Caragh Brosnan
Biographic Data
| ID | 281712 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Caragh Brosnan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Caragh |
| FAMILY NAME | Brosnan |
| SIGNATURE | BROSNAN C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Newcastle Australia |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2104-4937 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Hazara Refugees in Australia
Hazara refugees are highly vulnerable to trauma and other mental health challenges due to sustained ethnic and religious persecution. The post-migration difficulties experienced in Australia significantly heighten the risk of exacerbating these outcomes, while also highlighting the importance of identifying the various strengths and strategies that foster wellbeing. We conducted a scoping review to explore the mental health and wellbeing of Hazar…
Then we forget to sit on our hands’
The ubiquity of negative childbirth experiences, and their repercussions, are gaining increased global attention. 'Humanizing birth' principles, developed by social science and midwifery scholars, promote relationship-based care tailored to women/birthing people's needs. Midwives play a vital role in birth experiences, but little is known about how they form their perspectives on and capacities to facilitate humanized birth. To address this gap, …
Integration of complementary and alternative medicine in the Indian health system
India’s AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) integration policy emphasizes medical pluralism. However, implementation occurs within a complex health system where the state apparatus, through its governance and policy processes, affects health services and outcomes. This study explores how state and policy complexities shape AYUSH integration processes and practitioners’ capacities in primary healthcare. Qualitativ…
Social connections, social capital and social hierarchies in medicine
Theories of social capital are used to advance understanding of different types of social connections, the hierarchical space in which they are formed in medicine, and the interdependence of social and cultural capital
Differences in the Use and Perception of Telehealth Across Four Mental Health Professions
There is growing evidence that the uptake and use of telehealth is influenced by the distinct specialty area or type of healthcare service provided, with mental health services presenting particular challenges. However, little is known about how telehealth use differs between different mental health professions, and no qualitative research has explored variations in telehealth use and perspectives at the profession level within Australian mental …
Chinese Medicine as Boundary Object(s)
Despite being defined in the West as alternative medicine and often seen as incommensurable with biomedicine and bioscience, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has, paradoxically, assimilated into dominant spaces of knowledge production and legitimation, such as the International Classification of Diseases. In Australia, TCM comprises a designated area of cooperation with China, and TCM research is carried out in numerous universities by otherwis…
Promising the earth
Science is a space of both collaboration and competition, illustrated by international research collaboration (IRC) and its advantages for individual countries, institutions and scientists. IRC also brings together countries positioned unequally in global epistemic hierarchies. Little is known about how scientists navigate these tensions within IRC. We explore this through a study of Australian–Chinese IRC, drawing on interviews with Australian s…
‘First in family’ experiences in a Canadian medical school
Understanding the role of context in health policy implementation
India's public health system aims to foster pluralism by integrating AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) with mainstream biomedical care. This policy change provides an opportunity to explore the complexity of health system innovation, addressing the relationship between biomedicine and complementary or alternative medicine. Implementing health policy depends on local, societal, and political contexts that shape in…
The salutogenic gaze
Research on why people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) shows clients value the CAM consultation, where they feel listened to and empowered to control their own health. Such 'empowerment' through CAM use is often theorised as reflecting wider neoliberal imperatives of self-responsibility. CAM users' perspectives are well studied, but there has been little sociological analysis of interactions within the CAM consultation. Specifica…
Young People’s Support Needs During the Military–Civilian Transition
When families transition out of the Australian Defence Force, they can experience a range of challenges that pose risks to their mental health and wellbeing. These may be further complicated by a lack of access to services and low uptake of existing support. While some research has investigated the experiences of previously serving men and women, the support needs of their children have received little empirical attention. This article reports on…
Equity in the Classroom and the Clinic
Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical comp…
Jack of All Trades and Master of None’? Exploring Social Work’s Epistemic Contribution to Team-Based Health Care
From its inception, the social work profession evolved in tandem with public health, and has historically contributed to public health efforts to restore, protect and promote public health principles. In recent times, however, the most prominent role for health-related social work is in hospital-based, multidisciplinary teams. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the place of social workers’ knowledge—their ‘epistemic contribution’—within …
Military family dynamics in transition
