Dr Christy Newman

Research Summary

Christy Newman is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre in HIV Social Research, based in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The University of New South Wales.

Her research explores social aspects of health and health care, particularly sexual and gender identity, cultural difference, generational change, and broad social and cultural discourses relating to health, illness and medicine. She is particularly interested in understanding different perspectives on the issue of 'engagement with care', including those of health service users, health and medical practitioners and representations in media, policy and research texts.

Although her research has been mostly focused on HIV and sexual health care, she has contributed to a broad range of fields in the health and social sciences, including general practice and primary health care, Aboriginal health, mental health, health sociology, critical health psychology and media and cultural studies.

Christy is currently involved in research on contemporary understandings (and representations) of HIV treatment and prevention, workforce issues in engaging GPs with HIV care, cultural issues in engaging indigenous people with cancer care services, and the experiences of young people living with HIV, particularly in transitioning to adult care. She is passionate about research education, and currently holds the role of NCHSR Postgraduate Research Coordinator, in addition to supervising four accomplished doctoral candidates.

Research achievements to date include securing more than two million dollars of research funding as Chief Investigator, and another three as Associate or Team Investigator. Her undergraduate studies at Murdoch University in communications and comparative literature were recognised with a University Medal in Arts (1996), and after completing her PhD at UNSW in health, sexuality and culture (2004), her postdoctoral research attracted national recognition in the form of the Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2010). She currently sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of the International AIDS Society and PLOS ONE, with particular reference to qualitative health and health services research, and is a member of the Australasian Society of HIV Medicine, the International Sociological Association and the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology.

Teaching

Christy is the NCHSR Postgraduate Research Coordinator and does occasional teaching on social theory and qualitative methods. She is interested in supervising qualitative research on social aspects of health and health care. Current students include:

• Denton Callander(PhD): Just a preference: Exploring concepts of race and racism among gay men searching for sex or dates online. With Dr Martin Holt.
  
• Rebecca Gray(PhD): The dynamics of shame: navigating professional complexities when counselling in alcohol and other drug settings. With Dr kylie valentine.
  
• Dean Murphy (PhD): ‘A child of our own’: enacting kinship among gay men pursuing parenthood through contract surrogacy . With Dr Asha Persson.
  
• Jamee Newland(PhD): Social network influences on hepatitis C risk. With Professor Carla Treloar.

Publications

(Publications are listed chronologically within main research areas)

Engaging health service users

• Treloar, C., Gray, R., Brener, L., Jackson, C., Saunders, V., Johnson, P., Harris, M., Butow, P., Newman, C.E. (in press) “I can’t do this, it's too much”: Building social inclusion in cancer diagnosis and treatment experiences of Aboriginal people, their carers and health workers. Accepted for publication in International Journal of Public Health on 9 April 2012.
  
• Treloar, C., Gray, R., Brener, L., Jackson, C., Saunders, V., Johnson, P., Harris, M., Butow, P., Newman, C.E. (in press) Health literacy in relation to cancer: addressing the silence about and absence of cancer discussion among Aboriginal people, communities and health services. Available online first at Health and Social Care in the Community on 21 May 2013.
  
• Newman, C.E., Persson, A., Paquette, D., Kidd, M.R. (2013) The new cultural politics of the waiting room: Straight men, gay-friendly clinics and ‘inclusive’ HIV care. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 10(2): 87-96.
  
• Newman, C.E., Holt, M., Bryant, J., Kippax, S.C., Paquette, D.M., Canavan, P., Kidd, M.R., Saltman, D.C. (2012) Comparing ‘doctor’ and ‘patient’ beliefs about the role of illicit drug use in gay men’s depression. Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(4): 412-419.
  
• Holt, M., Bryant, J., Newman, C.E., Paquette, D.M., Mao, L., Kidd, M.R., Saltman, D.C., Kippax, S.C. (2012) Patterns of alcohol and other drug use associated with major depression among Australian gay men attending general practice. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 10(2): 141-151.
  
• Körner, H., Newman, CE., Mao, L., Kidd, MR., Saltman, D., Kippax, SC (2011) ‘The black dog just came and sat on my face and built a kennel’: Gay men making sense of depression. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 15(4): 417-436.
  
• Newman, CE, Mao, L, Canavan, PG, Saltman, DC, Kidd, MR, Kippax, SC (2010) HIV generations? Generational discourse in interviews with Australian general practitioners and their HIV positive gay male patients. Social Science & Medicine, 70(11), 1721-1727.
  
• Newman, CE., Kippax, SC., Mao, L., Saltman, DC., Kidd, MR. (2010) Roles ascribed to general practitioners by gay men with depression. Australian Family Physician, 39(9): 667-671, 674.
  
