Samantha B Meyer
Biographic Data
| ID | 118135 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samantha B Meyer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Samantha B |
| FAMILY NAME | Meyer |
| SIGNATURE | MEYER S B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Waterloo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2098-2828 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 87 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 209 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 87 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Drawing across distance
This methodological reflection examines the use of visual methods, particularly drawing, in virtual research with immigrant and refugee children in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper specifically focuses on the methodological design, ethical considerations, and practical adaptations required when using visual tools with children from culturally diverse backgrounds in an online setting. By using examples from a larger qualitative stud…
Trust strategies in healthcare
Trust is foundational to the functioning of health systems and public health initiatives, yet it is increasingly strained by misinformation, politicization, and persistent structural inequities. Although multiple disciplines have examined how trust is built, maintained, and repaired, evidence remains fragmented and often lacks sufficient specification to support comparison or practical application. We conducted a scoping review to map empirically…
Exploring the Connection Between Functional Social Support, Marital Status, and Memory from the Perspective of Community-Dwelling Middle-Aged and Older Adults
Background and Objective We undertook a qualitative descriptive study to explore participants’ perceptions of whether marital status shapes how functional social support (FSS) relates to memory. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 community-dwelling middle-aged and older people representing various marital status categories. Each interview was audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed. Findings Particip…
The Accordion Process
Evidence supports the value of co-designing health policy through meaningful engagement with communities, ensuring their priorities are central to the process. However, there has been limited guidance for ‘how to’ authentically engage community members to create ideas for health policy guided by equity. This paper outlines a clear, actionable process for co-designing health policy that ‘accords’ with lay priorities - the Accordion Process. Using …
Investigating attributes of stigma towards individuals who did not receive a Covid-19 vaccine
Barriers to Accessing Mental Health Services That Impact Black Canadians
Development and validation of the S-TIMHSS
Introduction: Public acceptance of health messaging, recommendations, and policy is heavily dependent on the public's trust in doctors, health systems and health policy. Any erosion of public trust in these domains is thus a concern for public health as it can no longer be assumed that the public will follow official health recommendations. In response, the health policy and health services communities have emphasized a commitment to (re)building…
Intersecting Inequities in Covid-19 Vaccination
Pushing for Structural Reforms
South Asian (SA) communities in Ontario, Canada experienced disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19 infection. Moreover, these communities also faced racism fueled by COVID-19-related misinformation and xenophobic sentiments that placed blame on them for virus transmission. The aim of this research was to understand, from the perspective of local SA communities, the causes behind higher incidences of COVID-19. SA adults ( N = 25) participated…
The nature and extent of migrants, immigrants, and refugees' trust in the social institutions of their host countries
Introduction One of the most significant drivers of the public's decision-making is trust. Trust is a critical factor when making decisions in the face of uncertainty and risk. This same principle applies to trust in our social institutions, which is the topic this paper explores. Institutional trust may be especially important for migrant groups whose vulnerabilities are furthered by the decrease in institutional trust. As such, this review aims…
Tackling Paradoxes and Double Binds for a Healthier Workplace
The urgency of managing the COVID-19 health crisis in workplaces led to tensions, work overload, and confusion about preventive measures. This study presents a secondary analysis of qualitative data on paradoxes and double binds (PDBs) experienced by precarious essential workers in Canada who interacted with the public and their supervisors. Based on 13 interviews from a larger qualitative dataset, we examine how workers navigated public health r…
Engaging Persons With Young Onset Dementia and Their Families in the Evaluation of Social Programs
There are few support services specifically for individuals living with young onset dementia (YOD) (age <65 years at diagnosis). To gain a better understanding of what individuals living with YOD desire in a day program, this project aimed to guide a collaborative re-development and evaluation of two new day programs in Southern Ontario. Using action research techniques and consultative processes, we worked with key stakeholder groups, alongside …
Managing the unknown or the art of preventing Sars-CoV-2 infection in workplaces in a context of evolving science, precarious employment, and communication barriers. A qualitative situational analysis…
Introduction: The issue of communications in the public space, and in particular, in the workplace, became critical in the early stages of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and was exacerbated by the stress of the drastic transformation of the organization of work, the speed with which new information was being made available, and the constant fear of being infected or developing a more severe or even fatal form of the disease. Although effective communica…
