Dr Kate Davies

Dr Kate Davies

Conjoint Fellow

School of Medicine and Public Health

Career Summary

Biography

Dr Kate Davies is a casual academic and researcher. Her research seeks to better understand and address inequalities that shape people’s experiences of health and wellbeing.

Kate was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine. She evaluated and examined a range of program and policy approaches to improve mental health outcomes for rural and remote communities. She led the evaluation of the Farm-Link rural suicide prevention program and contributed to evaluations and critiques of a range of integrated care models. Kate’s previous research has produced evidence-based models and strategies for enhancing the participation of people who experience mental health issues in policymaking and service delivery. She has evaluated organisational learning approaches to integrating peer workers into community-based mental health teams and examined ‘lived-experience’ as a valuable and crucial source of knowledge and expertise.

Kate works throughout the Asia-Pacific region in public health and disaster risk reduction roles and brings substantial policymaking and program management expertise to her research work. 

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle

Keywords

  • disaster recovery
  • evaluation
  • international aid and development
  • mental health
  • service-user participation and lived experience
  • sociology of health

Fields of Research

Code Description Percentage
111714 Mental Health 50
111708 Health and Community Services 25
111712 Health Promotion 25

Professional Experience

Academic appointment

Dates Title Organisation / Department
31/03/2016 -  Research Associate Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
Medicine and Public Health
Australia

Professional appointment

Dates Title Organisation / Department
1/04/2012 - 20/12/2013 International Advisor Australian Red Cross
Tonga

Teaching

Code Course Role Duration
GEOG1030 Global Poverty and Development
The University of Newcastle 		Lecturer and tutor 1/03/2014 - 20/07/2016
Edit

Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.

Chapter (2 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2017 Gray MMA, Coates J, Davies K, 'Social development, the environment and the future of the planet', Future Directions in Social Development, Palgrave, London 141-164 (2017) [B1]
Co-authors Mel Gray
2014 Gray M, Agllias K, Davies K, 'Social justice feminism', The Routledge International Handbook of Social Justice 173-187 (2014)
DOI 10.4324/9781315857534
Citations Scopus - 3
Co-authors Kylie Agllias, Mel Gray

Journal article (10 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2018 Akter S, Davies K, Rich JL, Inder KJ, 'Indigenous women¿s access to maternal healthcare services in lower- and middle-income countries: a systematic integrative review', International Journal of Public Health, (2018)

© 2018, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+). Objectives: Globally, Indigenous people have lower-health status compared to non-Indigenous people due to unequal access to health c... [more]

© 2018, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+). Objectives: Globally, Indigenous people have lower-health status compared to non-Indigenous people due to unequal access to health care. Barriers or enablers to accessing maternal health services by Indigenous women are not well researched. This review aims to determine accessibility and utilisation of maternal primary healthcare services among Indigenous women in lower- and middle-income countries. Methods: We conducted a systematic integrative review of published and grey literature published between 2000 and 2017. Studies on maternal healthcare service utilisation by Indigenous women in lower- and middle-income countries were included. From 3092 articles identified, 10 met the eligibility criteria. Results: The most prominent barrier to accessing maternal primary healthcare services was the top-down nature of intervention programmes, which made programmes culturally unfriendly for Indigenous women. Distance, cost, transport, accommodation, language barriers and lack of knowledge about existing services also impacted access. Conclusions: Findings provided insights into understanding the gaps in existing policies for Indigenous women and their access to maternal health services. Results suggested that efforts be made to ensure appropriate programmes for Indigenous women¿s maternal health right.

