Dr Scott Fitzpatrick
Research Fellow
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
- Email:scott.fitzpatrick@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 6363 8464
Career Summary
Biography
I am a Research Fellow at the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health (CRRMH) at The University of Newcastle. My research focuses on the philosophical, moral, and socio-political frameworks that underpin suicide and suicide prevention including research, clinical, and public health policy and practice. My research explores topics such as the social determinants of suicide and mental health; methodological and ethical issues in suicide research, policy and practice; rural suicide; lived experience; and the use of qualitative social research methodologies.
I am a member of the Critical Suicide Studies Network. Critical Suicide Studies operates as a counterpoint to current research by seeking to broaden its disciplinary basis; providing a theoretically diverse, methodologically flexible, and interdisciplinary study of suicide. The interdisciplinary approach of Critical Suicide Studies marks a concerted response to growing interest in new intellectual spaces of inquiry that analyses suicide and its prevention within social, cultural, historical and political contexts.
Current Research Projects
Rethinking rural suicide: A study of coronial data on rural suicide
Using primary data on rural suicide in Australia extracted from the National Coronial Information System (NCIS), this intersectional-informed mixed methods study will produce macro and micro level data across 4 jurisdictions (QLD, NSW, TAS, SA) with which to examine complex statistical intersections, as well as the complexities of individual lives as they relate to rural suicide. Identifying points of intersection between age, sex, gender and other variables such as employment status, disability, mental and physical health, and key social determinants measures, this study will help identify the characteristics of the most vulnerable groups for rural suicide, and inform where intervention and policy changes are most needed.
Locating a Good SPACE for rural suicide prevention
Funded by the Suicide Prevention Australia Suicide Prevention Fund and the Australian Government as part of the 2021 Special Innovation Grant funding round, this project will use an Experience Based Co-Design methodology to develop, pilot and evaluate the Good SPACE suicide prevention program for use by the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP) to ensure it is tailored to the needs of rural populations experiencing multiple adversities. Using evidence from a coronial dataset of suicide cases from rural Australia, in conjunction with evaluation data from Good SPACE, lived experience knowledge, knowledge from local service providers tasked with managing rural adversity, and best evidence for health education programs in public health, this project will achieve improvements in the design of existing content and new pedagogies for facilitating Good SPACE.
Designing suicide prevention for men in farming occupations (University of SA; Deakin University, Griffith University, University of Newcastle)
The project aims to generate new knowledge about rural community engagement in suicide prevention and how to tailor place based suicide prevention to men in farming occupations. While high rates of suicide among farming men is an ongoing problem there remains no evidence base for farmer suicide prevention and a lack of suicide prevention strategies tailored to men in farming occupations. Using a community based participatory action approach men in farming occupations with lived experience, rural Suicide Prevention Networks (SPNs) and suicide prevention stakeholders will collaborate to develop place based suicide prevention strategies tailored to men in farming occupations and digital resources to equip rural communities across Australia.
Rural mental health and suicide prevention systems research and reform
This work comprises a series of commissioned research projects aimed at driving advances in local place-based models of integrated mental health and suicide prevention service delivery in regional, rural and remote NSW. Adopting a localised collaborative approach to planning that involves the local population, Primary Health Networks (PHNs), Local Health Districts, and health and community services, this work seeks to improve understanding of local health needs and resources, and to develop relevant and responsive systems of care.
I welcome inquiries from those interested in pursuing a research higher degree.
