Kerry Gibson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3761247 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kerry Gibson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kerry |
| FAMILY NAME | Gibson |
| SIGNATURE | GIBSON K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Auckland |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2921-5032 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 85 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
New Ways of Negotiating Mental Health: Perspectives from Chinese New Zealand Youth
Little research examines how Asian youth in Western contexts construct mental health understanding, especially when navigating multiple cultural frameworks. This study explored how Chinese youth in Aotearoa New Zealand conceptualize and engage with mental health amid cultural complexity. Twenty Chinese New Zealand university students were interviewed, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. This research recognizes how Chinese N…
Emotional experiences of young volunteer counsellors providing suicide crisis counselling to youth in distress via social media: “I wonder what’s going to happen to them?”
With recognition of the potential to use social media to support youth experiencing suicidality and distress, it is important to understand the emotional impact of this on young counsellors working in this new terrain. Interviews were conducted with 15 volunteer counsellors working on an innovative social media-based crisis counselling service. Reflexive thematic analysis generated eight themes that captured the emotional challenges and protectiv…
Ask Our Rangatahi Māori: Mental Health Conversations With Māori Youth Experts in the North Island
Rangatahi Māori (Māori youth) experience disproportionately high rates of mental health problems, and there is a need to understand and address the social determinants of this over-representation. This qualitative study centred rangatahi as experts on youth mental health and asked them what they saw as the challenges for rangatahi Māori mental health. A Māori-centred reflexive Thematic Analysis analysed data from two collaborative workshops with …
A youth-informed approach to mental health service websites: ‘So People Can Actually Connect’
There are well-recognized barriers that prevent young people from accessing timely mental health support and there is an opportunity to promote their engagement with professional support through websites associated with a mental health service. This Aotearoa, New Zealand-based study aimed to identify the elements of a website that young people believed would improve engagement with the service. A co-design method enlisted young people’s expertise…
Adults know best’: The silencing of young people’s voices in mental health
No abstract available
We’re living in a world that wasn’t built for us”: A qualitative exploration of young New Zealander’s perspectives on socio-ecological determinants of declining youth mental health
Our findings highlight the intersecting issues of systemic social determinants of wellbeing and their complex relationship with an evolving digital landscape. Effectively addressing rising rates of mental health challenges is likely to hinge on both population level action to address social determinants and targeted promotion of strategies to support young people to navigate the increasing complexity of modern life
Young people and adult stakeholders' reflections on how school staff should support students who self‐harm: A qualitative study
INTRODUCTION: Self-harm is a significant public health issue affecting school communities, students, and families. The school is an ideal environment for early intervention and prevention. This study aimed to explore the views of young people and stakeholders on how school staff should support students who self-harm in the context of developing accessible and acceptable guidelines. METHODS: The study was nested within a larger Delphi study conduc…
An Analysis of Young Clients' Communications About Their Suicidality on a Text Message Helpline: “I'm Scared of What I Might Do to Myself”
This study offered unique insights into young people's experience of suicidality and opens up opportunities for prevention. It underlines the importance of identifying chronic suicidality early and providing intervention and support prior to a suicidal crisis. The findings point to the potential that text counseling services might have in providing support to young people who are experiencing suicidality in the moment that they need this
“PM me” or “LOL”: Young peoples’ observations of supportive and unsympathetic responses to distress on social media
What Young People Want from Mental Health Services: A Youth Informed Approach for the Digital Age
Young people experience one of the highest rates of mental health problems of any group, but make the least use of the support available to them. To reach young people in distress, we need to understand what this digital generation want from mental health professionals and services. Based on interviews with nearly 400 young people, this book offers a vision of youth mental health issues and services through the eyes of young people themselves. It…
Can We Build ‘Somewhere That You Want to Go’? Conducting Collaborative Mental Health Service Design with New Zealand’s Young People
Globally, young people are at high risk of mental health problems, but have poor engagement with services. Several international models have emerged seeking to address this gap by providing youth-specific care designed in collaboration with young people. In this study, 94 young people in New Zealand participated in collaborative workshops exploring their vision of an ideal mental health service. Participants were aged 16-25. Reflexive thematic an…
Young people's priorities for support on social media: “It takes trust to talk about these issues”