DOI 10.1007/s00038-018-1177-4
Co-authors Jane Rich, Kerry Inder
2018 Handley T, Rich J, Davies K, Lewin T, Kelly B, 'The Challenges of Predicting Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours in a Sample of Rural Australians with Depression.', International journal of environmental research and public health, 15 1-9 (2018) [C1]
DOI 10.3390/ijerph15050928
Citations Scopus - 3Web of Science - 3
Co-authors Jane Rich, Terry Lewin, Brian Kelly
2017 Davies K, Gray M, 'The place of service-user expertise in evidence-based practice', JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK, 17 3-20 (2017) [C1]
DOI 10.1177/1468017316637222
Citations Scopus - 1
Co-authors Mel Gray
2017 Rich JL, Handley T, Davies K, Perkins D, 'Understanding the Mental Health of Rural Young Adults: Risk and Protective Factors', International Journal of Mental Health and Psychiatry, 3 1-4 (2017) [C1]
DOI 10.4172/2471-4372.1000154
Co-authors David Perkins, Jane Rich
2017 Gray M, Davies K, Butcher L, 'Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community-based mental health service', International Journal of Social Welfare, 26 188-196 (2017) [C1]

© 2016 The Author(s). International Journal of Social Welfare © 2016 International Journal of Social Welfare and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Gray M., Davies K., Butcher L. Finding... [more]

© 2016 The Author(s). International Journal of Social Welfare © 2016 International Journal of Social Welfare and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Gray M., Davies K., Butcher L. Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community-based mental health service. This article reports on a qualitative study that examined the organisational enablers and barriers to implementing peer support work in an Australian, rural, community-based mental health service. Interviews with 19 peer and non-peer staff were conducted to identify attitudes towards peer support and whether there were organisational values, practices and strategies that might support the implementation of peer support. The findings revealed that peer support workers were valued for their ability to build trusting connections with clients and to accept client choice in a non-judgemental way. However, peer support workers tended to ¿fill service gaps¿ within intensive, administrative case-management environments. These findings highlight the importance of an organisational-wide approach to integrating peer support, where the responsibilities for adopting new ways of working fall to all staff, not just the peer support workers themselves. Key Practitioner Message: ¿ Practitioners placed high value on the peer support workers on their teams due to their unique personalised engagement with clients; ¿ The roles of peer support workers were poorly understood by team members; ¿ Organisational integration of peer support principles could improve the way all staff engage with clients to reflect a recovery orientation.

DOI 10.1111/ijsw.12222
Citations Scopus - 1Web of Science - 2
Co-authors Mel Gray
2016 Ariong SB, Gray M, Davies K, 'Sociocultural context and the success of international aid on National Agricultural Advisory Services program in eastern Uganda', Journal of Social Development in Africa, 31 165-195 (2016) [C1]
Co-authors Mel Gray
2015 Davies K, Gray M, 'Mental health service users' aspirations for recovery: Examining the gaps between what policy promises and practice delivers', British Journal of Social Work, 45 i45-i61 (2015) [C1]

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. This paper draws on findings from an Australian study of mental hea... [more]

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. This paper draws on findings from an Australian study of mental health service users' perspectives on service user participation to examine the challenges for translating recovery policy into practice. It considers the ways in which national mental health policies and developing welfare reforms reflect and/or contradict the highly personal mode of recovery important to service users; though they seemingly signal potential wins for service user empowerment, they are accompanied by losses for those who do not fit neatly into clinical categorisations. The service users (n = 11) and service providers (n = 6) interviewed for this exploratory qualitative study revealed that recovery was a lifelong process of fluctuating capacity and described a system poorly equipped and often unwilling to move beyond tokenistic modes of participation. The analysis of service user perspectives against the backdrop of policy reform reveals the ongoing tensions between personal and clinical definitions of recovery.

