace language, health communication and health services research.

Maria is also the Research Leader within the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice.

Teaching Activities

Higher degrees

Supervision of PhD and Masters projects

Postgraduate diploma courses

Co-convenor HASC 417/817 Health Sciences Research Methods (Diploma/Masters course)
Convenor GENA735 Supporting Healthier Lifestyles: Challenging Conversations (Diploma in Primary Health Care course)
Guest lectures/professional development workshops on health communication, qualitative research, discourse analysis.
Postgraduate Study Skills – convenor academic writing workshop

Undergraduate medical education

Resource development and tutoring/lecturing in consultation skills, reflective practice, experiences of addiction and recovery, use of interpreters

Research Activities

Maria's research is based primarily in the multidisciplinary Applied Research on Communication in Health (ARCH) Group. She co-directs a programme of research into communication in clinical practice and patient experiences using data from video recordings of authentic interactions between health professionals and patients, recorded interviews and documents. Since 2003 she has also led the development of the ARCH Corpus, a digitized permanent collection of New Zealand health interactions and associated data for use in research and education.

In her previous role as the department’s Research Director, Maria chaired the research committee which took a strategic overview of research in the department. She supported the development and implementation of a wide range of projects relating to primary health care, and continues to be actively engaged in several health services and educational research projects.

Current projects

Principal Investigator:

Diabetes Stories. Understanding the lived experience of people with diabetes in NZ: a narrative inquiry (2014-ongoing)
‘When you’re 85, then I’ll call you old’: Age and identity in health care interactions (2016-ongoing)
Designing a permanent digital repository for health communication research data (2016 – ongoing)

Co-investigator:

General Practitioners, Patients and Conversations about Chronic Pain (2016-2018)
Evaluation of Compass Health Project – Weight Management Support in Primary Care (2018)
The Art of Deception: Study Habits, Assessment and Moral Integrity in Medical School (2017-2018)
Observing Communication in 'High Risk' Ante-Natal Consultations: Developing a Model of Shared Understanding (2016-ongoing)
The Handover Room: A Qualitative Enquiry into the Experience of Morning Clinical Handover for Acute Medical Teams (2016-ongoing)
Assessment of Morbidity Patterns of Common Childhood Illness/Injury Seen in General Practice Settings and the Utilisation of Current Services (2013-2018)
Acute Mental Health Wards: Therapeutic Spaces or Stigmatising Places? (2017-ongoing)

Selected Past Projects

The Prevalence and Burden of Herpes Zoster (Shingles) in New Zealand General Practice Populations (2016-2017)
Communication in Interpreted Health Encounters (2012-ongoing)
Tracking Health Care Interactions: Patient-Professional Communication (2006-2010)
Understanding Diabetes Management-Tracking Communication in Primary Care (2009-2011)
TAbOO: Talking about Overweight and Obesity (2011-2016)
Demystifying Addiction & Recovery through Personal Stories (2012-2016)
H1N1: Models of Primary Care for Responding to Pandemic Influenza (2010-2011)
From talk to text: encoding medical notes in the general practice consultation (2008-2012)
Lifestyle talk and advice in clinical consultations (2007-2011)
Exploring Clinical Decision-Making when Rationing is Explicit (2003-2005)
Language in the Workplace Project (Victoria University of Wellington:1996-2003)
New Zealand English Discourse Project /Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English

See more past projects

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Publications

Mathieson, F., Garrett, S., Stubbe, M., Hilder, J., Tester, R., Fedchuk, D., Dunlop, A., & Dowell, A. (2023). Therapist voices on a youth mental health pilot: Responsiveness to diversity and therapy modality. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 20, 1834. doi: 10.3390/ ijerph20031834

Elkin, L. E., Stubbe, M. H., & Pullon, S. R. H. (2022). ‘Fuzzy and context dependent’: A critical discourse analysis of manipulation in online vaccine information. Communication Research & Practice. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/22041451.2022.2137251

Stuthridge, L., Alexander, D., Stubbe, M., Eme, P., & Smith, C. (2022). A qualitative study of New Zealand consumer perceptions: Use and understandings of nutrition content and health claims. Medical Sciences Forum, 9, 47. doi: 10.3390/msf2022009047

Ross, I., & Stubbe, M. (2022). Self-repeats-as-unit-ends: A practice for promoting interactivity during surgeons' decision-related informings. Research on Language & Social Interaction. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/08351813.2022.2075641

Stuthridge, L., Alexander, D., Stubbe, M., Eme, P., & Smith, C. (2022). “It’s all just marketing”: A qualitative analysis of consumer perceptions and understandings of nutrition content and health claims in New Zealand. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 19, 3510. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063510

Holmes, J., & Stubbe, M. (2015). Power and politeness in the workplace: A sociolinguistic analysis of talk at work (2nd ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 200p.

