Dr Alison Rahn

Biography

My PhD thesis, entitled 'Behind Closed Doors: Exploring Ways to Support Partnered Baby Boomers’ Coupledom in Residential Aged Care Settings' (winner of the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal), explored social inequities currently experienced by couples in residential aged care settings. It compared current aged care policies and practices with the desires of future consumers in the baby boomer cohort. Translating this research into policy and practice is my current area of focus.

Qualifications

PhD

Research Interests

My research interests include:

• older adults’ sexual relationships
• older adults’ intimate relationships in institutional settings
• sexuality education of health providers servicing older populations
• social justice issues that arise when partnered older adults access health and aged care services
• ageism
• retirement planning, international and intra-national retirement migration
• end of life literacy and planning

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Rahn, A., Jones, T., Bennett, C., & Lykins, A. (2016). Conflicting agendas: The politics of sex in aged care. Elder Law Review, 10, 1-24. Retrieved from

https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/elr/elder_law/elder_law_review_elr/elder_law_review_vol_10

Hayward, P., & Rahn, A. (2015). Opening pandora’s box: Pleasure, consent and consequence in the production and circulation of celebrity sex videos. Porn Studies, 2(1), 49-61. doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.984951

Book Chapter

Jones, T., Rahn, A., Isson, J., Kerr, L., Ezer, P., Henningham, M., Parkinson, C., & del Pozo de Bolger, A. (In Press). Mastering PhD problems: Overcoming obstacles in gender & sexuality students: Strategies from Honours, Masters and PhD nightmares. In Jones, T., Taylor, Y., Coll, L., van Leent, L. (Eds), Uplifting careers in gender & sexuality in education. Palgrave: London.

Book Reviews

Rahn, A. (2016). Sexuality & Ageing [book review]. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 31(2), 248-249. doi: 10.1080/14681994.2015.1126670.

Rahn, A. (2016). Female-to-Male (FtM) Transgender People’s Experiences in Australia: A National Study [book review]. Gender and Education, 28(5), 696-698.
doi: 10.1080/09540253.2015.1084082.

Peer Reviewed Conference Papers

Rahn, A., Bennett, C., Jones, T., & Lykins, A. (2017). Couples’ privacy in residential aged care. In Digging for gold: Building success in ageing research: 16th national conference of Emerging Researchers in Ageing program & proceedings (pp. 49-51). Perth, Australia: Curtin University.

Rahn, A., Lykins, A., Bennett, C., & Jones, T. (2015). Opening a can of worms: Consenting adults in aged care. In Bringing research to life: 14th national conference of Emerging Researchers in Ageing program & proceedings (pp.56-59). Melbourne, Australia: National Ageing Research Institute.

Peer Reviewed Conference Abstracts

Rahn, A. (2017). Bedtime: Partnered baby boomers’ privacy expectations in residential care. Innovation in Aging, 1(S1), 538–539. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.1903

Public Submissions

Rahn, A. (2018, September). Submission to the Department of Health’s Public Consultation on the draft Charter of Aged Care Rights.

Rahn, A. (2017, April). Submission to the Department of Health’s Public Consultation on the Single Aged Care Quality Framework - Options for assessing performance against aged care quality standards.

Rahn, A. (2016, June). Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Inquiry into Elder Abuse.

Rahn, A. (2015, July). Submission to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Registered Nurses in New South Wales Nursing Homes.

Unpublished Conference Papers

Rahn, A. (2018, November). The need for couple-centred care: Practice implications of consumer-directed care. Paper presented at the 51^st Annual Conference of Australian Association of Gerontology: “Advancing not retiring: Active players, a fair future”, Melbourne, Australia.

Rahn, A. (2018, January). What older couples like to do in bed. Paper presented at the University of New England Postgraduate Conference: “Intersections of Knowledge”, Armidale, Australia.

Rahn, A. (2017, November). Baby Boomers’ sexual health in residential aged care. Paper presented at the 50^th Annual Conference of Australian Association of Gerontology: “Ageing: The Golden Opportunity”, Perth, Australia.

Rahn, A. (2017, July). Bedtime: Partnered baby boomers’ privacy expectations in residential care. Poster presented at 21st IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics: “Global Aging and Health: Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice”, San Francisco, USA.

Rahn, A. (2016, December). Sexuality and privacy in aged care facilities. Paper presented at New Zealand Privacy Commission’s Privacy Research Symposium 2016, Auckland, New Zealand.

Rahn, A. (2016, November). Privacy needs of couples in residential aged care. Paper presented at the 49^th Annual Conference of Australian Association of Gerontology: “Capitalising on the Ageing Dividend: Re-imagining Our Future”, Canberra, Australia.

Rahn, A. (2016, October). Reaching out to touch: Couples’ companionship needs vs. institutional interference. Paper presented at the 15^th National Conference of Emerging Researchers in Ageing: “Pathways to Ageing Well”, Canberra, Australia.

Memberships

Adjunct Research Fellow | School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences | University of New England, Australia

Adjunct Research Fellow | The Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery | La Trobe University, Australia

Executive Committee Member, Australian Association of Gerontology (NSW Division)