DOI 10.1093/bjsw/bcv089
Citations Scopus - 3Web of Science - 2
Co-authors Mel Gray
2014 Davies K, Gray M, Butcher L, 'Lean on me: the potential for peer support in a non-government Australian mental health service', Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 24 109-121 (2014) [C1]
DOI 10.1080/02185385.2014.885213
Citations Scopus - 6Web of Science - 6
Co-authors Mel Gray
2014 Davies K, Gray M, Webb SA, 'Putting the parity into service-user participation: An integrated model of social justice', International Journal of Social Welfare, 23 119-127 (2014) [C1]
DOI 10.1111/ijsw.12049
Citations Scopus - 12Web of Science - 8
Co-authors Mel Gray
2012 Davies K, 'Out of the evidence loop: Young people¿s lack of power in evidence-based practice', Parity, 25 28-29 (2012)
Show 7 more journal articles

Review (1 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2009 Davies K, 'Book Review of Frontiers of Social Research: Japan and Beyond (2009)

Conference (14 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2018 Dalton H, Perkins D, Goodwin N, Hendry A, Davies K, Read D, Handley T, 'Use of the Project Integrate Framework for situational analysis and benchmarking of progress towards care integration in the Central Coast NSW', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTEGRATED CARE (2018)
DOI 10.5334/ijic.s1088
Co-authors Angela Booth, Donna Read, David Perkins, Hazel Dalton
2018 Dalton HE, Perkins D, Goodwin N, Hendry A, Read D, Booth A, et al., 'Using the Project Integrate Framework for assessing progress towards care integration: Results from a formative evaluation of a complex intervention in Central Coast Local Health District, NSW, Australia', Utrecht, Netherlands (2018)
Co-authors Donna Read, Hazel Dalton, David Perkins, Angela Booth
2017 Livingstone F, Davies K, Handley T, 'How effective are they? An evaluation of community and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops', Albury, NSW (2017)
Co-authors David Perkins
2017 Davies K, Handley T, Livingstone F, de Jaeger A, '"Making the journey easier": An evaluation of community- and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops', "Making the journey easier": An evaluation of community- and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops, Kingscliff, NSW, Australia (2017) [E1]
2017 Davies K, Blacklock N, Turner N, Livingstone F, 'We-Yarn: Starting the discussion about Aboriginal suicide prevention', Sydney, Australia (2017)
2017 Davies K, Livingstone F, Booth A, '¿It made it real': Applying rural suicide prevention gatekeeper training in everyday life', International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Quebec, Canada (2017)
Co-authors Angela Booth
2016 Rich JL, Booth A, Rowlands A, Reddy P, Crestani A, Davies K, 'The Step by Step bush fire support service: evaluation of a psycho-social recovery and resilience model', Broadbeach, Gold Coast, Australia (2016)
Co-authors Jane Rich, Angela Booth
2016 Davies K, Turner N, Read D, Livingstone F, 'Evaluating the impact of Farm-Link¿s Aboriginal suicide prevention activities', Orange, NSW Australia (2016)
Co-authors Donna Read
2016 Livingstone F, Turner N, Davies K, Read D, Booth A, Dalton H, Perkins D, 'Connecting the Dots ¿ a Strengths-Based Approach to Aboriginal Suicide Prevention', Canberra (2016)
Co-authors David Perkins, Hazel Dalton, Angela Booth, Donna Read
2014 Davies K, Gray M, Butcher L, 'Examining the potential for peer support work to enhance recovery-oriented practice', 6th Australian Rural & Remote Mental Health Symposium, Albury, NSW (2014)
Co-authors Mel Gray
2011 Davies K, 'Consumer perspectives on participation and evidence: tools for socially just services?', Melbourne (2011)
2011 Davies K, '¿Our stories are important too¿: Service user expertise and Evidence-based Practice', La Trobe University, Melbourne (2011)
2009 Davies K, 'Consumer perspectives on evidence: a tool for shaping human services', Vilnius, Lithuania (2009)
2006 Davies K, 'Can swinging from trees reduce poverty?', Proceedings of : the challenges we face : National Outdoor Conference, Gold Coast, Australia (2006)
Show 11 more conferences