Authored Book - Research

Holmes, J., & Stubbe, M. (2003). Power and politeness in the workplace. London, UK: Pearson Education, 191p.

Authored Book - Research

Gray, B., Stubbe, M., & Hilder, J. (2021). Better health outcomes as the goal of working with healthcare interpreters: the perspectives of patients and clinicians. In J. Wakabayashi & N. O'Hagan (Eds.), Translating and interpreting in Australia and New Zealand: Distance and diversity. New York, NY: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003150770

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Gray, L., Hilder, J., Dew, K., & Dowell, T. (2020). Talking about diabetes and healthy lifestyle in primary healthcare: Translating research findings into practice. In L. Mullany (Ed.), Professional communication: Consultancy, advocacy, activism. (pp. 129-150). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-41668-3_7

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M., Dowell, A., Dew, K., & Macdonald, L. (2019). Interaction analysis of primary care consultations. In F. Goodyear-Smith & B. Mash (Eds.), How to do primary care research. (pp. 241-254). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Dew, K., Dowell, A., Macdonald, L., & Stubbe, M. (2018). Using conversation analysis. In M. Tolich & C. Davidson (Eds.), Social science research in New Zealand: An introduction. (pp. 307-316). Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M. (2018). Miscommunication at work. In B. Vine (Ed.), Routledge handbook of language in the workplace. (pp. 258-271). New York, NY: Routledge.

Chapter in Book - Research

Gray, B., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Dowell, A., & Stubbe, M. (2017). A New Zealand perspective on providing healthcare for patients with limited English proficiency. In E. A. Jacobs & L. C. Diamond (Eds.), Providing health care in the context of language barriers. (pp. 189-209). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M. (2017). Evolution by design: Building a New Zealand corpus of health interactions. In M. Marra & P. Warren (Eds.), Linguist at work: A Festschrift for Janet Holmes. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M., White, S. J., Macdonald, L., Dowell, A. C., Gardner, R., & Dew, K. (2016). Do surgeons want to operate? Negotiating the treatment plan in surgical consultations. In S. White & J. A. Cartmill (Eds.), Communication in surgical practice. (pp. 124-152). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

Chapter in Book - Research

White, S. J., Stubbe, M., Macdonald, L., Dowell, A. C., Dew, K., & Gardner, R. (2016). The referred consultation. In S. White & J. A. Cartmill (Eds.), Communication in surgical practice. (pp. 9-34). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M. (2013). Active listening in conversation: Gender and the use of verbal feedback. In S. Yamazaki & R. Sigley (Eds.), Approaching language variation through corpora: A festschrift in honour of Toshi Saito. (pp. 367-416). Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang.

Chapter in Book - Research

Dew, K., Stubbe, M., Dowell, A., & Macdonald, L. (2012). Side effects talk in general practice consultations. In B. R. Bates & R. Ahmed (Eds.), Medical communication in clinical contexts. (pp. 95-126). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.

Chapter in Book - Research

Major, G., Napier, J., & Stubbe, M. (2012). "What happens truly, not textbook!": Using authentic interactions in discourse training for healthcare interpreters. In L. Swabey & K. Malcolm (Eds.), In our hands: Educating healthcare interpreters. (pp. 27-53). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M. (2012). Sociolinguistics and intergroup communication. In H. Giles (Ed.), Handbook of intergroup communication. (pp. 70-84). New York: Routledge.