Development and validation of the Trust in Multidimensional Healthcare Systems Scale (TIMHSS)
This global measure of trust in healthcare can be used to measure trust over time at a population level, or used within specific subpopulations, to inform interventions to (re)build trust. It can also be used within a clinical setting to provide a stronger evidence base for associations between trust and therapeutic outcomes
Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control factors influencing Canadian secondary school students’ milk and milk alternatives consumption
Objective: The research objectives were to evaluate factors that influence Canadian secondary school students’ milk and milk alternatives (MMA) consumption and to explore associations through age and gender lenses. Design: A qualitative design was used, consisting of semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation methods. Analysis was guided by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Deductive and inductive thematic analyses were used to generat…
Newcomer perceptions of Covid-19 countermeasures in Canada
Newcomers to Canada have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19, with higher rates of infection and severity of illness. Determinants of higher rates may relate to social and structural inequities that impact newcomers’ capacity to follow countermeasures. Our aim was to describe and document factors shaping newcomers’ acceptance of COVID-19 countermeasures. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals living in Cana…
“If I'm a naturopath, It's because I trust nature above everything else”
Canadians and Quebecers increasingly consult complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners in parallel with biomedical providers. The close relationship between vaccine hesitancy and CAM use remains under explored in Western countries. We present the results of a qualitative study conducted among one of Quebec's most used CAM approaches: naturopathy. Using Boholm and Corvellec's relational theory of risk to illustrate naturopaths' co…
How do you measure trust in social institutions and health professionals? A systematic review of the literature (2012–2021)
The importance of measuring trust in health systems has been accentuated due to its correlation with important health outcomes aimed at reducing COVID‐19 transmission. A systematic review published almost a decade ago identified gaps in measures including the lack of focus on trust in systems, inconsistency regarding the dimensionality of trust and need for research to strengthen the validity of measures. Given developments in our understandings …
Examining factors impacting acceptance of Covid-19 countermeasures among structurally marginalised Canadians
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated inequities in health for structurally marginalised Canadians. Their location on society's hierarchies constrained their ability to access healthcare and follow recommended health behaviours. The aim of this article is to identify, from the perspective of marginalised populations, factors influencing the acceptance or rejection of COVID-19 countermeasures by structurally marginalised Canadians. Int…
Informing efforts beyond tailored promotional campaigns by understanding contextual factors shaping vaccine hesitancy among equity-deserving populations in Canada
Background Vaccine hesitancy exists on a continuum ranging between complete adherence and complete refusal due to doubts or concerns within a heterogeneous group of individuals. We aim to identify and begin to understand and document the unique contextual factors shaping hesitancy by equity-deserving groups as it relates to relationships with government and health authorities. Methods Participants were recruited and interviewed between Aug-Dec 20…
Development and validation of the Trust in Government measure (TGM)
This measure can be used within high-income countries, particularly member countries within the OECD already in support of using tools to collect, publish and compare statistics. Our measure should be used by researchers and policy makers to measure trust in government as a key indicator of societal and public health
Exploring the Determinants that Contribute to and Promote the Wellbeing of Immigrant and Refugee Children in Canada
‘I have a healthy relationship with alcohol’
Alcohol consumption by Australian women during midlife has been increasing. Health promotion efforts to reduce alcohol consumption in order to reduce alcohol-related disease risk compete with the social contexts and value of alcohol in women’s lives. This paper draws on 50 qualitative interviews with midlife women (45–64 years of age) from different social classes living in South Australia in order to gain an understanding of how and why women mi…
“We need to talk to each other”
Introduction: This study examined how public health (PH) and occupational health (OH) sectors worked together and separately, in four different Canadian provinces to address COVID-19 as it affected at-risk workers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 OH and PH experts between June to December 2021. Responses about how PH and OH worked across disciplines to protect workers were analyzed. Methods: We conducted a qualitative analysis to ident…
How does social class shape women's alcohol stockpiling during Covid-19
Description
The Application of Abductive and Retroductive Inference for the Design and Analysis of Theory-Driven Sociological Research
Abductive and retroductive inference are innovative tools of analysis which enable researchers to refine and redevelop social theory. This paper describes and demonstrates how to apply these tools to strengthen sociological theory-driven empirical research outputs. To illustrate how abductive and retroductive inference work for the benefit of enhanced qualitative analysis we present the findings of a qualitative study that investigated heart dise…
