Jean Farmer
Biographic Data
| ID | 224350 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jean Farmer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jean |
| FAMILY NAME | Farmer |
| SIGNATURE | FARMER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Swinburne University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1730-2622 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 214 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 54 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Digital Social Connection at the Lonely Urban Fringe
This study explores how individuals in outer metropolitan areas use digital tools to maintain social connections in settings with physical isolation and limited social infrastructure. Based on interviews with 44 participants, the research identifies four layers of digital social connection: close relationships, social support networks, group participation, and community engagement. The findings show that people use a variety of digital platforms,…
Bushfire public inquiries: From recommendations to hybrid emergency management arrangements
Victoria, Australia consistently experiences significant bushfires. This article examines the ways in which public inquiry recommendations after major bushfires in Victoria have played an important role in shifting the emphasis of emergency management organisations (EMOs) from bushfire response to bushfire preparedness through hybrid emergency management arrangements. Based on a qualitative analysis of Victorian public inquiry bushfire reports fr…
Affective Judgement of a Sense of Social Connection: A Scale Refinement Process
Social connection is a multidimensional construct approached in various ways, leading to fragmented measurement and ineffective modelling of its dimensions. This study utilised a strengths-based framework to examine items that capture an individual’s affective judgement of their sense of connection within a national population setting. A representative Australian panel ( n = 927) was surveyed to explore the relationships among affective categorie…
A qualitative exploration of online forums to support resilience of rural young people in Australia
Introduction: Prevention and early intervention are crucial strategies for improving young people's mental health and well-being. Building resilience is a key component of these strategies, especially among young individuals in rural areas who face well-documented mental health disparities. This study aimed to investigate how online mental health forums can contribute to enhancing individual resilience in young rural users. Methods: = 1,000) made…
Using Data Bricolage and Mixed-Methods GIS to Uncover Mental Health Service Gaps in Rural Australia
This article develops an approach to data bricolage by mixed-methods geographic information systems (GIS) to challenge assumptions that quantitative service provision data and consumer surveys are the only sources of data that can inform gaps in service accessibility.Claims of repurposing health data have long animated health geography, but methodological advances have only recently begun to open opportunities for geographical analyses of reused …
Contemporary interventions tackling complex issues: Exploring pathways from online mental health forums to personal resilience
This paper identifies and examines pathways in which online mental health forums assist in building personal resilience and address the mental ill-health of rural residents. We use a resilience theory to develop a Theoretical Resilience Framework and apply it to empirical qualitative data deriving from three of Australia's online mental health forums as well as interviews with forum users. Using thematic analysis and an abductive approach to gene…
Data for Social Good: Non-Profit Sector Data Projects
This open access book provides guidance for organisations in the community sector on how to get started with community data science projects.
Mental Health and the Digital Care Assemblage: Moderation Practices & User Experiences
This paper examines the socio-technical ecosystems that shape the moderation of mental health content. To explore how care is formulated across and between different actors and automated systems, I focus on the experiences of moderators and users of three peer-based mental health support platforms. The analysis is framed by the notion of the 'digital care assemblage' to delineate the interactions between goal-oriented moderation policies, automat…
Community transformed? Exploring the interaction between online support and rural community life for people with acute mental health conditions
Moderating mental health: Addressing the human–machine alignment problem through an adaptive logic of care
Covid-19 deepened the need for digital-based support for people experiencing mental ill-health. Discussion platforms have long filled gaps in health service provision and access, offering peer-based support usually maintained by a mix of professional and volunteer peer moderators. Even on dedicated support platforms, however, mental health content poses difficulties for human and machine moderation. While automated systems are considered essentia…
Social enterprises developing capability and well-being through work-based learning
Many social enterprises aim to transition disadvantaged people into mainstream employment; they are engaged in commercial activity underpinned by a social mission. They provide training in life and work skills to develop capability, defined as ability to achieve. They are spaces apparently available not only to develop socially and economically useful capability, but also to promote social inclusion and well-being. This article develops understan…
Wellness Impacts of Social Capital Built in Online Peer Support Forums
The study reported in this paper sought to explore whether and how social capital resources were generated on online peer support mental health forums, and how they were used by rural users to influence mental health outcomes. Interviews with rural users of three Australian online peer support mental health forums were analysed to identify interactions that accessed social capital resources and mental wellness outcomes that flowed from these. Ana…
A Novel Mixed Methods Approach for Integrating Not-for-Profit Service Data via Qualitative Geographic Information System to Explore Authentic Experiences of Ill-Health: A Case Study of Rural Mental He…
