Karen Block
Biographic Data
| ID | 3761565 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karen Block |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karen |
| FAMILY NAME | Block |
| SIGNATURE | BLOCK K |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
“I Was Just Told I’m Getting Married Next Week”
Hospital-based services for survivors of sexual violence in Ethiopia
BACKGROUND: Internationally, investment in hospital-based services for sexual violence is increasing. However, service providers, including in low-income countries such as Ethiopia, report discrepancies between the profile of survivors seeking help and those identified in population-based studies. Research on this remains limited. METHODS: An explanatory mixed-method study design was employed, analysing 5 years' of retrospective records of 2283 w…
Impacts of coercive control on children
Coercive control refers to a pattern of abusive behaviors, and is the underlying dynamic of domestic, family, and sexual violence. Little is known about the experiences and impacts of coercive control on children from culturally and racially minoritized migrant backgrounds. This research was conducted in Victoria, Australia, and aimed to explore mothers’ perceptions of how their partners’ use of coercive control impacted children and family funct…
The association between sexual violence and mental disorders among women victim-survivors in sub-Saharan Africa
The role of public health professionals in addressing the health and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
box The population of Gaza is experiencing a health and humanitarian crisis
(Re)construction of Identity and resilience among Afghan and Hazara adolescents following forced migration
This paper explores [re]construction of a sense of identity and resilience among Hazara and Afghan adolescents from refugee backgrounds following migration to Australia. We conducted a qualitative study involving ten adolescents and six parents. Findings demonstrated that adolescents perceived themselves as resilient with a sense of agency and determination core to this identity. Our analysis also showed the substantial influence of seeking and f…
Developing social capital through sport? The case for an intersectional lens
This commentary paper draws on existing theory and literature to explore the application of an intersectional lens to research regarding social capital development through sport. Sport is frequently endorsed as a site to facilitate social capital development for those from newly arrived and migrant backgrounds due to its potential to diversify social networks. However, systemic discrimination has marginalized and minoritized groups of people base…
Growing up in Victoria, Australia, in the midst of the climate emergency
Children and young people (henceforth referred to as young people) are one of the groups most affected by climate change and are at the forefront of climate action. Yet, there is scarce evidence on how young people navigate the challenges presented by climate change using their personal strengths and the resources accessible to them. This study aimed to address this gap by drawing on qualitative data from workshops with 31 young people between 12…
Domestic and Family Violence Affecting Children and Young People from Culturally and Racially Marginalized Migrant Backgrounds in Australia
In Australia, children and families from culturally and racially marginalized (CARM) migrant backgrounds experience a range of compounding structural and interpersonal factors that limit help-seeking and exacerbate the impacts of domestic and family violence (DFV). This scoping review examines the current state of knowledge on how children and young people from CARM migrant backgrounds experience DFV, and the services that respond to DFV includin…
Participatory Health Research With Women From Refugee, Asylum-Seeker, and Migrant Backgrounds Living in High-Income Countries
Participatory Health Research (PHR) has the potential to result in more equitable health interventions and impactful research outcomes, and is an increasingly used paradigm in migrant health research. In the context of intersecting systems of social disadvantage imposed on migrant and refugee women, PHR could offer an opportunity for researchers to challenge unequal power dynamics in academic research by co-creating knowledge to improve these wom…
Forced Migration, Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Integration
This paper is the first to use empirical evidence to directly examine the relationship between sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and multi-dimensional processes of integration of forced migrant SGBV survivors. While it is acknowledged that forced migrants are subjected to a continuum of violence, including SGBV, during the refugee journey, little is known about the long-term impact of SGBV and how it might be mitigated. Our paper, drawing o…
Individual and community experiences of posttraumatic growth after disaster
PTG is evident in longer-term disaster recovery. While PTG appears to vary across communities, the findings suggest that it is an individual's own sense of community (rather than community-level cohesion) that is most closely related to this longer-term growth following a bushfire event. While PTG is currently understood as an outcome of individual-level perceptions, community-level experiences shape the potential for positive transformations to …