Many families experience a smooth transition from military to civilian life. However, some can face intense challenges and significant disruption to family functioning, including mental health and substance use issues, domestic and family violence, marriage dissatisfaction or family breakdown, and even suicide. While some research has examined these transition experiences of ex‐serving men and women, few studies have focused on their children. Un…
The dynamics of TCAM integration in the Indian public health system
Divided Bodies
Death sentencing by Zoom
During the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world have introduced a range of technologies to cope with social distancing requirements. Jury trials have been largely delayed, although some jurisdictions moved to remote jury approaches and video conferencing was used extensively for bail applications. While videoconferencing has been used to a more limited extent in the area of sentencing, many were appalled by the news that two people were sen…
Professional identity and epistemic stress
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) degrees in Australian and British universities have come under attack from sceptics who argue that such courses teach only ‘pseudoscience’. Moreover, CAM academics have themselves been publicly labelled ‘quacks’. Comparatively little is known about this group of health professionals who span the two worlds of CAM practice and academia. How do they navigate between these domains, and how are their colle…
Examining Interprofessional Education Through the Lens of Interdisciplinarity
Alternative futures
Bourdieusian Prospects
Travels in extreme social mobility
Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21…
Experiences of medical students who are first in family to attend university
Context Students from backgrounds of low socio-economic status (SES) or who are first in family to attend university (FiF) are under-represented in medicine. Research has focused on these students' pre-admission perceptions of medicine, rather than on their lived experience as medical students. Such research is necessary to monitor and understand the potential perpetuation of disadvantage within medical schools. Objectives This study drew on the …
Sociological perspectives on the politics of knowledge in health care
Which kinds of knowledge provide valid foundations for healthcare choices and practices, and who decides, is highly contested. From public debates around the safety and efficacy of complementary me
Epistemic cultures in complementary medicine
There is increasing pressure on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to follow the evidence-based approach promoted in allied health and medicine, in which the randomised control trial represents the evidence gold standard. However, many CAM advocates see these methods as undermining the holism of CAM practice. This paper explores how such tensions are managed in CAM university departments - settings in which particular forms of knowledge…
Epistemic cultures in complementary medicine
There is increasing pressure on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to follow the evidence-based approach promoted in allied health and medicine, in which the randomised control trial represents the evidence gold standard. However, many CAM advocates see these methods as undermining the holism of CAM practice. This paper explores how such tensions are managed in CAM university departments - settings in which particular forms of knowledge…
Enacting the ‘neuro’ in practice
This article attends to the processes through which neuroscience and the neuro are enacted in a specific context: a translational neuroscience research group that was the setting of an ethnographic study. The article therefore provides a close-up perspective on the intersection of neuroscience and translational research. In the scientific setting we studied, the neuro was multiple and irreducible to any particular entity or set of practices acros…
Alternative futures
Travels in extreme social mobility
Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21…
Experiences of medical students who are first in family to attend university
Context Students from backgrounds of low socio-economic status (SES) or who are first in family to attend university (FiF) are under-represented in medicine. Research has focused on these students' pre-admission perceptions of medicine, rather than on their lived experience as medical students. Such research is necessary to monitor and understand the potential perpetuation of disadvantage within medical schools. Objectives This study drew on the …
Neuroscientists' everyday experiences of ethics
The ethical issues neuroscience raises are subject to increasing attention, exemplified in the emergence of the discipline neuroethics. While the moral implications of neurotechnological developments are often discussed, less is known about how ethics intersects with everyday work in neuroscience and how scientists themselves perceive the ethics of their research. Drawing on observation and interviews with members of one UK group conducting neuro…
Sociological perspectives on the politics of knowledge in health care
Which kinds of knowledge provide valid foundations for healthcare choices and practices, and who decides, is highly contested. From public debates around the safety and efficacy of complementary me
Quackery' in the Academy? Professional Knowledge, Autonomy and the Debate over Complementary Medicine Degrees
In 2012, the group 'Friends of Science in Medicine', mostly comprising academic doctors and scientists, lobbied to remove teaching in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) from Australian universities. Seemingly inspired by an earlier UK-based campaign, the group approached vice-chancellors and the media, arguing that CAM degrees promoted 'pseudo-science' and 'quackery'. Although epistemological disputes between biomedicine and CAM are wel…