Do-it-yourself
Trust in the health system
Social theory provides a lens through which we can analyse the role of trust in health systems. However, the majority of theoretically informed trust literature addresses ‘institutional’ or ‘interpersonal’ trust individually, failing to investigate trust as determined by a ‘web’ of mutually interacting relationships between individuals and social systems. Current theoretical assumptions are also problematic as they fail to recognise the role that…
Reconnecting Australian consumers and producers
Differentiating between trust and dependence of patients with coronary heart disease
Sociological health research on the concept of trust has been bedevilled by its multivocalities. This article extends Luhmann's attempts to clarify a sociology of trust. Luhmann argued a semantic distinction between trust and confidence. In this article, we use empirical data on patient 'trust' in doctors to argue that there is also a semantic distinction between trust and dependence. We conducted 37 semi-structured interviews with patients with …
Stigma and blame related to Covid-19 pandemic
How to’ Use Social Theory Within and Throughout Qualitative Research in Healthcare Contexts
The role of theory in qualitative health research is paramount for translation into practice and policy, since it moves beyond pure description of data, allowing interpretation of the social processes underpinning and potentially ‘explaining’ findings. However, the use of theory in empirical research proves challenging to undertake and subsequently articulate in theses and publications. This paper offers insight into how theory may be used in emp…
Risk, responsibility and negative responses
Childhood vaccination programmes have benefits that far outweigh risks, in public health terms. However, some parents decide not to immunise their children. This paper explores the ways in which such parents talk about the perceived risks and benefits incurred by vaccinating (or not vaccinating) their children. Between 2013 and 2016, we undertook 29 in-depth interviews with non-vaccinating and/or ‘vaccine hesitant’ parents in Fremantle, Western A…
Alcohol and Flourishing for Australian Women in Midlife
This article responds to calls for empirically grounded and critically analytical research on the sociology of happiness. We explore how 35 Australian women in midlife (45-64 years) navigate alcohol use in the context of gendered lifecourses. In response to emerging themes around happiness in and through alcohol consumption during inductive analysis, data were re-analysed using neo-Aristotlean notions of flourishing. This illuminated alcohol cons…
Dependency, trust and choice? Examining agency and 'forced options' within secondary-healthcare contexts
This article seeks to extend understandings of the ways in which trust is integral to analysing 'choice' within healthcare contexts, while also reappraising choice and its salience for grasping the nature of trust. Interrogating processes of 'choosing to trust', the authors describe various mechanisms through which 'decisions' are constrained while emphasising enduring agency to (dis)trust, even amid contexts where choice would appear annihilated…
Trust, choice and obligation
Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the second highest cancer prevalence and mortality rates in Australia. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) aims to increase early detection of CRC by offering free faecal occult blood testing. The NBCSP aims to offer choice to consumers about whether or not to participate in screening. This article presents data on trust, choice and perceived obligation to participate in the NBCSP by populati…
We need to protect each other
Place of alcohol in the 'wellness toolkits' of midlife women in different social classes
In this article, we explore how women in different social classes had differential access to resources and services to enhance their 'wellness'-resulting in classed roles in alcohol consumption. We analyse data from a qualitative study on alcohol by midlife women in South Australia and employ the analogy of a 'toolkit' in order to understand the structural patterning of 'wellness tools'. Bourdieu's relational model of class guides our exploration…
Pursuing dignified food security through novel collaborative governance initiatives
The process of making trust related judgements through interaction with food labelling
How do South Australian consumers negotiate and respond to information in the media about food and nutrition
The amount of information in the media about food and nutrition is increasing. As part of the risk society, consumers have a moral imperative to synthesize this information in order to manage their diet. This article explores how media information about food affects how consumers place trust in the food system and strategies adopted to manage conflicting nutritional information. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 47 shoppers drawn from h…
Managing uncertainty about food risks – Consumer use of food labelling
Covid-19 vaccine uptake and intention during pregnancy in Canada
Vaccine safety is a primary concern for this population. Safety information should be communicated to this population as it emerges, along with clear messaging on the benefits of vaccination, as disease risk is either poorly understood or poorly valued in this population
Consumer trust in the Australian food system – The everyday erosive impact of food labelling
Investigations of trust in public and private healthcare in Australia
The Australian healthcare system is complex, comprised of public services (universal access via Medicare) and private health insurance options (fee-for-service). This article presents data from a qualitative study investigating patients' trust in Medicare and private healthcare in Adelaide, Australia. Interviews were conducted with 37 patients with coronary heart disease between October 2008 and September 2009. The findings suggest that private h…