Chapter in Book - Research

Weatherall, A., Stubbe, M., Sunderland, J., & Baxter, J. (2010). Conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis in language and gender research: Approaches in dialogue. In J. Holmes & M. Marra (Eds.), Femininity, feminism and gendered discourse: A selected and edited collection of papers from the Fifth International Language and Gender Association Conference (IGALA5). (pp. 213-244). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

Chapter in Book - Research

Holmes, J., & Stubbe, M. (2004). Strategic code-switching in New Zealand workplaces: Scaffolding, solidarity and identity construction. In J. House & J. Rehbein (Eds.), Multilingual communication (vol. 3). (pp. 133-153). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins B. V..

Chapter in Book - Research

Holmes, J., & Stubbe, M. (2003). ″Feminine″ workplaces: Stereotype and reality. In J. Holmes & M. Meyerhoff (Eds.), The handbook of language and gender. (pp. 573-599). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M., & Holmes, J. (2000). Talking Maori or Pakeha in English: Signalling identity in discourse. In A. Bell & K. Kuiper (Eds.), New Zealand English. (pp. 249-278). Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Stubbe, M., Holmes, J., Vine, B., & Marra, M. (2000). Forget Mars and Venus, let's get back to earth!: Challenging gender stereotypes in the workplace. In J. Holmes (Ed.), Gendered speech in social context: Perspectives from gown and town. (pp. 231-258). Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Journal - Research Article

Filoche, S., Stubbe, M. H., Grainger, R., Robson, B., Paringatai, K., Wilcox, P., Jefferies, R., & Dowell, A. (2021). How is family health history discussed in routine primary healthcare? A qualitative study of archived family doctor consultations. BMJ Open, 11(10), e049058. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049058

Journal - Research Article

Gordon, S., Dowell, T., Fedchuk, D., Gardiner, T., Garrett, S., Hilder, J., Mathieson, F., Stubbe, M., & Tester, R. (2021). Reflections on allyship in the context of a co-produced evaluation of a youth-integrated therapies mental health intervention. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(4), 571-585. doi: 10.1080/14780887.2020.1769240

Journal - Research Article

Hilder, J., Gray, L., Stubbe, M., Duncan, S., & Dowell, A. C. (2021). 'Water dripping on a stone': A feasibility study of a healthy weight management conversation approach in routine general practice consultations. Family Practice, 38(3), 246-252. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmaa122

Journal - Research Article

Steers, D. M., Andrews, G. L., Wiltshire, E. J., Ballantyne, A. J., Collings, S. C., & Stubbe, M. H. (2021). Young people with a variation in sex characteristics in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Identity, activism and healthcare decision-making. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(4), 457-471. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2020.1863472

Journal - Research Article

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, 29(5), e153-e162. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13259

Journal - Research Article

Weatherall, A., Keevallik, L., La, J., Dowell, T., & Stubbe, M. (2021). The multimodality and temporality of pain displays. Language & Communication, 80, 56-70. doi: 10.1016/j.langcom.2021.05.008

Journal - Research Article

White, S. J., & Stubbe, M. (2021). Patient responses to diagnosis in surgeon-patient consultations. Health Communication. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2021.1965278

Journal - Research Article

Elkin, L. E., Pullon, S. R. H., & Stubbe, M. H. (2020). 'Should I vaccinate my child?' Comparing the displayed stances of vaccine information retrieved from Google, Facebook and YouTube. Vaccine, 38, 2771-2778. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.041

Journal - Research Article

Hilder, J., Stubbe, M., Macdonald, L., Abels, P., & Dowell, A. C. (2020). Communication in high risk ante-natal consultations: A direct observational study of interactions between patients and obstetricians. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, 20, 493. doi: 10.1186/s12884-020-03015-6

Journal - Research Article

Mathieson, F., Jordan, J., & Stubbe, M. (2020). Recent application of metaphor research in cognitive behaviour therapy. Metaphor & the Social World, 10(2), 199-213. doi: 10.1075/msw.00003.mat

Journal - Research Article

Donnelly, S., Dinesh, D., Dew, K., & Stubbe, M. (2019). The handover room: A qualitative enquiry into the experience of morning clinical handover for acute medical teams. Internal Medicine Journal, 49, 607-614. doi: 10.1111/imj.14142

