Christine Stephens
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 128327 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Christine Stephens |
| NOMBRES | Christine |
| APELLIDO | Stephens |
| FIRMA | STEPHENS C |
| AFILIACIONES | Massey University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1325-3579 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 105 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 479 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 105 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1997 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 12 |
Problematising menstrual tracking apps
OBJECTIVES: To showcase a novel, theoretically informed methodology for conducting scoping reviews by operationalising critical theory. And to advance the field of women's digital health by applying this critical scoping review methodology (CSR) to research on menstrual tracking apps (MTAs). METHODS AND MEASURES: 116 articles published in English, between November 2015 and November 2023, focusing on MTAs, and/or user's experiences of MTAs, were t…
Gendered Barriers and Dressing Rituals
Men's prisons can be particularly challenging workplaces for women, who often experience barriers to belonging. While uniforms are recognised as important for professional identity in military and policing contexts, how they shape women's identity practices in prison work has not been widely examined. To address this gap, we completed a reflexive thematic analysis of data produced through a cooperative inquiry project with 16 women working in Aus…
Whanaungatanga and social capital
This article examines the experiences of Māori unpaid caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on whanaungatanga (relationships, kinship) as crucial components of social capital. Through 35 in-depth interviews conducted between May 2023 and April 2024, we explore how the disruption of familial gatherings due to lockdowns impacted participants in our study, but also how digital technology and strong whānau (family) and community connectio…
‘I don’t consider cancer when I’m grabbing the beer’
Compared with other age groups, adults at midlife consume alcohol at relatively high levels. Alcohol has been linked to a number of long-term health risks, including cancer, although awareness of cancer risk is low. The current study aimed to examine how adults at midlife talk about, understand and consider alcohol-related cancer risks within their life contexts. Individual interviews were undertaken with 37 adults (41–64 years; 28 female, 9 male…
Impacts of Perceived Discrimination During the Covid-19 Pandemic on Depression Among Older Chinese Immigrants in Aotearoa New Zealand
Racial discrimination against Chinese immigrants to various countries worldwide has risen sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, but limited research exists regarding the pathways through which racial discrimination impacts older immigrants' mental health. This study explored the relationship of perceived discrimination to depression among older Chinese immigrants living in Aotearoa New Zealand, through pathways of chronic health conditions, langu…
How (In)Visibility Shapes Women's Experience of Inequity in Prison Work
Research shows that women working in men's prisons face both scrutiny and exclusion within a high‐risk, masculinized occupational culture. Addressing a gap in theorizing the processes involved, this article explores the interplay of gender, visibility, and power through a poststructuralist‐informed thematic analysis of data from 16 women participating in four cooperative inquiry groups in Australian men's prisons. Theorized through Lewis and Simp…
Experiences of Covid-19 lockdown among older people in Aotearoa
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted concern about the wellbeing of older people, however, there have also been accounts of increased sense of community in response to the disruption of established routines. To explore how older people experienced lockdown in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we analysed 635 written comments on the 2020 wave of the Health, Work and Retirement longitudinal survey of people aged 55–85 years. Using narrative genre analysis, we discus…
Cultural expectations, tensions and support systems for Māori carers in Aotearoa New Zealand during the pandemic
The qualitative study reported here explored the experiences of Māori carers in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Drawing on 35 in-depth interviews, the research examined how Māori caregiving responsibilities intersected with Māori cultural values. Using thematic analysis, findings identified that carers navigated complex cultural responsibilities while facing systemic barriers, social injustices and limited external suppo…
Alcohol-related health risks, cancer and government drinking guidelines
Alcohol consumption increases longer-term health risks, including cancer. Many adults at midlife in Aotearoa New Zealand drink frequently but may not be aware of such risks. This study examined midlife adults' awareness of alcohol and health risks and their knowledge of government low-risk drinking guidelines. A convenience sample of 502 adults (aged 40-65 years; 70% female) completed an online questionnaire. Almost all respondents reported they …
Older adult's experiences during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand
The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted the morbidity and mortality risks of older adults as well as their heterogeneity and resilience. The immediate need to address psychosocial and health issues among this age group is driven by global concerns about the growing number of disaster occurrences, the growing ageing population, and widening inequalities. Using an inductive analysis of written comments about their experiences by 1,400 older pe…
Understanding older Māori informal caregivers’ experiences during the Covid‐19 pandemic through Te Whare Tapa Whā
Drawing upon Tā Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā model, this research explores the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the health and wellbeing of older Māori informal caregivers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Utilising information from 35 in‐depth interviews conducted with Māori informal/whānau caregivers, this study identifies that the pandemic impacted the physical and mental health of Māori informal caregivers, facing challenges due to lockdown measu…
Postfeminism in prison
This article explores sense-making among female prison workers as they negotiate their appearance at work. Appearance is a vehicle through which gender is performed; yet research into how women account for their appearance in this male-dominated profession remains limited. We address this gap through an analysis of 16 women's accounts of their appearance work produced from an in-depth cooperative inquiry with women working in Australian men's pri…
The life course effects of socioeconomic status on later life loneliness
Precursors of loneliness include individual risk factors and experiences of social exclusion. Using the New Zealand Health Work and Retirement Life Course History Study, we investigated the impact of unequal access to material resources across the life course (from age 10 to present) on late life emotional and social loneliness and the moderating effects of gender and Māori ethnicity (indigenous population of Aotearoa/New Zealand) in 613 adults a…
Social networks and social support of older immigrants in Aotearoa New Zealand
Immigrants commonly report difficulties with developing social connections post-transition, which can lead to social isolation as they age. Understanding what factors promote/hinder the social integration of immigrants is an important public health objective. We tested the public health model of social integration of Berkman et al . in a sample of older immigrants. This model calls for considering both the social conditions in which social networ…
Home drinking practices among middle‐class adults in midlife during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
An Examination of Coping Strategies that Moderated the Effects of Covid-19-Related Stress on Anxiety Among Older Adults in Aotearoa/NZ
Objectives: 1. To describe perceived stress and changes in anxiety and coping among older adults between 2018 and 2020. 2. To examine the moderating roles of social support, exercise, alcohol use, and smoking on the relationship between perceived stress and anxiety. Methods: Longitudinal data collected from 3275 participants ( M = 68.1 years) as part of the NZ Health, Work, and Retirement study's 2018 and 2020 biennial surveys, were analyzed usin…
Local knowledge and unliveable narratives
The Role of Local Knowledge in Multigenerational Caregiving for Older People
Little is known about how local knowledge informs the way that families provide care for older people beyond the role played by the cultural values of obligation and reciprocity. Better understanding of the role of local knowledge in caregiving practices can contribute to the improvement of support for family caregiving in particular contexts. Addressing this knowledge gap, this study identifies forms of local knowledge that play a role in the wa…
Constructions of older people's identities in Indonesian regional ageing policies
As Indonesia experiences rapid growth of the ageing population, the government's attention has turned to the wellbeing of older people. This study aims to review critically the construction of older people's identity and care within regional ageing policies in Indonesia. Working from a critical gerontology perspective, a critical discourse analysis of 16 regional ageing policies identified two constructions, labelled ‘material’ and ‘cultural’ age…
Social inequalities over the lifecourse and healthy ageing in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Lifecourse approaches to healthy ageing recognise that health in older age is affected by long-term cumulative inequalities between socio-economic status (SES), gender and ethnicity groups, which begin in childhood. Combining longitudinal survey data with lifecourse history interviews from 729 older New Zealanders aged 61–81 (mean = 72, standard deviation = 4.5), we tested a lifecourse model of predictors of physical, mental and social health in …
Received Social Support and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in New Zealand and Philippine Emergency Responders
Introduction: Emergency responders are at risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). This study investigates the relationship between the different components of received social support (RSS) and PTSS in these occupations. Method: This cross-sectional study involved emergency responders from New Zealand and the Philippines (n=223). Participants answered an online questionnaire measuring social support and PTSS. Results: High amount of total r…