Qualifications
- PhD (Public Health), University of Sydney
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Queensland University of Technology
Keywords
- Ethics
- Mental Health
- Narrative Theory and Methods
- Qualitative Research
- Rural Health
- Sociology of Health and Illness
- Suicide
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 441003 | Rural sociology | 100 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|
| Research Fellow | University of Newcastle Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Australia |
Awards
Award
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2009 |
Australian Postgraduate Award The University of Sydney |
| 2009 |
University of Sydney Merit Award The University of Sydney |
| 2008 |
Honours Scholarship Queensland University of Technology |
Prize
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2008 |
University Medal Queensland University of Technology |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Chapter (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Toward a narrative understanding of suicide', Confessions: Confounding Narrative and Ethics, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne 181-196 (2010) [B1] |
Journal article (27 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
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| 2021 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'The moral and political economy of suicide prevention', Journal of Sociology, (2021) Suicide prevention occurs within a web of social, moral, and political relations that are acknowledged, yet rarely made explicit. In this work, I analyse these interrelations usin... [more] Suicide prevention occurs within a web of social, moral, and political relations that are acknowledged, yet rarely made explicit. In this work, I analyse these interrelations using concepts of moral and political economy to demonstrate how moral norms and values interconnect with political and economic systems to inform the way suicide prevention is structured, legitimated, and enacted. Suicide prevention is replete with ideologies of individualism, risk, and economic rationalism that translate into a specific set of social practices. These bring a number of ethical, procedural, and distributive considerations to the fore. Closer attention to these issues is needed to reflect the moral and political contexts in which decision-making about suicide prevention occurs, and the implications of these decisions for policy, practice, and for those whose lives they impact.
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| 2021 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Read D, Brew BK, Perkins D, 'A sociological autopsy lens on older adult suicide in rural Australia: Addressing health, psychosocial factors and care practices at the intersection of policies and institutions.', Social Science and Medicine, 284 (2021) [C1]
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| 2020 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Epistemic Justice and the Struggle for Critical Suicide Literacy', Social Epistemology, 34 555-565 (2020) [C1]
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| 2019 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Brew BK, Read DMY, Inder KJ, Hayes A, Perkins D, 'Rethinking Suicide in Rural Australia: A study Protocol for Examining and Applying Knowledge of the Social Determinants to Improve Prevention in Non-Indigenous Populations.', Int J Environ Res Public Health, 16 (2019)
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| 2018 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, River J, 'Beyond the medical model: Future directions for suicide intervention services', International Journal of Health Services, 48 189-203 (2018) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Reshaping the ethics of suicide prevention: Responsibility, inequality, and action on the social determinants of suicide', Public Health Ethics, 11 179-190 (2018) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Perkins D, Handley T, Brown D, Luland T, Corvan E, 'Coordinating mental and physical health care in rural Australia: An integrated model for primary care settings', International Journal of Integrated Care, 18 1-9 (2018) [C1]
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| 2017 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Perkins D, Luland T, Brown D, Corvan E, 'The effect of context in rural mental health care: Understanding integrated services in a small town', Health and Place, 45 70-76 (2017) [C1]
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| 2017 |
McKenzie H, White K, Hayes L, Fitzpatrick S, Cox K, River J, 'Shadowing as a management strategy for chemotherapy outpatient primary support persons', Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 31 887-894 (2017) [C1]
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| 2016 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Kerridge IH, Jordens CFC, Zoloth L, Tollefsen C, Tsomo KL, et al., 'Religious Perspectives on Human Suffering: Implications for Medicine and Bioethics', Journal of Religion and Health, 55 159-173 (2016) [C1] The prevention and relief of suffering has long been a core medical concern. But while this is a laudable goal, some question whether medicine can, or should, aim for a world with... [more] The prevention and relief of suffering has long been a core medical concern. But while this is a laudable goal, some question whether medicine can, or should, aim for a world without pain, sadness, anxiety, despair or uncertainty. To explore these issues, we invited experts from six of the world¿s major faith traditions to address the following question. Is there value in suffering? And is something lost in the prevention and/or relief of suffering? While each of the perspectives provided maintains that suffering should be alleviated and that medicine¿s proper role is to prevent and relieve suffering by ethical means, it is also apparent that questions regarding the meaning and value of suffering are beyond the realm of medicine. These perspectives suggest that medicine and bioethics have much to gain from respectful consideration of religious discourse surrounding suffering.