Journal - Research Article

Hilder, J., Gray, B., & Stubbe, M. (2019). Health navigation and interpreting services for patients with limited English proficiency: A narrative literature review. Journal of Primary Health Care, 11(3), 217-226. doi: 10.1071/HC18067

Journal - Research Article

Hilder, J., Gray, B., & Stubbe, M. (2019). Integrating health navigation and interpreting services for patients with limited English proficiency: Views of Pacific navigators. Pacific Health Dialog, 21(3), 116-127. doi: 10.26635/phd.2019.602

Journal - Research Article

Dowell, A., Stubbe, M., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Gray, L., Vernall, S., … Dew, K. (2018). A longitudinal study of interactions between health professionals and people with newly diagnosed diabetes. Annals of Family Medicine, 16(1), 37-44. doi: 10.1370/afm.2144

Journal - Research Article

Gray, L., Stubbe, M., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Hilder, J., & Dowell, A. C. (2018). A taboo topic? How general practitioners talk about overweight and obesity in New Zealand. Journal of Primary Health Care, 10(2), 150-158. doi: 10.1071/HC17075

Journal - Research Article

Turner, N. M., MacRae, J., Nowlan, M. L., McBain, L., Stubbe, M. H., & Dowell, A. (2018). Quantifying the incidence and burden of herpes zoster in New Zealand general practice: A retrospective cohort study using a natural language processing software inference algorithm. BMJ Open, 8, e021241. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-021241

Journal - Research Article

Dowell, A., Darlow, B., Macrae, J., Stubbe, M., Turner, N., & McBain, L. (2017). Childhood respiratory illness presentation and service utilisation in primary care: A six-year cohort study in Wellington, New Zealand, using natural language processing (NLP) software. BMJ Open, 7(7), e017146. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017146

Journal - Research Article

Dowell, A., Morris, C., McDonald, L., & Stubbe, M. (2017). "I can't bend it and it hurts like mad": Direct observation of gout consultations in routine primary health care. BMC Family Practice, 18(91). doi: 10.1186/s12875-017-0662-9

Journal - Research Article

Gray, B., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Dowell, A., & Stubbe, M. (2017). Are research ethics guidelines culturally competent? Research Ethics, 13(1), 23-41. doi: 10.1177/1747016116650235

Journal - Research Article

Hilder, J., Gray, B., Dowell, A., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., & Stubbe, M. (2017). ‘It depends on the consultation’: Revisiting use of family members as interpreters for general practice consultations – when and why? Australian Journal of Primary Health, 23, 257-262. doi: 10.1071/PY16053

Journal - Research Article

Mathieson, F., Jordan, J., Merrick, P., & Stubbe, M. (2017). Juicy conceptualizations: Increasing alliance through attending to client metaphoric language. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 45(6), 577-589. doi: 10.1017/s1352465817000339

Journal - Research Article

Barton, J., Dew, K., Dowell, A., Sheridan, N., Kenealy, T., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., … Gray, L., & Stubbe, M. (2016). Patient resistance as a resource: Candidate obstacles in diabetes consultations. Sociology of Health & Illness, 38(7), 1151-1166. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12447

Journal - Research Article

Canty, J., Stubbe, M., Steers, D., & Collings, S. (2016). The trouble with bullying: Deconstructing the conventional definition of bullying for a child-centred investigation into children's use of social media. Children & Society, 30(1), 48-58. doi: 10.1111/chso.12103

Journal - Research Article

Mathieson, F., Jordan, J., Carter, J. D., & Stubbe, M. (2016). Nailing down metaphors in CBT: Definition, identification and frequency. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 44(2), 236-248. doi: 10.1017/S1352465815000156

Journal - Research Article

Morris, C., Macdonald, L., Stubbe, M., & Dowell, A. (2016). "It's complicated": Talking about gout medicines in primary care consultations: A qualitative study. BMC Family Practice, 17(1), 114. doi: 10.1186/s12875-016-0515-y

Journal - Research Article

Dew, K., Stubbe, M., Signal, L., Stairmand, J., Dennett, E., Koea, J., Simpson, A., Sarfati, D., … Holdaway, M. (2015). Cancer care decision making in multidisciplinary meetings. Qualitative Health Research, 25(3), 397-407. doi: 10.1177/1049732314553010

Journal - Research Article

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