Aunties, WhatsApp, and “haldi da doodh”
Media actors’ perceptions of their roles in reporting food incidents
Exploring the Determinants that Contribute to and Promote the Wellbeing of Immigrant and Refugee Children in Canada
A comparison of repeat cross-sectional and longitudinal results from the Compass study
Selection of appropriate study design and analytical methods is critical for producing robust research, as the design and analytical approach used can ultimately shape results and their interpretation. The objective of this research was to examine how findings from a large repeat cross-sectional data system compare to those from a sample of longitudinal data nested within the same data system, using milk and milk alternative consumption as a case…
The Case of Australia
Government responses to COVID-19 have dramatically altered the social quality of daily circumstances. Consequently, theoretical questions about social cohesion require recalibration as we explore new models of social quality. Central to this article is trust, one of the fundamental tenets of social cohesion. We present data from interviews with 40 women in midlife (45–64 years) regarding their everyday experiences of “life in lockdown” during the…
Trust in the health system
Social theory provides a lens through which we can analyse the role of trust in health systems. However, the majority of theoretically informed trust literature addresses ‘institutional’ or ‘interpersonal’ trust individually, failing to investigate trust as determined by a ‘web’ of mutually interacting relationships between individuals and social systems. Current theoretical assumptions are also problematic as they fail to recognise the role that…
Complex problems require complex solutions
Applying social quality theory allows researchers and policy makers to measure and respond to the multiple sources of oppression and advantage experienced by certain population groups, and to monitor the effectiveness of interventions over time
Trust in the Australian food supply
International research demonstrates diminishing trust in the food supply associated with food scares which undermine trust in expert advice. Even though Australia has not experienced major food scares, there is evidence of diminishing trust in the food supply. Interviews were conducted with 47 South Australian food shoppers from high (n = 17) and low (n = 16) socio-economic regions of Adelaide and from rural South Australia (n = 14) about food go…
Fruit and vegetable consumption – the influence of aspects associated with trust in food and safety and quality of food
Objective To profile adults who eat less than the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Design Australia-wide population telephone survey on a random sample of the Australian population, with results analysed by univariate and multivariate models. Setting Australia. Subjects One thousand one hundred and eight interviews, respondents’ (49·3 % males) mean age was 45·12 ( sd 17·63) years. Results Overall 54·8 % and 10·7 % were eating…
Reconnecting Australian consumers and producers
Investigating Australians' Trust
Trust has been identified as an indicator within Social Quality theory. As an important component of social quality, trust has become increasingly important in modern society because literature suggests that trust in a number of democratic countries is declining. Modern technologies and specialties are often beyond the understanding of lay individuals and thus, the need for trusting relations between lay individuals and organizations/individuals …
How do South Australian consumers negotiate and respond to information in the media about food and nutrition
The amount of information in the media about food and nutrition is increasing. As part of the risk society, consumers have a moral imperative to synthesize this information in order to manage their diet. This article explores how media information about food affects how consumers place trust in the food system and strategies adopted to manage conflicting nutritional information. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 47 shoppers drawn from h…
Evaluating the use of citizens’ juries in food policy
The findings suggest that the citizens' jury increased participant knowledge of the issue and facilitated reflective discussion of the proposition. Citizens' juries are an effective means of gaining insight into public views of policy and the circumstances under which the public will consider food regulation; however a number of issues need to be considered to ensure the successful conduct of a citizens' jury
Never testing for HIV’ among Men who have Sex with Men in Viet Nam
Never testing for HIV is common among Internet-using men who have sex with men in Viet Nam. Given the dangerously high prevalence of this high-risk behaviour, our findings underscore the urgent need for segmented and targeted HIV prevention, care and treatment strategies, focusing on drastically reducing the number of men who have sex with men never testing for HIV in Viet Nam
Trust makers, breakers and brokers
This study will contribute to the literature about systems-based trust, and explore trust as a social and regulatory process. The protocol and results will be of interest and use to the food industry, food regulators, consumer advocate groups, media seeking to report food-related issues and policy makers concerned with public health and consumer health and well-being. This research represents an important contribution to the translation of the th…
Differentiating between trust and dependence of patients with coronary heart disease