Report (13 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2018 Dalton HE, Read D, Handley T, Booth A, Davies K, Goodwin N, Hendry A, 'Central Coast Integrated Care Program: Formative Evaluation Report', Central Coast Local Health District (2018)
Co-authors Donna Read, Angela Booth, Hazel Dalton
2018 Read D, Dalton H, Booth A, Davies K, Handley T, Goodwin N, et al., 'Central Coast Integrated Care Program: Formative Evaluation, Technical Paper', Central Coast Local Health District (2018)
Co-authors Donna Read, Hazel Dalton, David Perkins, Angela Booth
2017 Davies K, 'Review of the Division of Local Government and Community Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs', Government of Tonga, 35 (2017)
2017 Davies K, 'Final evaluation of the Kiribati Red Cross Society Community-based Health Program', Australian Red Cross (2017)
2017 Handley TE, Davies K, Rich J, Booth A, Considine R, 'Mental health of Port Stephens youth: Needs analysis study for Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth', Caring for our Port Stephens Youth, 62 (2017)
Co-authors Angela Booth
2015 Shepherd M, Davies K, Poon K, Tynnemark L, Balpe A, Garces H, 'Mid Term Review of Red Cross support to the Typhoon Haiyan Response Operation in the Philippines', International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2015)
2015 Dawkins Z, Davies K, 'Pacific Disaster Management Partnership ¿ Evaluation Report', Australian Red Cross (2015)
2015 Davies K, 'Final evaluation of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society water, sanitation and health program in West Ambrym', Australian Red Cross (2015)
2014 Davies K, 'Evaluation of the Timor Leste Red Cross integrated approach to health, livelihoods, disaster, water and sanitation programming', Australian Red Cross (2014)
2014 Davies K, 'Annual review of the Pacific Disaster Management Program', Australian Red Cross (2014)
2014 Davies K, 'Mid-term review of the Regional Pacific Health Program', Australian Red Cross (2014)
2011 Davies K, 'Evaluation and redesign of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society Community-based First Aid program', Australian Red Cross (2011)
2008 Davies K, 'Real-time review of the public health tsunami recovery program', Australian Red Cross, 6 (2008)
Show 10 more reports

Thesis / Dissertation (1 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2012 Davies K, Service-user perspectives on evidence: Shaping participatory mental health and homelessness services, University of Newcastle (2012)
Edit

Grants and Funding

Summary

Number of grants 8
Total funding $481,298

Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.

20175 grants / $342,468

Central Coast LHD Integrated Care Formative Evaluation$133,604

Funding body: Central Coast Local Health District

Funding body Central Coast Local Health District
Project Team Professor David Perkins, Doctor Hazel Dalton, Doctor Kate Davies, Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Donna Read, Mrs Angela Booth
Scheme Research Grant
Role Investigator
Funding Start 2017
Funding Finish 2017
GNo G1700888
Type Of Funding C2210 - Aust StateTerritoryLocal - Own Purpose
Category 2210
UON Y

GP’s with a Special Interest in Mental Health$100,000

Funding body: Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network

Funding body Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network
Project Team Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Hazel Dalton, Professor David Perkins, Louise Upton, Sarah Connor, Jane Connolly, Sean Mutchmor, Doctor Kate Davies
Scheme Research Grant
Role Investigator
Funding Start 2017
Funding Finish 2018
GNo G1701306
Type Of Funding C2110 - Aust Commonwealth - Own Purpose
Category 2110
UON Y

Early career research PhD scholarship$78,864

Scholarship to recruit and supervise a PhD candidate to examine peer work in rural mental health.