• Mao, L., Newman, C.E., Kidd, M.R., Saltman, D.C., Rogers, G. & Kippax, S.C. (2009) Self-reported sexual difficulties and their association with depression and other factors among gay men attending high-HIV-caseload general practices in Australia. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 6(5): 1378-1385.
  
• Mao, L., Kidd, MR., Rogers, G., Andrews, G., Newman, CE., Booth, A., Saltman, DC., and Kippax, SC. (2009) Social factors associated with Major Depressive Disorder in homosexually active, gay men attending general practices in Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 33(1), 83-86.
  
• Mao, L., Kippax, S. C., Newman, C. E., Andrews, G., Rogers, G., Saltman, D. C., & Kidd, M. (2008). Rates of depression among men attending high-HIV-caseload general practices in Australia. Mental Health in Family Medicine, 5(2), 79-83.
  
• Newman, C. E., Bonar, M., Greville, H. S., Thompson, S. C., Bessarab, D., & Kippax, S. C. (2007). Barriers and incentives to HIV treatment uptake among Aboriginal people in Western Australia. AIDS, 21(Suppl. 1), S13-S17.
  
• Newman, C., Bonar, M., Greville, H., Thompson, S., Bessarab, D., & Kippax, S. (2007). 'Everything is okay': The influence of neoliberal discourse on the reported experiences of Aboriginal people in Western Australia who are HIV positive. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 9(6), 571-584.
  
• Persson, A., & Newman, C. (2006). Potency and vulnerability: Troubled 'selves' in the context of antiretroviral therapy. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 1586-1596.
  

Engaging health and medical practitioners

• Persson, A., Newman, C.E., Hopwood, M., Kidd, M.R., Canavan, P.G., Kippax, S.C., Reynolds, R.H., de Wit, J.B. (in press) No ordinary mainstream illness: How HIV doctors perceive the virus. Accepted for publication in Qualitative Health Research on 19 April 2013.
  
• Hopwood, M., Newman, C., Persson, A., Watts, I., de Wit, J., Reynolds, R., Canavan, P., Kippax, S., Kidd, M. (in press). Expert perspectives on the contribution of HIV general practice nursing to the ‘extraordinary story’ of HIV medicine in Australia. Accepted for publication in Primary Health Care Research and Development on 17 February 2013.
  
• Newman, C.E., Kidd, M.R., Kippax, S.C., Reynolds, R.H., Canavan, P.G., de Wit, J.B. (in press) Engaging non-HIV specialist general practitioners with new priorities in HIV prevention and treatment: qualitative insights from those currently working in the field. Accepted for publication in Sexual Health on 2 December 2012.
  
• Newman, C.E., Persson, A., de Wit, J.B., Reynolds, R.H., Canavan, P.G., Kippax, S.C., Kidd, M.R. (2013) At the coalface and the cutting edge: General practitioners’ accounts of the rewards of engaging with HIV medicine. BMC Family Practice, 14: 39.
  
• Newman, C.E., Gray, R., Brener, L., Jackson, L.C., Saunders, V., Johnson, P., Harris, M., Butow, P., Treloar, C. (in press) One size fits all? The discursive framing of cultural difference in health professional accounts of providing cancer care to Aboriginal people. Published online in Ethnicity and Health on 25 October 2012.
  
• Newman, C.E., de Wit, J.B., Kippax, S.C., Reynolds, R.H., Canavan, P.G., Kidd, M.R. (2012) The role of the general practitioner in the Australian approach to HIV care: Interviews with ‘key informants’ from government, non-government and professional organisations. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 88(2): 132-135 (invited contribution to special issue on ‘HIV and health systems’).
  
• Bryant, J., Newman, C.E., Holt, M., Paquette, D.M., Gray, R., Canavan, P., Saltman, D.C., Kippax, S.C., Kidd, M.R., (2012) Does drug and alcohol use undermine concordance between doctors’ assessments of major depression and patients’ scores on a screening tool for depression among gay men attending general practice? Australian Journal of Primary Health, 18(2): 116-122.
  
• Newman, C.E., Kidd, M.R., de Wit, J.B., Reynolds, R.H., Canavan, P.G., Kippax, S.C. (2011) What moves a family doctor to specialise in HIV? Interviews with Australian policy key informants. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 13(10): 1151-1164.
  
• Körner, H., Newman, CE., Mao, L., Kidd, M.R., Saltman, D.C., Kippax, SC (2011) Discourses of Depression of Australian General Practitioners Working With Gay Men. Qualitative Health Research, 21(8): 1051-1064.
  
• Newman, C.E., Kippax, S.C., Mao, L., Rogers, G., Saltman, D.C. & Kidd, M.R. (2009) Features of the management of depression in gay men and men with HIV from the perspective of Australian general practitioners. Family Practice, 26(1), 27-33.
  