Inclusion of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Covid-19 Public Health Research
Participation of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in public health research is often limited by challenges with recruitment, retention and second-language data collection. Consequently, people from CALD communities are at risk of their needs being marginalised in public health interventions. This paper presents intrinsic case analyses of two studies which were adapted to increase the cultural competence of rese…
Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement
Introduction This paper examines the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and religion in a range of forced displacement contexts. While it has been acknowledged that religion frequently shapes experiences of GBV survivors, little is known about the influences of religion on GBV experiences in forced displacement and its potential role in strengthening interventions. Methods Utilizing empirical evidence from 58 interviews from the SER…
The MuSeS project
BACKGROUND: Violence against women is a major human rights and public health issue globally. The experience of violence affects women across Australia, including the large number of migrant and refugee women who permanently or temporarily resettle in the country. Many women who experience violence find it difficult to access support, and evidence suggests women who have resettled in Australia face additional barriers to violence-specific services…
The effect of group involvement on post-disaster mental health
The Long Way Toward Cooperation
To better understand why cooperation between health care professionals is still often problematic, we carried out 25 semistructured face-to-face expert interviews with physicians and nurses in different rural and urban areas in northern Germany. Using Mayring's qualitative content analysis method to analyze the data collected, we found that doctors and nurses interpreted interprofessional conflicts differently. Nursing seems to be caught in a par…
Aspire
Findings from this two-year study will be disseminated to communities, service providers and policy-makers, providing evidence to inform culturally-appropriate prevention and support interventions, and building local communities' awareness and capacity to respond to violence against immigrant and refugee women
Conceptualising Post-Disaster Recovery
In the disaster literature, psycho-social recovery is conceptualised typically as the alleviation of traumatic stress, with the alleviation of disaster-related grief as a less prominent part of this. Yet, incorporating grief understandings into recovery conceptualisations post disaster is important. This paper explores these conceptualisations by analysing participants' bereavement experiences following the Black Saturday bushfires. It draws on d…
Volunteering in a School Kitchen Garden Program
This paper reports on the evaluation of a kitchen garden program in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. It focuses on the motivations, impacts, and issues associated with volunteering in the program. The study revealed that volunteers are drawn from a range of sources, including: families of current and former students, former teachers, local residents, clients of aged care and/or disability services, other schools and communities, local univ…
Deep structure and controversy
In Australia, fluoridation was first endorsed as an effective, safe and equitable means of improving population oral health over fifty years ago. However, recent opposition to attempts to introduce the measure in several regional Victorian towns has demonstrated that it remains a highly controversial health policy. This paper investigates the history of the Victorian fluoridation debate within a national and international context. It finds that a…
The effect of group involvement on post-disaster mental health
Volunteering in a School Kitchen Garden Program
This paper reports on the evaluation of a kitchen garden program in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. It focuses on the motivations, impacts, and issues associated with volunteering in the program. The study revealed that volunteers are drawn from a range of sources, including: families of current and former students, former teachers, local residents, clients of aged care and/or disability services, other schools and communities, local univ…
Developing social capital through sport? The case for an intersectional lens
This commentary paper draws on existing theory and literature to explore the application of an intersectional lens to research regarding social capital development through sport. Sport is frequently endorsed as a site to facilitate social capital development for those from newly arrived and migrant backgrounds due to its potential to diversify social networks. However, systemic discrimination has marginalized and minoritized groups of people base…
Conceptualising Post-Disaster Recovery
In the disaster literature, psycho-social recovery is conceptualised typically as the alleviation of traumatic stress, with the alleviation of disaster-related grief as a less prominent part of this. Yet, incorporating grief understandings into recovery conceptualisations post disaster is important. This paper explores these conceptualisations by analysing participants' bereavement experiences following the Black Saturday bushfires. It draws on d…
Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement
Introduction This paper examines the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and religion in a range of forced displacement contexts. While it has been acknowledged that religion frequently shapes experiences of GBV survivors, little is known about the influences of religion on GBV experiences in forced displacement and its potential role in strengthening interventions. Methods Utilizing empirical evidence from 58 interviews from the SER…
(Re)construction of Identity and resilience among Afghan and Hazara adolescents following forced migration
This paper explores [re]construction of a sense of identity and resilience among Hazara and Afghan adolescents from refugee backgrounds following migration to Australia. We conducted a qualitative study involving ten adolescents and six parents. Findings demonstrated that adolescents perceived themselves as resilient with a sense of agency and determination core to this identity. Our analysis also showed the substantial influence of seeking and f…
Deep structure and controversy
In Australia, fluoridation was first endorsed as an effective, safe and equitable means of improving population oral health over fifty years ago. However, recent opposition to attempts to introduce the measure in several regional Victorian towns has demonstrated that it remains a highly controversial health policy. This paper investigates the history of the Victorian fluoridation debate within a national and international context. It finds that a…
Deep structure and controversy
In Australia, fluoridation was first endorsed as an effective, safe and equitable means of improving population oral health over fifty years ago. However, recent opposition to attempts to introduce the measure in several regional Victorian towns has demonstrated that it remains a highly controversial health policy. This paper investigates the history of the Victorian fluoridation debate within a national and international context. It finds that a…
Volunteering in a School Kitchen Garden Program
This paper reports on the evaluation of a kitchen garden program in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. It focuses on the motivations, impacts, and issues associated with volunteering in the program. The study revealed that volunteers are drawn from a range of sources, including: families of current and former students, former teachers, local residents, clients of aged care and/or disability services, other schools and communities, local univ…
The Long Way Toward Cooperation
To better understand why cooperation between health care professionals is still often problematic, we carried out 25 semistructured face-to-face expert interviews with physicians and nurses in different rural and urban areas in northern Germany. Using Mayring's qualitative content analysis method to analyze the data collected, we found that doctors and nurses interpreted interprofessional conflicts differently. Nursing seems to be caught in a par…
Aspire
Findings from this two-year study will be disseminated to communities, service providers and policy-makers, providing evidence to inform culturally-appropriate prevention and support interventions, and building local communities' awareness and capacity to respond to violence against immigrant and refugee women
Conceptualising Post-Disaster Recovery
In the disaster literature, psycho-social recovery is conceptualised typically as the alleviation of traumatic stress, with the alleviation of disaster-related grief as a less prominent part of this. Yet, incorporating grief understandings into recovery conceptualisations post disaster is important. This paper explores these conceptualisations by analysing participants' bereavement experiences following the Black Saturday bushfires. It draws on d…
The MuSeS project
BACKGROUND: Violence against women is a major human rights and public health issue globally. The experience of violence affects women across Australia, including the large number of migrant and refugee women who permanently or temporarily resettle in the country. Many women who experience violence find it difficult to access support, and evidence suggests women who have resettled in Australia face additional barriers to violence-specific services…
The effect of group involvement on post-disaster mental health
Forced Migration, Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Integration
This paper is the first to use empirical evidence to directly examine the relationship between sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and multi-dimensional processes of integration of forced migrant SGBV survivors. While it is acknowledged that forced migrants are subjected to a continuum of violence, including SGBV, during the refugee journey, little is known about the long-term impact of SGBV and how it might be mitigated. Our paper, drawing o…
Individual and community experiences of posttraumatic growth after disaster
PTG is evident in longer-term disaster recovery. While PTG appears to vary across communities, the findings suggest that it is an individual's own sense of community (rather than community-level cohesion) that is most closely related to this longer-term growth following a bushfire event. While PTG is currently understood as an outcome of individual-level perceptions, community-level experiences shape the potential for positive transformations to …