Polyphonies of depression: The relationship between voices-of-the-self in young professional women aka ‘top girls’
While the analysis of depression narratives has become increasingly common practice within critical mental health research, this work rarely investigates how these accounts intersect with particular social identities. The recent emergence of the ‘top girl’ identity, a new cultural slot on offer for young women, is underpinned by the rise of neoliberal and post-feminist discourses in the Western world. To explore whether this new feminine subjecti…
Parents’ Experience and Psychoeducation Needs When Supporting a Young Person Who Self-Harms
The study highlights the need for support for parents and carers of young people who engage in self-harm, including development and adaptation of resources, such as the "Coping with Self-Harm" booklet, of which an Australian version has now been developed
Bridging the digital divide: Reflections on using WhatsApp instant messenger interviews in youth research
Although there is potential to use instant messaging interviews in youth research, it is important to understand how this method shapes the research encounter and the data produced. This article describes a researcher’s use of WhatsApp to conduct digital interviews with young people about their social media practices. Young people’s familiarity with this technology empowers them through easier access to the research interview, greater freedom to …
Young Women's Selfhood on Antidepressants: Not Fully Myself
The impact of antidepressants on selfhood is well recognized but little is known about what this means for young women who take antidepressants during a key period for identity development. We analyzed interviews with 16 young women to explore the way that antidepressant use might shape selfhood. Thematic analysis was used to identify a range of potential self-related themes in the participants' narratives including a "diagnosed self," "an ill se…
This is (still) a man’s world: Young professional women’s identity struggles in gendered workplaces
Recent research has documented the rise of neoliberal and postfeminist sensibilities within young women’s sense-making and accounting activities in western countries – exemplified by the image of the “top girl”. Yet workplaces remain structured by male power and patriarchal norms. In this qualitative focus group study conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, we investigated how young professional women negotiate the contradictions between the “top gir…
Resisting the Silence: The Impact of Digital Communication on Young People’s Talk About Suicide
Suicide prevention strategies include attempts to control information young people receive about suicide, but digital communication provides young people with alternative forums to engage with this issue. This article explores the constraints and opportunities for youth to talk about suicide in New Zealand. A thematic analysis of data from focus groups with young people suggests they resist what they see as a taboo on talking about suicide, see a…
Young people's explanations for youth suicide in New Zealand: A thematic analysis
New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world and dominant approaches to prevention do not always take into account the views of young people. The purpose of this research was to update our understanding of young people's explanations of suicide in order to inform suicide prevention efforts. Focus groups were conducted with 38 young people, including 30 young women and 8 young men aged 15–22. The data was analysed …
Stepmothers' Perceptions and Experiences of the Wicked Stepmother Stereotype
Stepfamilies are a common family form. Despite this, negative stereotypes of stepfamilies, and in particular, stepmothers still exist. This study used qualitative methods to examine stepmothers' experiences of the wicked stepmother stereotype. One hundred and thirty-four stepmothers living in New Zealand completed an online questionnaire about their experiences of the stereotype and strategies for coping. The majority of stepmothers reported awar…
Young people's experiences of mobile phone text counselling: Balancing connection and control
Narrative Research on Child Sexual Abuse: Addressing Perennial Problems in Quantitative Research
Narrative research can offer insights into perennial methodological problems facing quantitative researchers in the field of child sexual abuse. Using research data from a retrospective, narrative study of 29 adult participants who had spent their childhood in a New Zealand commune in which child sexual abuse was known to have occurred, this article explores four key methodological issues in the field of child sexual abuse research. These include…
Growing Up with Child Sexual Abuse in an Experimental Commune: Making Sense of Narrative Variation
The legitimacy of adult's accounts of child sexual abuse depends on the consistency of the story they tell about this experience. But there are a variety of influences that conspire to create dynamic variation in retrospective accounts of child sexual abuse. In a study of an experimental New Zealand commune called Centrepoint, participants showed considerable variation in accounting for the child sexual abuse that was known to have occurred there…
What do New Psychology Students Know about Psychology
There has been an ongoing debate about the content and purpose of undergraduate education in psychology in New Zealand and Australia, specifically about the balance between theory and practice, desired graduate attributes, and graduate employability. This study contributes to this debate by exploring new undergraduate students' beliefs about the discipline and study of psychology and the implications of these beliefs for curriculum design and del…