An Application of the Resource-Based Dynamic Process Model in the Context of Retirement Planning
Retirement planning is a widely promoted activity to enhance wellbeing for aging populations. However, there is limited follow-up data to understand the antecedents of multi-dimensional retirement planning activities, the resources such activities produce or the explanatory mechanisms. This research draws on recent theorizing, which suggests that retirement planning may play a mediating role in explaining how pre-retirement antecedents are transf…
Impact of Flexible Work Arrangements on Key Challenges to Work Engagement Among Older Workers
As workforces age, organizations are challenged to provide human resource management policies and practices that are responsive to the needs of older workers. Flexible work arrangements (FWAs)—practices that allow workers to influence when, where, and how work is completed—have been promoted as enabling older workers to maintain work engagement by decreasing demands of the work role, providing the autonomy to balance work and nonwork commitments,…
The psychosocial benefits of providing non-kin childcare in older adults
Community grandparenting may promote the well-being of older adults. We examined the impact of non-kin and grandparental childcare on quality of life and loneliness using longitudinal data from 2653 older New Zealanders collected over 2 years. Providing both non-kin and grandparental childcare predicted greater self-realisation for women only and was associated with reduced levels of control and autonomy for men. Non-kin childcare was also associ…
Using Nussbaum’s central capabilities to understand caring for older people in New Zealand
In this article, we use the capability approach and Nussbaum’s list of essential capabilities to understand the experiences of people providing (informal) care for older people. Nussbaum’s ten essential capabilities were used as a template to analyse contributions to an online forum created for the research. The carers’ posts indicated they valued these capabilities, though, in some instances, struggled to achieve them in the context of providing…
Men, masculine identities, and health care utilisation
Seeking medical help early is critical for recovery, yet evidence indicates that men do not utilise general practitioner services as often as women. This paper draws on Connell's (1995) theory of hegemonic masculinity to critically examine how men's under-utilisation of medical services may be influenced by the social construction of masculine identities. Interviews with seven older rural men about their help-seeking behaviour, used a movie extra…
Social capital in its place
The Effects of Types of Social Networks, Perceived Social Support, and Loneliness on the Health of Older People
Social network type is a useful way to assess social integration within this model of cascading effects. More detailed information could be gained through the development of our network assessment instruments for older people
Irreconcilable differences
Involvement without interference
Grandparents play a key role in many families. Examining talk about grandparenting provides a way to understand expectations structured by family roles and wider societal expectations. In this study, 29 grandparents talked about their experiences of grandparenting in New Zealand Participants described the joys and wonder of grandparenting, however, boundaries must be continually negotiated or conflict can occur. Participants described governing t…
Narrative Analysis in Psychological Research
For researchers and research participants alike, narrative is a pervasive structure with which we comprehend and convey the experiences and meanings of events, account for our own and others' behaviour, and reveal ourselves to others in the way in which we would like to be seen. In doing so, we also reveal something of the structure of our social world. For these reasons, the stories that people tell provide important information about their expe…
Virtuously Watching One's Health
Individual responsibility for health is socio-culturally emphasized. This study used discourse analysis to examine 60 New Zealand adults' (aged 55-70) uptake of health promotion discourse in talk about health and ageing. Many participants attempted to defy or manage an ageing body through a regime of exercise, food management and other practices. The subject position of being in control of one's health counteracted anxieties about ageing; followi…
Negotiating a moral identity in the context of later life care
Mediation and the Construction of Contemporary Understandings of Health and Lifestyle
The practice of using media to promote the benefits of diet and exercise has been associated with the rise in prominence of a sense of personal obligation for one's own health. This article contributes to recent critiques of the emphasis being placed on individual responsibility for health. We argue that if health psychologists are to develop an adequately social understanding of our role in promoting health, then we must begin to examine the inf…
Online Research with Informal Caregivers