The dynamics of TCAM integration in the Indian public health system
Jack of All Trades and Master of None’? Exploring Social Work’s Epistemic Contribution to Team-Based Health Care
From its inception, the social work profession evolved in tandem with public health, and has historically contributed to public health efforts to restore, protect and promote public health principles. In recent times, however, the most prominent role for health-related social work is in hospital-based, multidisciplinary teams. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the place of social workers’ knowledge—their ‘epistemic contribution’—within …
The Significance of Scientific Capital in UK Medical Education
Professional identity and epistemic stress
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) degrees in Australian and British universities have come under attack from sceptics who argue that such courses teach only ‘pseudoscience’. Moreover, CAM academics have themselves been publicly labelled ‘quacks’. Comparatively little is known about this group of health professionals who span the two worlds of CAM practice and academia. How do they navigate between these domains, and how are their colle…
Understanding the role of context in health policy implementation
India's public health system aims to foster pluralism by integrating AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) with mainstream biomedical care. This policy change provides an opportunity to explore the complexity of health system innovation, addressing the relationship between biomedicine and complementary or alternative medicine. Implementing health policy depends on local, societal, and political contexts that shape in…
Examining Interprofessional Education Through the Lens of Interdisciplinarity
The Sociology of Neuroethics
The sudden emergence of the discipline ‘neuroethics’ is an intriguing event from the perspective of the sociologies of medicine, science and bioethics. Despite calls for greater social science engagement with neuroethics, it has so far received little attention. So that sociologists might consider how to engage with the field, and in order to simultaneously contribute towards a sociology of neuroethics, this paper explores neuroethics’ disciplina…
Neurogenetic Diagnoses
Browner, C.H. and Preloran, H.M. Neurogenetic Diagnoses: The Power of Hope, and the Limits of Today’s Medicine . Abingdon : Routledge 2010 xiv+137 pp. £80.00 (hbk) ISBN 9780415563659 Genetics has been a key topic in medical sociology for over a decade, while neuroscience is currently garnering increased sociological interest. The focus of Carole Browner and H. Mabel Preloran’s new book, Neurogenetic Diagnoses: The Power of Hope, and the Limits of…
The salutogenic gaze
Research on why people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) shows clients value the CAM consultation, where they feel listened to and empowered to control their own health. Such 'empowerment' through CAM use is often theorised as reflecting wider neoliberal imperatives of self-responsibility. CAM users' perspectives are well studied, but there has been little sociological analysis of interactions within the CAM consultation. Specifica…
Equity in the Classroom and the Clinic
Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical comp…
Neurogenetic Diagnoses
Browner, C.H. and Preloran, H.M. Neurogenetic Diagnoses: The Power of Hope, and the Limits of Today’s Medicine . Abingdon : Routledge 2010 xiv+137 pp. £80.00 (hbk) ISBN 9780415563659 Genetics has been a key topic in medical sociology for over a decade, while neuroscience is currently garnering increased sociological interest. The focus of Carole Browner and H. Mabel Preloran’s new book, Neurogenetic Diagnoses: The Power of Hope, and the Limits of…
The Sociology of Neuroethics
The sudden emergence of the discipline ‘neuroethics’ is an intriguing event from the perspective of the sociologies of medicine, science and bioethics. Despite calls for greater social science engagement with neuroethics, it has so far received little attention. So that sociologists might consider how to engage with the field, and in order to simultaneously contribute towards a sociology of neuroethics, this paper explores neuroethics’ disciplina…
The Significance of Scientific Capital in UK Medical Education
Neuroscientists' everyday experiences of ethics
The ethical issues neuroscience raises are subject to increasing attention, exemplified in the emergence of the discipline neuroethics. While the moral implications of neurotechnological developments are often discussed, less is known about how ethics intersects with everyday work in neuroscience and how scientists themselves perceive the ethics of their research. Drawing on observation and interviews with members of one UK group conducting neuro…
Enacting the ‘neuro’ in practice
This article attends to the processes through which neuroscience and the neuro are enacted in a specific context: a translational neuroscience research group that was the setting of an ethnographic study. The article therefore provides a close-up perspective on the intersection of neuroscience and translational research. In the scientific setting we studied, the neuro was multiple and irreducible to any particular entity or set of practices acros…
Quackery' in the Academy? Professional Knowledge, Autonomy and the Debate over Complementary Medicine Degrees
In 2012, the group 'Friends of Science in Medicine', mostly comprising academic doctors and scientists, lobbied to remove teaching in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) from Australian universities. Seemingly inspired by an earlier UK-based campaign, the group approached vice-chancellors and the media, arguing that CAM degrees promoted 'pseudo-science' and 'quackery'. Although epistemological disputes between biomedicine and CAM are wel…
Bourdieusian Prospects
Travels in extreme social mobility
Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21…