We are Not Fresh’: HIV-Positive Women Talk of Their Experience of Living with Their ‘Spoiled Identity’
Women have been identified as being at greater risk than men in South Africa's growing HIV epidemic. Stigma contributes to the epidemic, as it makes HIV-positive individuals reluctant to become identified and seek appropriate care. The purpose of this study is to begin to explore how women experience and deal with AIDS stigma under conditions where they have little formal support. In-depth, narrative interviews were conducted with ten HIV-positiv…
Children in political violence
Bridging the digital divide: Reflections on using WhatsApp instant messenger interviews in youth research
Although there is potential to use instant messaging interviews in youth research, it is important to understand how this method shapes the research encounter and the data produced. This article describes a researcher’s use of WhatsApp to conduct digital interviews with young people about their social media practices. Young people’s familiarity with this technology empowers them through easier access to the research interview, greater freedom to …
We are Not Fresh’: HIV-Positive Women Talk of Their Experience of Living with Their ‘Spoiled Identity’
Women have been identified as being at greater risk than men in South Africa's growing HIV epidemic. Stigma contributes to the epidemic, as it makes HIV-positive individuals reluctant to become identified and seek appropriate care. The purpose of this study is to begin to explore how women experience and deal with AIDS stigma under conditions where they have little formal support. In-depth, narrative interviews were conducted with ten HIV-positiv…
This is (still) a man’s world: Young professional women’s identity struggles in gendered workplaces
Recent research has documented the rise of neoliberal and postfeminist sensibilities within young women’s sense-making and accounting activities in western countries – exemplified by the image of the “top girl”. Yet workplaces remain structured by male power and patriarchal norms. In this qualitative focus group study conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, we investigated how young professional women negotiate the contradictions between the “top gir…
Stepmothers' Perceptions and Experiences of the Wicked Stepmother Stereotype
Stepfamilies are a common family form. Despite this, negative stereotypes of stepfamilies, and in particular, stepmothers still exist. This study used qualitative methods to examine stepmothers' experiences of the wicked stepmother stereotype. One hundred and thirty-four stepmothers living in New Zealand completed an online questionnaire about their experiences of the stereotype and strategies for coping. The majority of stepmothers reported awar…
Becoming a Community Clinical Psychologist: Integration of Community and Clinical Practices in Psychologists' Training
It has been recognised that South African clinical psychologists need to be trained in more community-oriented forms of practice. Training in this field however seems to involve particular difficulties for students who often struggle with disillusionment and feelings of incompetence that ultimately may in turn deter them from this important work. This article draws from the experience of a clinical psychology training course at the University of …
Young people's experiences of mobile phone text counselling: Balancing connection and control
Young Women's Selfhood on Antidepressants: Not Fully Myself
The impact of antidepressants on selfhood is well recognized but little is known about what this means for young women who take antidepressants during a key period for identity development. We analyzed interviews with 16 young women to explore the way that antidepressant use might shape selfhood. Thematic analysis was used to identify a range of potential self-related themes in the participants' narratives including a "diagnosed self," "an ill se…
Resisting the Silence: The Impact of Digital Communication on Young People’s Talk About Suicide
Suicide prevention strategies include attempts to control information young people receive about suicide, but digital communication provides young people with alternative forums to engage with this issue. This article explores the constraints and opportunities for youth to talk about suicide in New Zealand. A thematic analysis of data from focus groups with young people suggests they resist what they see as a taboo on talking about suicide, see a…
What do New Psychology Students Know about Psychology
There has been an ongoing debate about the content and purpose of undergraduate education in psychology in New Zealand and Australia, specifically about the balance between theory and practice, desired graduate attributes, and graduate employability. This study contributes to this debate by exploring new undergraduate students' beliefs about the discipline and study of psychology and the implications of these beliefs for curriculum design and del…
Young people's explanations for youth suicide in New Zealand: A thematic analysis
New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world and dominant approaches to prevention do not always take into account the views of young people. The purpose of this research was to update our understanding of young people's explanations of suicide in order to inform suicide prevention efforts. Focus groups were conducted with 38 young people, including 30 young women and 8 young men aged 15–22. The data was analysed …
The Effects of Exposure to Political Violence on Children: Does Violence Beget Violence
Concerns have been expressed about the effects of years of exposure to political violence on South Africa's children. In particular there are fears that children have been dehumanized and that they believe that violence is an acceptable way of resolving differences. In spite of the common-sense status of this idea there is considerable disagreement about it within the international research literature on the psychological effects of violence. In …