Meeting the mental health needs of rural populations is challenging internationally, with few methods and scarce data available to inform site-specific planning. We developed a mixed methods approach that integrates Not-for-profit (NFP) organization data in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to explore interrelated understandings of mental health experiences in rural places. Integrating qualitative experience data from online forums with quant…
How to systematically analyze co‐production to inform future policies? Introducing 5Ws of co‐production
The “woolliness” and “methodological hurdles” of co‐production make it challenging to compare and contrast different co‐production policy initiatives and their outcomes, and distil “what works”, for whom and in what circumstances. Inspired by Nabatchi et al. (2017) 3Ws typology of the Who , When , and What of co‐production, we draw on co‐production theory deriving from a narrative literature review and empirical research of co‐production cases in…
Developing data capability with non-profit organisations using participatory methods
In this paper, we explore the methodologies underpinning two participatory research collaborations with Australian non-profit organisations that aimed to build data capability and social benefit in data use. We suggest that studying and intervening in data practices in situ, that is, in organisational data settings expands opportunities for improving the social value of data. These situated and collaborative approaches not only address the 'exper…
Spanning communication boundaries to address health inequalities: The role of community connectors and social media
Healthcare services face persistent barriers in reaching and improving access for marginalized or hardly reached people. This paper details the strategic use of social media among community connectors, or members of a community who address health issues in their local contexts by spanning socio-cultural boundaries within the community. Undertaking qualitative research in rural Australia and Ireland, we find evidence that through their strategic u…
Social media for social good? A thematic, spatial and visual analysis of humanitarian action on Instagram
As an image and location sharing platform, Instagram offers intimate visual access to events, experiences and situations in a manner that is mobile and contextual. Partnering with Australian Red Cross, this paper develops a mixed methodology for using Instagram data to identify and understand individuals’ everyday humanitarian activity in a major urban centre (Melbourne, Australia) outside of the temporal frame of crisis. The research integrates …
Building readiness for inclusive practice in mainstream health services: A pre-inclusion framework to deconstruct exclusion
Across the globe, people are not equitably included or respected by health services. This results in some people being 'hardly reached' and having less access to safe and appropriate care. While some health services have adopted specific agendas to increase inclusion, these services can struggle to implement such strategies because the underlying reasons for exclusion have not been addressed. This calls for preparation prior to implementation of …
WOmen's Action for Mums and Bubs (Womb) Trial Protocol: A Non-randomized Stepped Wedge Implementation Trial of Participatory Women's Groups to Improve the Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island…
Introduction: In Australia, there have been improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander maternal health, however inequities remain. There is increasing international evidence illustrating the effectiveness of Participatory Women’s Groups (PWGs) in improving Maternal and Child Health (MCH) outcomes. Using a non-randomised, cluster stepped-wedge implementation of a complex intervention with mixed methods evaluation, this study aims to tes…
Mediating Mental Illness: Digital Lifeworlds, Platforms and Algorithms
How is mental illness conceptualised, designed, experienced or produced by digital life? This panel explores how digital technologies and media are transforming the performance, recognition, and experience of mental illness. We bring together different methodological and theoretical contributions towards an interdisciplinary study of mental illness and digital life. Our first two papers analyse specifically chatbots and ingestible sensors that ar…
What Is Rural Adversity, How Does It Affect Wellbeing and What Are the Implications for Action
A growing body of literature recognises the profound impact of adversity on mental health outcomes for people living in rural and remote areas. With the cumulative effects of persistent drought, record-breaking bushfires, limited access to quality health services, the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic and social challenges, there is much to understand about the impact of adversity on mental health and wellbeing in rural populations. In this …
Using micro-geography to understand the realisation of wellbeing: A qualitative GIS study of three social enterprises
I think we're getting a bit clinical here’: A qualitative study of professionals' experiences of providing mental healthcare to young people within an Australian rural service
This paper contributes to scholarship on the medicalisation of mental health support for young people through a case study of a multidisciplinary mental health service in rural Australia. All staff (n = 13) working at the service participated in semi-structured, individual interviews. Transcripts of interview data were read and selectively coded and interpreted in relation to the overarching question of how participants view and experience mental…
Integration and segregation for social enterprise employees: A relational micro‐geography
Geographers have highlighted the role of spaces and places in realising or discouraging social integration for marginalised or “dis/abled” citizens. Social enterprises, widely promoted by governments, aim to act as unique socio‐commercial spaces that can up‐skill citizens for work through technical and social experiences. Social enterprises have also been proposed to add value by fostering wellbeing realisation, but this has been difficult to mea…
Challenges of community engagement in a rural area: The impact of flood protection and policy
Agreement on rural responses to flooding is complex and contested. • Policy can undermine community resilience through paternalist approaches. • Authorities can undermine resilience by ignoring findings from public consultations. • Risk management policy can add to polarisation amongst at-risk rural communities. • Collaborative approaches can empower resilient communities and avoid polarisation