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| 2016 |
Matthews LR, Fitzpatrick SJ, Quinlan MG, Ngo M, Bohle P, 'Bereaved families and the coronial response to traumatic workplace fatalities: Organizational perspectives', Death Studies, 40 191-200 (2016) [C1] Work remains a significant source of illness, injury, and death in developed countries. In Australia, for example, over 2,000 people die from work-related causes each year, with h... [more] Work remains a significant source of illness, injury, and death in developed countries. In Australia, for example, over 2,000 people die from work-related causes each year, with heavy social, economic, and personal costs (Safe Work Australia, 2013a). Most die as a result of work-related disease. However, many die from trauma. In 2012, 223 workers were fatally injured in Australia and in the United States the figure was 4,383 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014; Safe Work Australia, 2013b). Apart from the immediate tragedy of each worker¿s death, these deaths affect the victim¿s immediate family, wider family, friends, and co-workers. It has been estimated that, on average, every death has an impact on at least 20 other people (Dyregrov, Nordanger, & Dyregrov, 2003), especially when the deceased had several families, which is an increasingly common phenomenon (OECD, 2014). Little is known, however, about how regulatory responses following a traumatic workplace fatality meet the needs of surviving families. With a focus on the coronial investigation, this article provides information about the regulatory responses to a traumatic workplace fatality and examines how various organizations involved in the coronial process following the death viewed its ability to accommodate the needs and wishes of surviving families.
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| 2016 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Stories of suicide and social justice', Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 23 285-287 (2016)
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| 2016 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Ethical and political implications of the turn to stories in suicide prevention', Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 23 265-276 (2016) [C1] The stories of suicide attempt survivors are gaining broader currency in suicide prevention where they have the potential to provide privileged insights into experiences of suicid... [more] The stories of suicide attempt survivors are gaining broader currency in suicide prevention where they have the potential to provide privileged insights into experiences of suicide, strengthen prevention and intervention measures, and reduce discrimination and stigmatization. Stories of suicide, however, have a double-edged power insofar as their benefits are counterweighted by a number of acknowledged harms. Drawing on the literatures and methods of narrative, and in particular, narrative approaches to bioethics, I contend that suicide prevention organizations make possible yet constrain the creation of personal stories of suicide, shaping the discursive meanings of public stories of suicide while setting limits on which stories are valued, legitimized, and rendered intelligible. Personal stories of suicide serve as important sites of meaning-making, power, and social identity, yet they also reproduce and normalize particular ways of thinking, acting, and communicating that reinforce the institutional logics of suicidology. These have ethical and political force as they help to frame the ways suicide is understood, the ways it is subjectively experienced, and the ways it is responded to.
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| 2015 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, 'Scientism as a Social Response to the Problem of Suicide', Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 12 613-622 (2015) [C1] As one component of a broader social and normative response to the problem of suicide, scientism served to minimize sociopolitical and religious conflict around the issue. As such... [more] As one component of a broader social and normative response to the problem of suicide, scientism served to minimize sociopolitical and religious conflict around the issue. As such, it embodied, and continues to embody, a number of interests and values, as well as serving important social functions. It is thus comparable with other normative frameworks and can be appraised, from an ethical perspective, in light of these values, interests, and functions. This work examines the key values, interests, and functions of scientism in suicidology and argues that although scientism has had some social benefit, it primarily serves to maintain political and professional interests and has damaging implications for suicide research and prevention.