In this article we discuss the opportunities and challenges of using the Internet as part of an emergent methodology in qualitative research. Utilising a deliberative process of democratic enquiry, an online forum was used to identify important capabilities for the health of informal caregivers for older people in New Zealand. Recognising the difficulties associated with recruiting and interviewing informal caregivers, the study was advertised an…
Privilege and Status in an Unequal Society
There has been a great deal of social policy and health promotion practice directed toward the inclusion of underprivileged groups with the aim of improving their health. This focus on disadvantaged people and poor communities, to help them empower themselves and improve their lot, often fails because it ignores the role of the broader society. We neglect to note the crucial part that the advantaged play in perpetuating inequalities. Theory and e…
Volunteering as reciprocity
Young people's food practices and social relationships. A thematic synthesis
To Have or to Take
Using 'social cognitive' frameworks, attitudes to HRT have been examined as if they were stable entities located within individuals. However, qualitative studies have revealed variations and contradictions in women's 'attitudes'. We seek to explain these apparent contradictions by using a social constructionist approach to the analysis of qualitative data from 7 focus group discussions about HRT with 48 women in New Zealand. A discourse analysis …
Women's Experience at the Time of Menopause
In understanding health and illness, it has long been apparent that psychological and social aspects are as important as the biological explanations of the biomedical model. Recent studies of women's experience of menopause have demonstrated the psychological and social constructions of women's bodies, but have neglected to include individual embodiment and the notion of a social world that is inescapably embodied. This paper presents arguments f…
Still being ‘Mother’? Consumption and identity practices for women in later life
Studies of mothering and consumption have primarily focussed on mothers to be and mothers of young children with little known about the intersection between consumption and mothering beyond the years of childhood dependence. This article argues that performances of mothering enacted through consumption do not end with children leaving home. Many women were consciously ‘Still being mother’, with consumption choices significant in the ways in which…
The impact of trauma and social support on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Pursuing security
Access to economic resources influences the material conditions of life for older people, as well as the freedoms and capacities of older people to achieve the kind of lives they value. Security is one aspect of later life valued by older people. Ontological security provides a sense of order and continuity and needs to be understood in terms of the situated life experiences and circumstances of older people. The study reported in this paper anal…
Older adults' narratives about a flood disaster
Participation in Different Fields of Practice
`Participation' by community members in health-related programmes is an appealing concept that has not always been easy to achieve. Such programmes are often directed towards communities defined on the basis of neighbourhood or group identity. This article aims to develop an account of participation and identity by drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice to understand participation as the practice of social identities structured by habitus, capi…
Ageing in Unsuitable Places
Much of the focus of ageing in place policy is concerned with the provision of support to enable older people to age in the community in residences adapted to their needs. There has been little examination of why older people make choices to age in particular places in later life. In this paper, we drew on 143 interviews with older people in New Zealand to examine the narratives older people use to describe their housing preferences in later life…
I sort of pay back in my own little way’
There is increasing emphasis in the media, public and policy discourses about the implications of the ageing population on promoting independence and self-reliance in old age, which is linked to the importance of social connection and the dangers of social exclusion. This paper examines how the potentially contradictory moral imperatives of independence and connectedness are managed by older people through reciprocity. Thirty-six interviews were …
What is this Thing Called Hormone Replacement Therapy? Discursive Construction of Medication in Situated Practice
The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) involves complex decisions for mid-aged women owing to controversy about the meaning of menopause and uncertainty regarding risks and benefits. Qualitative studies show that women can hold apparently contradictory beliefs, for example, both resisting and relying on medicalization. Focus group data (48 participants) and discourse analysis theorizing were used to investigate the complex discursive field …
Longitudinal Trajectories of Quality of Life and Depression by Housing Tenure Status
The psychological benefits of home ownership highlight the importance of secure and sustainable housing. Policies should be designed to ensure access to safe housing solutions for all older people
The Influence of Ethnicity and Gender on Caregiver Health in Older New Zealanders
