A/Prof. Deborah ( Deb ) Loxton

Biography

AProf Deborah Loxton’s health research focuses on women’s health and wellbeing with a particular emphasis on the impact of major life events. AProf Loxton has a strong interest in women’s reproductive health and has examined health behaviour during pregnancy, cervical cancer screening and abuse, maternal health in the first years of motherhood, and antenatal behaviours associated with negative birth outcomes. She is recognised as an expert in women’s health with particular knowledge of intimate partner abuse.

Longitudinal methodology remains one of AProf Loxton’s primary research interests, as reflected by her work describing the methods and outcomes of longitudinal data collection and analysis. She has used both quantitative and qualitative and is now undertaking various projects that link longitudinal survey data with other datasets, such as the Midwives Data Collection in NSW, the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). AProf Loxton has pursued new methods for examining longitudinal qualitative data. She has chaired two symposia on this topic at an international conference, as well as chairing and convening the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) Qualitative Health Research Group.

AProf Loxton is the Deputy Director and member of the Steering Committee of the ALSWH at the Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing. The ALSWH is a longitudinal cohort study conducted with three age groups (aged 18-23, 45-50 and 70-75 in 1996) of over 40,000 Australian women. AProf Loxton leads the team in currently recruiting a new cohort of 18-23 year olds. She has been responsible for operational oversight of the ALSWH since 2006 including survey design, cohort maintenance, data collection, budget and staff management.

AProf Loxton’s ALSWH research responsibilities include contributing to the design and conduct of ALSWH major reports, publications and other forms of dissemination. The most recently released ALSWH report described women’s adherence to health guidelines, including pregnancy specific guidelines. AProf Loxton co-led another ALSWH report which focussed on women’s reproductive health. The latter was used extensively to develop the National Women’s Health Policy of 2010. Other government reports authored by AProf Loxton have covered such topics as the health impact of abuse, domestic violence programs, and barriers to service delivery for young pregnant women and mothers.

AProf Loxton is a chief investigator on two projects: an ARC Linkage Grant (partnered with Family Planning NSW & Bayer Healthcare) that is exploring contraceptive use and access, and a Bupa Foundation grant examining maternal health outcomes in relation to mental health screening. Throughout her career AProf Loxton has been awarded $1,321,881 million in competitive external grant funding, $564,772 in competitive internal grants, and over $14.5 million in government and external consultancy funding.

AProf Loxton has built a national and international profile in her area of research, being an invited speaker and chairing symposia at international and national conferences. She has presented at nine international conferences and has been invited to speak on 15 different occasions at NGO and government events. Her research efforts have resulted in 43 journal publications (six in press), multiple conference presentations, one peer reviewed journal special edition, and ten major research reports for government.

In recognition of her expertise in intimate partner abuse, the Sax Institute commissioned AProf Loxton to produce quarterly reports concerning recent research in domestic and family violence for distribution to NSW state government policy agencies in 2009-10. Additionally, her research on domestic and family violence and sole motherhood has generated significant media interest.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of New England, 2003
• Diploma of Management, GE Consultancy Pty Ltd (RTO), 2008
• Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), University of New England, 1999

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Research

Research keywords

• Women's health
• domestic violence
• health service use
• maternal health and wellbeing
• mental health
• reproductive health
• social and economic wellbeing and health

Research expertise

AProf Loxton’s main areas of expertise are the impact of abuse on women’s health, women’s reproductive health, and longitudinal research methods. Her research reputation is largely built upon the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH). The research outputs of this study are substantive in their own right, as well as being a national resource recognised and used by the Australian government and used and valued by over 400 research collaborations. AProf Loxton’s work has had a significant impact on national policies relating to women’s health and wellbeing.

Collaboration

AProf Loxton belongs to the Management and Leadership Group of the Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, and conducts seminars and workshops that contribute to the centre’s core business. Her involvement with the ALSWH includes collaborating with staff at the Universities of Queensland and Newcastle. AProf Loxton is a member of the NSW Population and Health Services Research Ethics Committee and has a keen interest in this area. AProf Loxton has recently formed collaborations between the centre and the USA Academy of Violence and Abuse and is in the process of formalising a collaboration with the Korean Women’s Development Institute. A number of research projects have provided AProf Loxton with the opportunity to work with researchers from the University of New South Wales, la Trobe University, University of Melbourne and the University of New England.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
149999	Economics Not Elsewhere Classified	50
110399	Clinical Sciences Not Elsewhere Classified	25
111700	Public Health And Health Services	25

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health & Ageing

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Public Health

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - USA Academy of Violence and Abuse

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Member - NSW Population Health Services Research Research Ethics Committee
• Member - Australian Women's Health Network
• Member - Medical Outcomes Database Project Scientifica Advisory Committee

Awards

Research Award.

2008	Faculty Research Award University of Newcastle (Australia) In recognition and appreciation of outstanding performance and contribution to the Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle.
2001	Keith and Dorothy McKay Travelling Scholarship University of New England (Australia) Scholarship.
1999	APA PhD Scholarship University of New England (Australia) Scholarship.

Invitations

Women's Health Summit, Sydney Town Hall Women's Health NSW, Australia (Invited keynote address (expenses not paid))	2007
Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health Department of Health and Ageing, Australia (Seminar)	2005
Health and economic wellbeing of Australian sole mothers. Office of the Status of Women, Australia (Seminar)	2004

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Psychology - assessment
• Psychology - research methods

Teaching expertise

AProf Loxton is currently supervising ten PhD students, three of whom are examining facets of pregnancy and childbirth (postnatal depression, alcohol use during pregnancy, and perinatal mental health assessment). AProf Loxton also has a mentoring role within the research centre, leading paper writing and participating in grant writing workshops. In addition, AProf Loxton co-designed a statistics workshop for academics from non-statistics oriented backgrounds who wish to gain experience in epidemiological investigations.