• Körner, H., Newman, CE., Mao, L., Kippax, SC, Kidd, MR., Saltman, D. (2008) ‘It’s really a myriad of different signals, not just the textbook’: The complexities of diagnosing the depression of gay men and HIV-positive men in general practice. Mental Health in Family Medicine, 5(3), 167-175.
  
• Saltman, D.C., Newman, C.E., Mao, L., Kippax, S.C., & Kidd, M.R. (2008). Experiences in managing problematic crystal methamphetamine use and associated depression in gay men and HIV positive men: in-depth interviews with general practitioners in Sydney, Australia. BMC Family Practice, 9(1), 45-52.
  
• Newman, C. E., Kippax, S. C., Mao, L., Saltman, D. C., & Kidd, M. R. (2008). GPs understanding of how depression affects gay and HIV positive men. Australian Family Physician, 37, 678-680.
  

Engaging audiences through textual representations of health and society

• Callander, D., Holt, M., Newman, C.E. (2012) Just a preference: racialised language in the sex-seeking profiles of gay and bisexual men. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 14(9): 1049-1063..
  
• Persson, A. and Newman, C.E. (2012) When HIV-positive children grow up: A critical analysis of the transition literature in developed countries. Qualitative Health Research, 22(5): 656-667.
  
• Persson, A., Ellard, J., Newman, C.E., Holt, M., de Wit, J. (2011) Human rights and universal access for men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs: A qualitative analysis of the 2010 UNGASS narrative country progress reports. Social Science and Medicine, 73(3): 467-74.
  
• Newman, C., & Persson, A. (2009). Fear, complacency and the spectacle of risk: The making of HIV as a public concern in Australia. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 13(1): 7-23.
  
• Persson, A., & Newman, C. (2008). Making monsters: Heterosexuality, crime and race in recent western media coverage of HIV. Sociology of Health and Illness, 30, 632-646.
  
• Newman, C., Treloar, C., Knight, R., Butow, P., McMillan, K., Kippax, S. & Eades, S. (2008). Cancer and Aboriginal people: a review of the literature. Critical Public Health, 18, 65-75.
  
• Newman, C. (2007). Reader letters to women's health magazines: Inscribing the 'will to health'. Feminist Media Studies, 7, 155-170.
  
• Newman, C., Persson, A., & Ellard, J. (2006). 'We just don't know': Ambivalence about treatment strategies in the Australian community-based HIV media. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 10, 191-210.
  
• Friedman, SR., Kippax, SC., Phaswana-Mafuya, N., Rossi, D. & Newman, C. (2006). Emerging future issues in HIV/AIDS social research. AIDS, 20(7): 959-965.
  
• Newman, C. (2005). Healthy, wealthy and globalized? Reader letters to Australian Men's Health magazine. Continuum: A Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 19, 299-313.
  
• Newman, C. (2005). Sex, drugs and bad poetry: Editing Sydney's community health magazines (PDF). Journal of Australian Studies 24(84), 109-116. [Special Issue: New Talents 21C]

Other Information

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (2004) Looking after yourself: The cultural politics of health magazine reader letters
  The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales.
  
• Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours (1997) Repeat-the-beat: Industries, genres and citizenships in dance music magazines (PDF), Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
  

Awards

• The Paul Bourke Lecture, August 2011
  
• The Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2010)
  
• University Medal in Arts from Murdoch University (1996)
  

Editorial roles

• Editorial Board: Journal of the International AIDS Society
  
• Editorial Board: PLOS ONE (Public Health and Epidemiology Section; qualitative manuscripts).
  

Memberships

• International Sociological Association (ISA)
  
• International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (Member Scholar, IIQM)
  
• Australian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM)
  

Selected other publications

• Newman, C., Kidd, M., Kippax, S., Reynolds, R., Canavan, P., & de Wit, J., (2013). Managing HIV in general practice (Monograph 3/2013). Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research, the University of New South Wales.
  
• Newman, C. and Persson, A. (March 2013) When HIV positive young people grow up. HIV Australia, 11(1).
  
• Newman, C. (2012) Workforce worries: The changing worlds of HIV medicine and the general practitioners who provide it. Academy Proceedings 1/2012: Paul Bourke Lecture 2011, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
  
• Newman, P. and Newman, C. (2012). Cars. In Peter Beilharz & Trevor Hogan (Eds.), Sociology: Antipodean perspectives (2nd ed). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 358-362. [Invited contribution]
  
• Paquette, D., Bryant, J. Holt, M., and Newman, C. (2012) Research summary: Impact of alcohol and drug use on the diagnosis and management of depression in gay men attending general practice. Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research, The University of New South Wales.
  
• Newman, C. (2011) Working at the intersections: tracking an early career research trajectory in the social sciences. Dialogue: Journal of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 30(1): 62-66. [Invited contribution to special issue on ‘Universities, social science and ERA’]
  
• Newman, C., Mao, L., Kidd, M., Saltman, D., & Kippax, S. (2009) Primary health care project on HIV and depression: Key findings. Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research, The University of New South Wales.
  