Dr. John has gone: Assessing health professionals’ contribution to remote rural community sustainability in the UK
Are rural health professionals also social entrepreneurs
Do community empowerment and enabling state policies work in practice? Insights from a community development intervention in rural Scotland
Housing risk’ and the neoliberal discourse of responsibilisation in Victoria
The article examines the representation of housing risk in contemporary Australian policy discourse through a critical analysis of two policy texts from the recent Victorian Coalition government (2010–2014). Drawing on governmentality theory and contemporary debates on neoliberalism, it examines how these policy texts perpetuate a discourse in which ‘housing risk’ is primarily understood as an issue for individuals to manage, rather than as an is…
Involving rural older people in service co-production: Is there an untapped pool of potential participants
More than health: The added value of health services in remote Scotland and Australia
A theory of how rural health services contribute to community sustainability
Territorial tensions: Misaligned management and community perspectives on health services for older people in remote rural areas
Rural/urban differences in accounts of patients’ initial decisions to consult primary care
How to systematically analyze co‐production to inform future policies? Introducing 5Ws of co‐production
The “woolliness” and “methodological hurdles” of co‐production make it challenging to compare and contrast different co‐production policy initiatives and their outcomes, and distil “what works”, for whom and in what circumstances. Inspired by Nabatchi et al. (2017) 3Ws typology of the Who , When , and What of co‐production, we draw on co‐production theory deriving from a narrative literature review and empirical research of co‐production cases in…
Using micro-geography to understand the realisation of wellbeing: A qualitative GIS study of three social enterprises
Boundary spanning practices of community connectors for engaging 'hardly reached' people in health services
Rural social enterprise – Evidence to date, and a research agenda
An exploration of the longer-term impacts of community participation in rural health services design
Prioritising rural authenticity: Community members' use of discourse in rural healthcare participation and why it matters
Engage, participate, empower: Modelling power transfer in disadvantaged rural communities
This article explores a process meant to empower disadvantaged communities that have not previously engaged in government-instigated civic projects. Drawing on a large exploratory study of an empowerment project in seven Scottish rural communities, findings include that empowering communities should harness community development techniques that use both external actors and sources of support (i.e. exogenous practices), and those that utilise asse…
Community participation for rural healthcare design: Description and critique of a method
This paper outlines a community participation process that was developed to engage rural community stakeholders in designing new health services. The paper explains what led up to the process and provides critique around applying the process for other health services and in other communities. Internationally, community participation is widely invoked, but it is only broadly explained in the literature, other than reviews of outcomes or descriptio…
Considering the implications of place-based approaches for improving rural community wellbeing: The value of a relational lens
This article considers how spatial, place-based approaches to improving rural community wellbeing may be enriched through employing a relational view of space. Wellbeing is a focal point within place-based policy aimed at improving health-related disadvantage, with the expectation that this will have positive effects at the community level. However, the effective implementation of rural place-based policy is challenging, partly due to current hom…
Addressing the problem of rural community engagement in healthcare service design
Geographic distribution of primary care physicians in Japan and Britain
Developing data capability with non-profit organisations using participatory methods
In this paper, we explore the methodologies underpinning two participatory research collaborations with Australian non-profit organisations that aimed to build data capability and social benefit in data use. We suggest that studying and intervening in data practices in situ, that is, in organisational data settings expands opportunities for improving the social value of data. These situated and collaborative approaches not only address the 'exper…
Challenges of community engagement in a rural area: The impact of flood protection and policy
Agreement on rural responses to flooding is complex and contested. • Policy can undermine community resilience through paternalist approaches. • Authorities can undermine resilience by ignoring findings from public consultations. • Risk management policy can add to polarisation amongst at-risk rural communities. • Collaborative approaches can empower resilient communities and avoid polarisation
Informing Debate or Fuelling Dispute? Media Communication of Reconfiguration in Scotland's Rural Maternity Care
Public reaction to the UK's ongoing health sector reform often results in dilution of policy‐makers’ goals. Public participation in health service decision‐making is advocated in policy, but precisely how to do it and what role public opinion should have in formulating reform strategy is ambiguously described. Public opinion is formed through many influences, including media reporting. This paper examines how reconfiguration at a rural maternity …
Affective Judgement of a Sense of Social Connection: A Scale Refinement Process
Social connection is a multidimensional construct approached in various ways, leading to fragmented measurement and ineffective modelling of its dimensions. This study utilised a strengths-based framework to examine items that capture an individual’s affective judgement of their sense of connection within a national population setting. A representative Australian panel ( n = 927) was surveyed to explore the relationships among affective categorie…