Inclusion of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Covid-19 Public Health Research
Participation of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in public health research is often limited by challenges with recruitment, retention and second-language data collection. Consequently, people from CALD communities are at risk of their needs being marginalised in public health interventions. This paper presents intrinsic case analyses of two studies which were adapted to increase the cultural competence of rese…
Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement
Introduction This paper examines the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and religion in a range of forced displacement contexts. While it has been acknowledged that religion frequently shapes experiences of GBV survivors, little is known about the influences of religion on GBV experiences in forced displacement and its potential role in strengthening interventions. Methods Utilizing empirical evidence from 58 interviews from the SER…
Growing up in Victoria, Australia, in the midst of the climate emergency
Children and young people (henceforth referred to as young people) are one of the groups most affected by climate change and are at the forefront of climate action. Yet, there is scarce evidence on how young people navigate the challenges presented by climate change using their personal strengths and the resources accessible to them. This study aimed to address this gap by drawing on qualitative data from workshops with 31 young people between 12…
Domestic and Family Violence Affecting Children and Young People from Culturally and Racially Marginalized Migrant Backgrounds in Australia
In Australia, children and families from culturally and racially marginalized (CARM) migrant backgrounds experience a range of compounding structural and interpersonal factors that limit help-seeking and exacerbate the impacts of domestic and family violence (DFV). This scoping review examines the current state of knowledge on how children and young people from CARM migrant backgrounds experience DFV, and the services that respond to DFV includin…
Participatory Health Research With Women From Refugee, Asylum-Seeker, and Migrant Backgrounds Living in High-Income Countries
Participatory Health Research (PHR) has the potential to result in more equitable health interventions and impactful research outcomes, and is an increasingly used paradigm in migrant health research. In the context of intersecting systems of social disadvantage imposed on migrant and refugee women, PHR could offer an opportunity for researchers to challenge unequal power dynamics in academic research by co-creating knowledge to improve these wom…
The association between sexual violence and mental disorders among women victim-survivors in sub-Saharan Africa
The role of public health professionals in addressing the health and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
box The population of Gaza is experiencing a health and humanitarian crisis
(Re)construction of Identity and resilience among Afghan and Hazara adolescents following forced migration
This paper explores [re]construction of a sense of identity and resilience among Hazara and Afghan adolescents from refugee backgrounds following migration to Australia. We conducted a qualitative study involving ten adolescents and six parents. Findings demonstrated that adolescents perceived themselves as resilient with a sense of agency and determination core to this identity. Our analysis also showed the substantial influence of seeking and f…
Developing social capital through sport? The case for an intersectional lens
This commentary paper draws on existing theory and literature to explore the application of an intersectional lens to research regarding social capital development through sport. Sport is frequently endorsed as a site to facilitate social capital development for those from newly arrived and migrant backgrounds due to its potential to diversify social networks. However, systemic discrimination has marginalized and minoritized groups of people base…
“I Was Just Told I’m Getting Married Next Week”
Hospital-based services for survivors of sexual violence in Ethiopia
BACKGROUND: Internationally, investment in hospital-based services for sexual violence is increasing. However, service providers, including in low-income countries such as Ethiopia, report discrepancies between the profile of survivors seeking help and those identified in population-based studies. Research on this remains limited. METHODS: An explanatory mixed-method study design was employed, analysing 5 years' of retrospective records of 2283 w…
Impacts of coercive control on children
Coercive control refers to a pattern of abusive behaviors, and is the underlying dynamic of domestic, family, and sexual violence. Little is known about the experiences and impacts of coercive control on children from culturally and racially minoritized migrant backgrounds. This research was conducted in Victoria, Australia, and aimed to explore mothers’ perceptions of how their partners’ use of coercive control impacted children and family funct…
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Migration, Health and Trauma (9 works) · Refugee (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Social science (6 works) · Environmental health (5 works) · Nursing (5 works)