Funding body: The University of Newcastle

Funding body The University of Newcastle
Project Team

Kate Davies
Scheme Early Career Researcher PhD Support
Role Lead
Funding Start 2017
Funding Finish 2020
GNo
Type Of Funding Internal
Category INTE
UON N

IMHpact evaluation$20,000

Collection of baseline data to inform the evaluation of the mental health integrated partnership program on the Mid North Coast

Funding body: Mid North Coast Local Health District

Funding body Mid North Coast Local Health District
Project Team

Pamela Johnson, Lee Ridoutt, Victoria Hirst, Donna Read, Kate Davies, David Perkins
Scheme Mid North Coast Local Health District Research Support program
Role Investigator
Funding Start 2017
Funding Finish 2017
GNo
Type Of Funding Other Public Sector - Local
Category 2OPL
UON N

Evaluation of We-Yarn Aboriginal suicide prevention workshops$10,000

We-Yarn: Aboriginal suicide prevention workshops – evaluation component

Funding body: Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)

Funding body Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)
Project Team

Kate Davies, Nicole Turner, Donna Read, Angela Booth, Tonelle Handley
Scheme Mental health
Role Lead
Funding Start 2017
Funding Finish 2017
GNo
Type Of Funding Other Public Sector - Local
Category 2OPL
UON N

20162 grants / $48,830

Needs Analysis Study - Mental Health of Port Stephens Youth$41,330

Funding body: Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth (COPSY)

Funding body Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth (COPSY)
Project Team Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Kate Davies, Doctor Jane Rich
Scheme Research Project
Role Investigator
Funding Start 2016
Funding Finish 2016
GNo G1601159
Type Of Funding C3112 - Aust Not for profit
Category 3112
UON Y

Farm-Link evaluation$7,500

Evaluation of the Farm-Link (now known as GoodSPACE) rural suicide prevention program.

Funding body: Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)

Funding body Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)
Project Team

Kate Davies, Angela Booth, Tonelle Handley, David Perkins
Scheme Mental health
Role Lead
Funding Start 2016
Funding Finish 2017
GNo
Type Of Funding Other Public Sector - Local
Category 2OPL
UON N

20141 grants / $90,000

Social Work$90,000

Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts

Funding body University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Project Team Emeritus Professor Mel Gray, Doctor Kylie Agllias, Doctor Amanda Howard, Doctor Tamara Blakemore, Doctor Leanne Schubert, Doctor Milena Heinsch, Doctor Kate Davies, Ms Tiani Hetherington
Scheme Research Programme 2014
Role Investigator
Funding Start 2014
Funding Finish 2016
GNo G1400923
Type Of Funding Internal
Category INTE
UON Y
Edit

Research Supervision

Number of supervisions

Completed0
Current2

Current Supervision

Commenced Level of Study Research Title Program Supervisor Type
2017 PhD Rural Mental Health Help-Seeking PhD (CommunityMed & ClinEpid), Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle Principal Supervisor
2016 PhD Access to Service Delivery for Ethnic Women of Reproductive Age in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) in Bangladesh PhD (Gender & Health), Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle Co-Supervisor
Edit

Research Projects

Rural mental health help seeking 2018 - 2019

This project is being implemented as part of Natalie Cheesmond's PhD candidature, supervised by Dr Kate Davies and Associate Professor Kerry Inder.

People living in rural areas of Australia are less likely to seek professional help for mental health concerns than their urban counterparts. This project explores the barriers experienced by rural NSW residents that delay or stop them seeking help for mental distress. It asks whether changes to GP and mental health services might reduce these barriers and increase help-seeking rates.

The research uses a self-administered survey to ask residents of rural New South Wales towns about their beliefs and opinions on mental health issues and asks them to consider whether specific changes to health services might make it easier for them to seek help for mental distress should they wish to.

Edit

Dr Kate Davies

Positions

Conjoint Fellow
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
School of Medicine and Public Health
Faculty of Health and Medicine

Casual Academic
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
School of Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Education and Arts

Casual Research Assistant
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
Newcastle Law School
Faculty of Business and Law

Contact Details

Email kate.davies@newcastle.edu.au
Phone (02) 4042 1623

Office

Room HMRI, Level 4 West
Building Hunter Medical Research Institute
Edit

Research Networks