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| 2013 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Kerridge IH, 'Challenges to a more open discussion of suicide', Medical Journal of Australia, 198 470-471 (2013) [C2]
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Conference (20 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 |
Moch S, Perkins D, Chan S, Inder K, Fitzpatrick S, 'A descriptive study of suicide in Tasmanian rural communities from 2010 to 2015', Gold Coast (2020)
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| 2019 |
Moch S, Perkins D, Chan S, Inder K, Fitzpatrick S, 'A descriptive study of suicide deaths in Tasmania 2010-2016', Melbourne (2019)
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| 2019 | Fitzpatrick S, 'Rethinking rural suicide: Accommodating complexity, difference, and the politics of prevention', Bendigo Victoria (2019) | ||||
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Report (4 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 |
Dalton H, Leary J, Fitzpatrick S, Perkins D, McRae A, Redway J, Mills N, 'Mental Health Services in Murrumbidgee: Stepped Care Framework', Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (2019)
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| 2018 |
Fitzpatrick S, Read D, Dalton H, Perkins D, 'NSW Books on Prescription: Project Overview and Evaluation', Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health (2018)
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| 2018 |
Fitzpatrick SJ, Read D, Dalton H, Perkins D, 'National Suicide Prevention Trial Western New South Wales: Closing Report', Western New South Wales Primary Health Network (2018)
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Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 6 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $381,292 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20211 grants / $99,986
Locating a Good SPACE for rural suicide prevention education$99,986
Funding body: Suicide Prevention Australia Limited
| Funding body | Suicide Prevention Australia Limited |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Scott Fitzpatrick, Doctor Scott Fitzpatrick, Doctor Hazel Dalton, Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Tonelle Handley, Mrs Tessa Cummins |
| Scheme | Innovation Research Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2021 |
| Funding Finish | 2023 |
| GNo | G2001047 |
| Type Of Funding | C1700 - Aust Competitive - Other |
| Category | 1700 |
| UON | Y |
20191 grants / $90,000
Western NSW PHN Mental Health Foundational Plan$90,000
Funding body: Western NSW Primary Health Network
| Funding body | Western NSW Primary Health Network |
|---|---|
| Project Team | David Perkins, Hazel Dalton, Scott Fitzpatrick |
| Scheme | Primary Health Network Mental Health Care Flexible Funding Pool |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2019 |
| Funding Finish | 2019 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Commonwealth |
| Category | 2OPC |
| UON | N |
20182 grants / $61,281
Murrumbidgee Primary Mental Health Stepped Care Model Co-Design Project$39,494
Funding body: Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network
| Funding body | Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Hazel Dalton, Scott Fitzpatrick, David Perkins, John Leary |
| Scheme | Primary Health Network Mental Health Care Flexible Funding Pool |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2018 |
| Funding Finish | 2019 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | C2120 - Aust Commonwealth - Other |
| Category | 2120 |
| UON | N |
Review of Stepped Care Model for Mental Health Services$21,787
Funding body: Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network
| Funding body | Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Hazel Dalton, Scott Fitzpatrick, John Leary, David Perkins |
| Scheme | Primary Health Network Mental Health Care Flexible Funding Pool |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2018 |
| Funding Finish | 2018 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Local |
| Category | 2OPL |
| UON | N |
20171 grants / $127,025
National Suicide Prevention Trial Regional Provider and Community Consultation$127,025
Funding body: Western NSW Primary Health Network
| Funding body | Western NSW Primary Health Network |
|---|---|
| Project Team | David Perkins Scott Fitzpatrick Donna Read Hazel Dalton |
| Scheme | National Suicde Prevention Trial |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - State |
| Category | 2OPS |
| UON | N |
20161 grants / $3,000
Toward a place-based understanding of suicide in rural Australia$3,000
Funding body: The University of Newcastle - Faculty of Health and Medicine
| Funding body | The University of Newcastle - Faculty of Health and Medicine |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Dr Scott Fitzpatrick, Associate Professor Kerry Inder, Professor David Perkins, Professor Alan Hayes, Dr Donna Read |
| Scheme | Strategic Pilot Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2016 |
| Funding Finish | 2016 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
| Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | PhD | A Comparative Analysis of Psychosocial Approaches to the Prevention of Suicide in Australia | PhD (CommunityMed & ClinEpid), College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Dr Scott Fitzpatrick
Position
Research Fellow
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing
Contact Details
| scott.fitzpatrick@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | (02) 6363 8464 |
| Fax | (02) 6361 2457 |
Office
| Room | R.43 |
|---|---|
| Building | CRRMH |
| Location | Orange , |