Experiences of medical students who are first in family to attend university
Context Students from backgrounds of low socio-economic status (SES) or who are first in family to attend university (FiF) are under-represented in medicine. Research has focused on these students' pre-admission perceptions of medicine, rather than on their lived experience as medical students. Such research is necessary to monitor and understand the potential perpetuation of disadvantage within medical schools. Objectives This study drew on the …
Sociological perspectives on the politics of knowledge in health care
Which kinds of knowledge provide valid foundations for healthcare choices and practices, and who decides, is highly contested. From public debates around the safety and efficacy of complementary me
Epistemic cultures in complementary medicine
There is increasing pressure on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to follow the evidence-based approach promoted in allied health and medicine, in which the randomised control trial represents the evidence gold standard. However, many CAM advocates see these methods as undermining the holism of CAM practice. This paper explores how such tensions are managed in CAM university departments - settings in which particular forms of knowledge…
Examining Interprofessional Education Through the Lens of Interdisciplinarity
Alternative futures
Professional identity and epistemic stress
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) degrees in Australian and British universities have come under attack from sceptics who argue that such courses teach only ‘pseudoscience’. Moreover, CAM academics have themselves been publicly labelled ‘quacks’. Comparatively little is known about this group of health professionals who span the two worlds of CAM practice and academia. How do they navigate between these domains, and how are their colle…
Death sentencing by Zoom
During the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world have introduced a range of technologies to cope with social distancing requirements. Jury trials have been largely delayed, although some jurisdictions moved to remote jury approaches and video conferencing was used extensively for bail applications. While videoconferencing has been used to a more limited extent in the area of sentencing, many were appalled by the news that two people were sen…
Military family dynamics in transition
Many families experience a smooth transition from military to civilian life. However, some can face intense challenges and significant disruption to family functioning, including mental health and substance use issues, domestic and family violence, marriage dissatisfaction or family breakdown, and even suicide. While some research has examined these transition experiences of ex‐serving men and women, few studies have focused on their children. Un…
The dynamics of TCAM integration in the Indian public health system
Divided Bodies
Young People’s Support Needs During the Military–Civilian Transition
When families transition out of the Australian Defence Force, they can experience a range of challenges that pose risks to their mental health and wellbeing. These may be further complicated by a lack of access to services and low uptake of existing support. While some research has investigated the experiences of previously serving men and women, the support needs of their children have received little empirical attention. This article reports on…
Equity in the Classroom and the Clinic
Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical comp…
Jack of All Trades and Master of None’? Exploring Social Work’s Epistemic Contribution to Team-Based Health Care
From its inception, the social work profession evolved in tandem with public health, and has historically contributed to public health efforts to restore, protect and promote public health principles. In recent times, however, the most prominent role for health-related social work is in hospital-based, multidisciplinary teams. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the place of social workers’ knowledge—their ‘epistemic contribution’—within …
‘First in family’ experiences in a Canadian medical school
Understanding the role of context in health policy implementation
India's public health system aims to foster pluralism by integrating AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) with mainstream biomedical care. This policy change provides an opportunity to explore the complexity of health system innovation, addressing the relationship between biomedicine and complementary or alternative medicine. Implementing health policy depends on local, societal, and political contexts that shape in…
The salutogenic gaze
Research on why people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) shows clients value the CAM consultation, where they feel listened to and empowered to control their own health. Such 'empowerment' through CAM use is often theorised as reflecting wider neoliberal imperatives of self-responsibility. CAM users' perspectives are well studied, but there has been little sociological analysis of interactions within the CAM consultation. Specifica…
Chinese Medicine as Boundary Object(s)
Despite being defined in the West as alternative medicine and often seen as incommensurable with biomedicine and bioscience, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has, paradoxically, assimilated into dominant spaces of knowledge production and legitimation, such as the International Classification of Diseases. In Australia, TCM comprises a designated area of cooperation with China, and TCM research is carried out in numerous universities by otherwis…
Sociology (26 works) · Political science (20 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Social science (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Health care (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Public relations (8 works)