Dr Rhonda Brown
Senior Lecturer, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
Qualifications
Ph.D. UNSW, B.Sc. (Honours) UNSW
Contact
| Email: | rhonda.brown@une.edu.au |
| Room: | Psychology (S6) Room 45 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2410 (or +61 2 6773 2410 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3820 |
Areas of Teaching
PSYC 304 Health Psychology (Co-ordinator)
PSYC 401H Reading course: Topics in Medical Psychology (Co-ordinator & Presenter)
Research interests
My research interests are principally in the area of medical psychology with emphases on the chronic illness experience and work-related stress in the medical setting. Recently this work has focused on: (i) the putative impact of stress and psychosocial factors (e.g. coping, psychological distress) on chronic disease outcomes (e.g. fatigue, relapse); (ii) the impact of chronic disease on psychological outcomes and quality of life; (iii) immune and infectious disease disturbance in anorexia nervosa; and (iv) communication skills training, doctor-patient communication, medical decision-making and work-related stress in doctors.
Representative Publications
Brown RF, Butow PN, Sharrock MA, Henman M, Boyle F, Goldstein D, Tattersall MHN. 2004. Education and role modelling for clinical decisions with female cancer patients. Health Expectations, 7: 303-16.Brown RF, Bartrop R, Beumont P, Birmingham CL. 2005. Bacterial infections in anorexia nervosa: Delayed recognition increases complications. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 37: 161-65.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2005. A review of stress-relapse interactions in MS: Important features and stress-mediating and moderating variables. Multiple Sclerosis, 11: 477-84.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2006. Relationship between stress and relapse in multiple sclerosis: Part I. Important features. Multiple Sclerosis, 12: 453-64.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2006. Relationship between stress and relapse in multiple sclerosis: Part II. Direct and indirect relationships. Multiple Sclerosis, 12: 465-75.
Brown RF, Bartrop R, Birmingham CL. 2008. Immunological disturbance and infectious disease in anorexia nervosa: a review. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 20, 117-128.
Thorsteinsson EB, Brown RF. 2009. Mediators and moderators of the stressor – fatigue relationship in non-clinical samples. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66, 21-29.
Brown RF, Valpiani E, Tennant CC, Dunn SM, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Pollard JDP. 2009. Longitudinal assessment of anxiety, depression and fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis. Psychology & Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 82, 41-56.
Bauld R, Brown RF. 2009. Stress, psychological distress, psychosocial factors, menopause symptoms and physical health in women. Maturitas, 62, 160-165.
Brown, RF, Dunn SM, Byrnes K, Heinrich P, Shaw J, Morris R. 2009. Communicating bad news: relationships between doctor experience, type of medical news and doctors’ stress responses. Academic Medicine, 84, 1595- 1602.
Brown RF, Thorsteinsson EB. 2009. Stressful life-events and fatigue in a non-clinical sample. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 197, 707-710.