• Newman, C., Newman, P. and Whitehead, R. (2006) Campaign for Sydney: Media intervention for a sustainability agenda. In Walter Leal Filho (Ed.) Innovation, Education and Communication for Sustainable Development, Vol. 24 Environmental Education, Communication and Sustainability. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 627-647. [Invited contribution]
  
• Newman, C., de Wit, J., Kidd, M., Reynolds, R., Canavan, P., Kippax, S. (October 2010) HIV and Ageing: implications for general practice. HIV Australia, 8(3): 18-19. [Invited contribution to special issue on ‘HIV and ageing’]
  
• Newman, C., Mao, L., Kippax, S., Saltman, D. and Kidd, M. (April 2010) Management of HIV and depression in general practice: the Primary Health Care Project on HIV and Depression. HIV Australia, 7(4): 18-19, 45. [Invited contribution to special issue on mental health]
  
• Newman, C., Treloar, C., Brener, L., Ellard, J., O’Connell, D., Butow, P., Supramaniam, R., Dillon, A. (2008), Aboriginal Patterns of Cancer Care: a five-year study in New South Wales. Aboriginal & Islander Health Worker Journal, 32(3), May/June: 6-7.
  
• Newman, C., Bonar, M., Greville, H., Thompson, S., Bessarab, D., Kippax, S. (2007) HIV and heterosexuality in Aboriginal communities in Western Australia>. HIV Australia, 5(4): 26-28, [Invited contribution to special Issue on HIV and Heterosexuality]
  

Selected grants as Chief Investigator

• Newman, Persson and de Wit (2013) Sifting hope from hype: media representations of the changing science of HIV prevention. NCHSR Research Promotion Grant: $3,968.
  
• Murphy, de Wit, Holt, Newman, Ellard (2013) Priorities in Prevention: Attitudes of the HIV workforce to new prevention strategies. NSW Health Grant: $27,000.
  
• Persson, Newman and Miller (2013) HIV-positive children transitioning to adolescence and adulthood. Gilead Australia Fellowship - Research Grants Program: $19,952.
  
• Persson and Newman (2012) HIV-positive children transitioning to adolescence and adulthood: A qualitative pilot study in NSW. NCHSR Research Promotion Grant: $2,985.
  
• Newman, Bryant, Holt, Canavan, Kippax, Saltman, Kidd (2010-2011) The impact of alcohol and drug use on the diagnosis and management of depression in gay men: a sub-study of the Primary Health Care Project on HIV and Depression. beyondblue Strategic Research Grant: $50,000.
  
• de Wit, Kidd, Newman, Reynolds, Canavan, Kippax (2009-2012) Investigating the capacity of the general practitioner workforce to meet ongoing HIV primary care needs in Australia. NHMRC Project Grant (568632): $451,050.
  
• O'Connell (The Cancer Council NSW), Butow, Armstrong, Treloar, Knight, Dillon, Newman, Supramaniam (2007-2012) Patterns of Cancer Care for Aboriginal People in NSW. NHMRC Health Services Research Program Grant (440202): $1,580,755.
  
• Newman and Persson (2006-2007) The making of HIV and heterosexuality in the mainstream Australian print media. NCHSR Research Promotion Grant: $8,577.
  

Selected other roles on research grants

• Exchange participant – Das, Vandebosch, de Wit, Appel, Bilandzic, Green, Busselle (2013-2016) Narratives in health communication: a multi-disciplinary approach to strengthen understanding of the roles and uses of narratives in conveying health information and changing health behaviors, European Commission, Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme, €99,000.
  
• Associate Investigator – de Wit, Mao, Wilson, Kidd, Slavin, Wright, Post (2012-2014) Improving antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation for people living with HIV in Australia: a realistic and viable approach? NHMRC Project Grant (Project ID 1021790): $419,896.
  
• Team Investigator – Eades (Sax Institute), Bailey, Banks, Butow, Cass, D’Este, Jan, Kaldor, Kippax, Leask, MacIntyre, Nutbeam, Redman, Sanson-Fisher, Thompson (2007-2011) Making a difference: building research capacity for health interventions to improve Aboriginal health. NHMRC Capacity Building Grants in Population Health Research (457279): $2,500,125. [withdrew due to maternity leave]
  
• Research Fellow - Kippax, Kidd, Saltman (2006-2009) Prevalence, nature and recommendations for clinical management and self-management of depression for people with HIV. NHMRC General Practice Clinical Research Grant (351020): $470,290.
  
• Research Associate - Persson and Ellard (2004) Treatment histories: Contextualising social and individual narratives of HIV therapy across time. UNSW Faculty Research Grant.