Children in political violence
The Effects of Exposure to Political Violence on Children: Does Violence Beget Violence
Concerns have been expressed about the effects of years of exposure to political violence on South Africa's children. In particular there are fears that children have been dehumanized and that they believe that violence is an acceptable way of resolving differences. In spite of the common-sense status of this idea there is considerable disagreement about it within the international research literature on the psychological effects of violence. In …
Becoming a Community Clinical Psychologist: Integration of Community and Clinical Practices in Psychologists' Training
It has been recognised that South African clinical psychologists need to be trained in more community-oriented forms of practice. Training in this field however seems to involve particular difficulties for students who often struggle with disillusionment and feelings of incompetence that ultimately may in turn deter them from this important work. This article draws from the experience of a clinical psychology training course at the University of …
We are Not Fresh’: HIV-Positive Women Talk of Their Experience of Living with Their ‘Spoiled Identity’
Women have been identified as being at greater risk than men in South Africa's growing HIV epidemic. Stigma contributes to the epidemic, as it makes HIV-positive individuals reluctant to become identified and seek appropriate care. The purpose of this study is to begin to explore how women experience and deal with AIDS stigma under conditions where they have little formal support. In-depth, narrative interviews were conducted with ten HIV-positiv…
What do New Psychology Students Know about Psychology
There has been an ongoing debate about the content and purpose of undergraduate education in psychology in New Zealand and Australia, specifically about the balance between theory and practice, desired graduate attributes, and graduate employability. This study contributes to this debate by exploring new undergraduate students' beliefs about the discipline and study of psychology and the implications of these beliefs for curriculum design and del…
Growing Up with Child Sexual Abuse in an Experimental Commune: Making Sense of Narrative Variation
The legitimacy of adult's accounts of child sexual abuse depends on the consistency of the story they tell about this experience. But there are a variety of influences that conspire to create dynamic variation in retrospective accounts of child sexual abuse. In a study of an experimental New Zealand commune called Centrepoint, participants showed considerable variation in accounting for the child sexual abuse that was known to have occurred there…
Narrative Research on Child Sexual Abuse: Addressing Perennial Problems in Quantitative Research
Narrative research can offer insights into perennial methodological problems facing quantitative researchers in the field of child sexual abuse. Using research data from a retrospective, narrative study of 29 adult participants who had spent their childhood in a New Zealand commune in which child sexual abuse was known to have occurred, this article explores four key methodological issues in the field of child sexual abuse research. These include…
Young people's experiences of mobile phone text counselling: Balancing connection and control
Young people's explanations for youth suicide in New Zealand: A thematic analysis
New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world and dominant approaches to prevention do not always take into account the views of young people. The purpose of this research was to update our understanding of young people's explanations of suicide in order to inform suicide prevention efforts. Focus groups were conducted with 38 young people, including 30 young women and 8 young men aged 15–22. The data was analysed …
Stepmothers' Perceptions and Experiences of the Wicked Stepmother Stereotype
Stepfamilies are a common family form. Despite this, negative stereotypes of stepfamilies, and in particular, stepmothers still exist. This study used qualitative methods to examine stepmothers' experiences of the wicked stepmother stereotype. One hundred and thirty-four stepmothers living in New Zealand completed an online questionnaire about their experiences of the stereotype and strategies for coping. The majority of stepmothers reported awar…
This is (still) a man’s world: Young professional women’s identity struggles in gendered workplaces
Recent research has documented the rise of neoliberal and postfeminist sensibilities within young women’s sense-making and accounting activities in western countries – exemplified by the image of the “top girl”. Yet workplaces remain structured by male power and patriarchal norms. In this qualitative focus group study conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, we investigated how young professional women negotiate the contradictions between the “top gir…
Resisting the Silence: The Impact of Digital Communication on Young People’s Talk About Suicide
Suicide prevention strategies include attempts to control information young people receive about suicide, but digital communication provides young people with alternative forums to engage with this issue. This article explores the constraints and opportunities for youth to talk about suicide in New Zealand. A thematic analysis of data from focus groups with young people suggests they resist what they see as a taboo on talking about suicide, see a…
Young people's priorities for support on social media: “It takes trust to talk about these issues”