The poorer health of caregivers supports previous findings on the detrimental health effects of caregiving. Caregiving may have more detrimental effects on Māori health outcomes due to existing inequalities in health, barriers to formal support services, and the multiple roles of elder Māori
The impact of trauma and social support on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Communication with police supervisors and peers as a buffer of work-related traumatic stress
Traumatic events are a particular type of stressor that may affect police officers engaged in front line duties. In this study, specific types of social support predicted to buffer the psychological and physical health effects of trauma are drawn from theory and empirical evidence in the area of post-traumatic stress. Social support, measured as the content of communication, and the ease of talking about trauma was tested with 527 working police …
Unspeakable Emotion
In contrast to traditional psychological theories that conceptualize emotions as discrete intrapsychic phenomena, the present study considers emotions as social constructions. A discursive analysis of interviews with 12 police officers was undertaken to develop a situated understanding of the construction and function of emotion in the culture of the New Zealand police. Two conflicting discourses of emotion were identified: a discourse of emotion…
Material Discourses of Health and Illness
Women's Experience at the Time of Menopause
In understanding health and illness, it has long been apparent that psychological and social aspects are as important as the biological explanations of the biomedical model. Recent studies of women's experience of menopause have demonstrated the psychological and social constructions of women's bodies, but have neglected to include individual embodiment and the notion of a social world that is inescapably embodied. This paper presents arguments f…
The Relationship Between Hormone Replacement Therapy Use and Psychological Symptoms
The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for treatment of negative mood or affect, including problems such as depression, is not recommended in current public health guidelines or by reviewers of recent scientific findings. In this article we describe a preliminary examination of the relationship of HRT use to psychological affect and distress in the general population of middle-aged New Zealand women. A questionnaire survey was sent to 1,000…
What is this Thing Called Hormone Replacement Therapy? Discursive Construction of Medication in Situated Practice
The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) involves complex decisions for mid-aged women owing to controversy about the meaning of menopause and uncertainty regarding risks and benefits. Qualitative studies show that women can hold apparently contradictory beliefs, for example, both resisting and relying on medicalization. Focus group data (48 participants) and discourse analysis theorizing were used to investigate the complex discursive field …
Healthy Living and Keeping Busy
Menopause is a complex time in the lives of mid-aged women, and this contributes to the diversity of attributions of menopausal experience. In this study, participants' comments on a survey of attitudes about menopause were analyzed discursively to consider how mid-aged women account for their own and other women's experience of menopause. Two discourses drawn upon to make attributions about menopausal experience were identified. Women account fo…
To Have or to Take
Using 'social cognitive' frameworks, attitudes to HRT have been examined as if they were stable entities located within individuals. However, qualitative studies have revealed variations and contradictions in women's 'attitudes'. We seek to explain these apparent contradictions by using a social constructionist approach to the analysis of qualitative data from 7 focus group discussions about HRT with 48 women in New Zealand. A discourse analysis …
More Dimensions for the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control
The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scale was a significant contribution to the development of the locus of control construct in establishing the importance of multiple sources of control. This article suggests that further development of the construct should include two distinct aspects of control beliefs: strategy and capacity beliefs. A confirmatory factor analysis that tested six competing models supported the use of multidime…
Mediation and the Construction of Contemporary Understandings of Health and Lifestyle
The practice of using media to promote the benefits of diet and exercise has been associated with the rise in prominence of a sense of personal obligation for one's own health. This article contributes to recent critiques of the emphasis being placed on individual responsibility for health. We argue that if health psychologists are to develop an adequately social understanding of our role in promoting health, then we must begin to examine the inf…
Re-arranging Fear
This article concentrates on relationships between police officers, critical incident events and psychological support services. It challenges the traditional psychological theory of emotion, looking instead at the construction of emotion discourses in social interactions, in particular the rhetoric that police officers use to preserve their political and social environment. It examines the emotion talk of this particular cultural context through…