Community transformed? Exploring the interaction between online support and rural community life for people with acute mental health conditions
Dr. John has gone: Assessing health professionals’ contribution to remote rural community sustainability in the UK
Rural/urban differences in accounts of patients’ initial decisions to consult primary care
Informing Debate or Fuelling Dispute? Media Communication of Reconfiguration in Scotland's Rural Maternity Care
Public reaction to the UK's ongoing health sector reform often results in dilution of policy‐makers’ goals. Public participation in health service decision‐making is advocated in policy, but precisely how to do it and what role public opinion should have in formulating reform strategy is ambiguously described. Public opinion is formed through many influences, including media reporting. This paper examines how reconfiguration at a rural maternity …
Geographic distribution of primary care physicians in Japan and Britain
Territorial tensions: Misaligned management and community perspectives on health services for older people in remote rural areas
Are rural health professionals also social entrepreneurs
More than health: The added value of health services in remote Scotland and Australia
From passive welfare to community governance: Youth NGOs in Australia and Scotland
Addressing the problem of rural community engagement in healthcare service design
Transitions and translations from Afrikaans to English in schools of the Helderberg area
This paper reports on the findings of a project that profiled the linguistic resources of learners with an Afrikaans-English bilingual background in order to determine features of a perceived process of language shift. The language repertoire and decisions on school enrollment of learners from Afrikaans homes that are registered in the English first language classes were investigated in a historically white, Afrikaans-only High School where recen…
Being rural in rural health research
A theory of how rural health services contribute to community sustainability
Rural Citizens' Rights to Accessible Health Services: An Exploration
Rural citizens protest about changes in their model of local health services provision, appealing to a concept of social justice for equivalence of accessibility to services. This article explores the areas where citizens perceive deficits in social justice regarding services and the extent to which their appeals might have support in law and government guidance. The article explores how asymmetric philosophies of resource allocation and interpre…
Considering the implications of place-based approaches for improving rural community wellbeing: The value of a relational lens
This article considers how spatial, place-based approaches to improving rural community wellbeing may be enriched through employing a relational view of space. Wellbeing is a focal point within place-based policy aimed at improving health-related disadvantage, with the expectation that this will have positive effects at the community level. However, the effective implementation of rural place-based policy is challenging, partly due to current hom…
Considering the Implications of Place-Based Approaches for Improving Rural Community Wellbeing: The Value of a Relational Lens
Involving rural older people in service co-production: Is there an untapped pool of potential participants
Influence of the Past on Professional Lives: A Collective Commentary
This collective commentary is based on the narratives of the author-protagonists, three South African higher education developers who were involved in political activism during their youth. The commentary investigates the continuities between the author-protagonists’ youth and their later professional engagements. Drawing from social realism, the concepts of agency and reflexivity provide a helpful analytic lens. Together, the narratives suggest …
Reflections on professional learning: Choices, context and culture
Community participation for rural health: A review of challenges
Community participation for rural healthcare design: Description and critique of a method
This paper outlines a community participation process that was developed to engage rural community stakeholders in designing new health services. The paper explains what led up to the process and provides critique around applying the process for other health services and in other communities. Internationally, community participation is widely invoked, but it is only broadly explained in the literature, other than reviews of outcomes or descriptio…
Prioritising rural authenticity: Community members' use of discourse in rural healthcare participation and why it matters
Housing risk’ and the neoliberal discourse of responsibilisation in Victoria
The article examines the representation of housing risk in contemporary Australian policy discourse through a critical analysis of two policy texts from the recent Victorian Coalition government (2010–2014). Drawing on governmentality theory and contemporary debates on neoliberalism, it examines how these policy texts perpetuate a discourse in which ‘housing risk’ is primarily understood as an issue for individuals to manage, rather than as an is…
An exploration of the longer-term impacts of community participation in rural health services design
Participation in rural community groups and links with psychological well-being and resilience: A cross-sectional community-based study
Our findings suggest that policymakers wishing to promote participation in rural community groups for health and well-being benefits may do well to encourage the development of particular characteristics within those groups, in particular equal-status relationships and a sense of influence for all group members
Engage, participate, empower: Modelling power transfer in disadvantaged rural communities
This article explores a process meant to empower disadvantaged communities that have not previously engaged in government-instigated civic projects. Drawing on a large exploratory study of an empowerment project in seven Scottish rural communities, findings include that empowering communities should harness community development techniques that use both external actors and sources of support (i.e. exogenous practices), and those that utilise asse…
Political science (42 works) · Sociology (40 works) · Public relations (32 works) · Business (23 works) · Computer Science (21 works) · Medicine (20 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Health care (13 works) · Economics (12 works) · Economic growth (11 works)