Polyphonies of depression: The relationship between voices-of-the-self in young professional women aka ‘top girls’
While the analysis of depression narratives has become increasingly common practice within critical mental health research, this work rarely investigates how these accounts intersect with particular social identities. The recent emergence of the ‘top girl’ identity, a new cultural slot on offer for young women, is underpinned by the rise of neoliberal and post-feminist discourses in the Western world. To explore whether this new feminine subjecti…
Parents’ Experience and Psychoeducation Needs When Supporting a Young Person Who Self-Harms
The study highlights the need for support for parents and carers of young people who engage in self-harm, including development and adaptation of resources, such as the "Coping with Self-Harm" booklet, of which an Australian version has now been developed
Bridging the digital divide: Reflections on using WhatsApp instant messenger interviews in youth research
Although there is potential to use instant messaging interviews in youth research, it is important to understand how this method shapes the research encounter and the data produced. This article describes a researcher’s use of WhatsApp to conduct digital interviews with young people about their social media practices. Young people’s familiarity with this technology empowers them through easier access to the research interview, greater freedom to …
Young Women's Selfhood on Antidepressants: Not Fully Myself
The impact of antidepressants on selfhood is well recognized but little is known about what this means for young women who take antidepressants during a key period for identity development. We analyzed interviews with 16 young women to explore the way that antidepressant use might shape selfhood. Thematic analysis was used to identify a range of potential self-related themes in the participants' narratives including a "diagnosed self," "an ill se…
“PM me” or “LOL”: Young peoples’ observations of supportive and unsympathetic responses to distress on social media
What Young People Want from Mental Health Services: A Youth Informed Approach for the Digital Age
Young people experience one of the highest rates of mental health problems of any group, but make the least use of the support available to them. To reach young people in distress, we need to understand what this digital generation want from mental health professionals and services. Based on interviews with nearly 400 young people, this book offers a vision of youth mental health issues and services through the eyes of young people themselves. It…
Can We Build ‘Somewhere That You Want to Go’? Conducting Collaborative Mental Health Service Design with New Zealand’s Young People
Globally, young people are at high risk of mental health problems, but have poor engagement with services. Several international models have emerged seeking to address this gap by providing youth-specific care designed in collaboration with young people. In this study, 94 young people in New Zealand participated in collaborative workshops exploring their vision of an ideal mental health service. Participants were aged 16-25. Reflexive thematic an…
Young people and adult stakeholders' reflections on how school staff should support students who self‐harm: A qualitative study
INTRODUCTION: Self-harm is a significant public health issue affecting school communities, students, and families. The school is an ideal environment for early intervention and prevention. This study aimed to explore the views of young people and stakeholders on how school staff should support students who self-harm in the context of developing accessible and acceptable guidelines. METHODS: The study was nested within a larger Delphi study conduc…
An Analysis of Young Clients' Communications About Their Suicidality on a Text Message Helpline: “I'm Scared of What I Might Do to Myself”
This study offered unique insights into young people's experience of suicidality and opens up opportunities for prevention. It underlines the importance of identifying chronic suicidality early and providing intervention and support prior to a suicidal crisis. The findings point to the potential that text counseling services might have in providing support to young people who are experiencing suicidality in the moment that they need this
A youth-informed approach to mental health service websites: ‘So People Can Actually Connect’
There are well-recognized barriers that prevent young people from accessing timely mental health support and there is an opportunity to promote their engagement with professional support through websites associated with a mental health service. This Aotearoa, New Zealand-based study aimed to identify the elements of a website that young people believed would improve engagement with the service. A co-design method enlisted young people’s expertise…
Adults know best’: The silencing of young people’s voices in mental health
No abstract available
We’re living in a world that wasn’t built for us”: A qualitative exploration of young New Zealander’s perspectives on socio-ecological determinants of declining youth mental health
Our findings highlight the intersecting issues of systemic social determinants of wellbeing and their complex relationship with an evolving digital landscape. Effectively addressing rising rates of mental health challenges is likely to hinge on both population level action to address social determinants and targeted promotion of strategies to support young people to navigate the increasing complexity of modern life
Psychology (22 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Qualitative research (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Psychiatry (12 works) · Thematic analysis (12 works) · Mental health (10 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Clinical Psychology (7 works)