Individual responsibility and social constraint
Research has an important role in the production of knowledge and in shaping dominant social attitudes towards adolescent motherhood. Although adolescent motherhood has been framed as a social problem in social scientific research, recent researchers have attempted to go beyond the focus on disadvantage to suggest that outcomes for adolescent mothers depend upon individual differences and contextual factors related to successful mothering. Social…
Community as practice
Health promotion researchers and practitioners have increasingly turned to community‐based approaches. Although there has been much work around the diverse understandings of the term in areas such as community psychology and sociology, I am concerned with how such understandings relate directly to community health research and practice. From a discursive perspective ‘community’ is seen as a socially constructed representation that is used various…
Irreconcilable differences
Participation in Different Fields of Practice
`Participation' by community members in health-related programmes is an appealing concept that has not always been easy to achieve. Such programmes are often directed towards communities defined on the basis of neighbourhood or group identity. This article aims to develop an account of participation and identity by drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice to understand participation as the practice of social identities structured by habitus, capi…
A life of ease and immorality
Mothering on welfare is often discussed as perpetuating disadvantage and discouraging individuals from meaningful social activity defined as paid employment. This is understood in the context of increasing commitment to a neo‐liberalist agenda, where people are viewed as autonomous individuals in a market economy, and unequal rewards within this economy are due to individual failings. The discourse analysis presented here examines how health prof…
Health promotion
Social capital in its place
Breaking the Cycle
Intergenerational explanations are widely available to account for poor health and social outcomes such as those associated with teenage motherhood. Within these explanations, medical journals represent authoritative voices that shape understandings of disadvantage. Teenage motherhood was understood through the metaphor of a `cycle of disadvantage' within this medical literature. Disadvantage is constructed as the result of poor individual choice…
Menopause and the virtuous woman
Whether or not to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) around the time of menopause is seen as an important decision for many mid-aged women. Recent studies of information provided to women to assist them in making a medical decision about the use of HRT have highlighted the importance of understanding the broader social context of the decision. In this article we examine one important aspect of western mid-aged women's social world: the moral o…
Men, masculine identities, and health care utilisation
Seeking medical help early is critical for recovery, yet evidence indicates that men do not utilise general practitioner services as often as women. This paper draws on Connell's (1995) theory of hegemonic masculinity to critically examine how men's under-utilisation of medical services may be influenced by the social construction of masculine identities. Interviews with seven older rural men about their help-seeking behaviour, used a movie extra…
An Integrated Model for Understanding and Developing Resilience in the Face of Adverse Events
The Five Part Model or Five Areas Model has been a pivotal component of cognitive behavioural therapy and the treatment of various psychological disorders. The Five Part Model consists of five components that represent the interaction of an individual's environment, thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical reactions. To date the Five Part Model has primarily been used to understand what has already happened to an individual; for example, when…
I sort of pay back in my own little way’
There is increasing emphasis in the media, public and policy discourses about the implications of the ageing population on promoting independence and self-reliance in old age, which is linked to the importance of social connection and the dangers of social exclusion. This paper examines how the potentially contradictory moral imperatives of independence and connectedness are managed by older people through reciprocity. Thirty-six interviews were …
Racism and Inequalities in Health
Estacio (this issue) has provided a moving demonstration of the way in which racism impacts on health at interpersonal, societal and global levels and how the discourses that create and sustain unequal treatment may be identified in everyday mediated talk, including the use of humour. In this commentary I develop Estacio's discussion of the importance of racism in regard to health inequalities. Using her structure, I briefly suggest additional wa…
Psychology (90 obras) · Sociology (68 obras) · Medicine (61 obras) · Social Psychology (45 obras) · Political science (44 obras) · Gerontology (37 obras) · Social Psychology (35 obras) · Health disparities and outcomes (33 obras) · Social science (27 obras) · Gender Studies (25 obras)