Sociological health research on the concept of trust has been bedevilled by its multivocalities. This article extends Luhmann's attempts to clarify a sociology of trust. Luhmann argued a semantic distinction between trust and confidence. In this article, we use empirical data on patient 'trust' in doctors to argue that there is also a semantic distinction between trust and dependence. We conducted 37 semi-structured interviews with patients with …
The Application of Abductive and Retroductive Inference for the Design and Analysis of Theory-Driven Sociological Research
Abductive and retroductive inference are innovative tools of analysis which enable researchers to refine and redevelop social theory. This paper describes and demonstrates how to apply these tools to strengthen sociological theory-driven empirical research outputs. To illustrate how abductive and retroductive inference work for the benefit of enhanced qualitative analysis we present the findings of a qualitative study that investigated heart dise…
The role of the media in construction and presentation of food risks
In this article we examine how and why the media construct food risks, from the perspective of ‘media actors’ (people involved in different types of media) using data from 30 interviews conducted in 2013 with media actors from Australia and the United Kingdom. In modern society, many risks are invisible and are brought to the attention of the public through representations in the mass media. This is particularly relevant for food safety, where th…
Patterns and risk factors of inconsistent condom use among men who have sex with men in Viet Nam
Survey data from men who have sex with men (MSM) in Asian cities indicate drastic increases in HIV prevalence. It is unknown which factors are most important in driving these epidemics. The objective of this study was to identify patterns of condom use among MSM Internet users living in Viet Nam, as well as risk factors associated with inconsistent condom use and non-condom use. A national Internet-based survey of sexual behaviours was administer…
How to’ Use Social Theory Within and Throughout Qualitative Research in Healthcare Contexts
The role of theory in qualitative health research is paramount for translation into practice and policy, since it moves beyond pure description of data, allowing interpretation of the social processes underpinning and potentially ‘explaining’ findings. However, the use of theory in empirical research proves challenging to undertake and subsequently articulate in theses and publications. This paper offers insight into how theory may be used in emp…
Media actors’ perceptions of their roles in reporting food incidents
Institutional (mis)trust in colorectal cancer screening
INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the second highest cancer mortality rate in Australia. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) aims to increase early detection of CRC by offering free Faecal Occult Blood Testing (FOBT), although uptake is low for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups. AIM OF PAPER: To present data on trust and mistrust in the NBCSP by population groups with low uptake and thus to hig…
Investigations of trust in public and private healthcare in Australia
The Australian healthcare system is complex, comprised of public services (universal access via Medicare) and private health insurance options (fee-for-service). This article presents data from a qualitative study investigating patients' trust in Medicare and private healthcare in Adelaide, Australia. Interviews were conducted with 37 patients with coronary heart disease between October 2008 and September 2009. The findings suggest that private h…
Dependency, trust and choice? Examining agency and 'forced options' within secondary-healthcare contexts
This article seeks to extend understandings of the ways in which trust is integral to analysing 'choice' within healthcare contexts, while also reappraising choice and its salience for grasping the nature of trust. Interrogating processes of 'choosing to trust', the authors describe various mechanisms through which 'decisions' are constrained while emphasising enduring agency to (dis)trust, even amid contexts where choice would appear annihilated…
Trust, choice and obligation
Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the second highest cancer prevalence and mortality rates in Australia. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) aims to increase early detection of CRC by offering free faecal occult blood testing. The NBCSP aims to offer choice to consumers about whether or not to participate in screening. This article presents data on trust, choice and perceived obligation to participate in the NBCSP by populati…
Food, health, and complexity
Our model explicates potential interrelationships between five population health issues for which public health interventions have historically been siloed, suggesting that interventions targeted towards these issues have the potential to interact and produce unexpected consequences. Public health practitioners working in infectious foodborne illness, food insecurity, dietary contaminants, obesity, and food allergy should actively consider how th…
Obtaining consumer perspectives using a citizens’ jury
Consumers in this study engaged with the topical issue of CoOL and provided their opinions. Overall, consumers do not think that the current CoOL system in Australia enables consumers to make informed choices. Recommendations for changes, including increasing the size of the label and the label's font, and standardising its position, were made
The process of making trust related judgements through interaction with food labelling
Consumer trust in the Australian food system – The everyday erosive impact of food labelling
Managing uncertainty about food risks – Consumer use of food labelling
Medicine (62 works) · Psychology (48 works) · Political science (47 works) · Sociology (47 works) · Qualitative research (31 works) · Public relations (29 works) · Public health (27 works) · Environmental health (26 works) · Social Psychology (25 works) · Business (24 works)