Personal
- Name
- Dr Leonie Cox
- Position(s)
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Health,
School - Nursing - Discipline *
- Anthropology, Nursing
- Phone
- +61 7 3138 3877
- leonie.cox@qut.edu.au
- Location
- View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
- Qualifications
-
PhD (University of Sydney), Graduate Certificate Education [Higher Education] (Queensland University of Technology), Bachelor of Arts (Hons 1) (University of Sydney)
- Professional memberships
and associations - Keywords
-
Cultural Safety, Diversity Teaching, Ethnography, Existential Psychiatry, Health And History, Indigenous Health And Well-Being, Indigenous Higher Education, Phenomenology, Social, Political & Cultural Health Determinants, Suicide
Biography
Background
Leonie was awarded First Class Honours in 1993 and a PhD in 2001 both from the University of Sydney in social anthropology.
These studies explored barriers to achieving equity in Australia particularly social justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Themes that underpin her honours and doctoral studies include
- a critique of individualism
- the medicalisation and criminalisation of difference and poverty
- studies of knowledge, power, class and race relations.
These varied experiences contributed to her research interests in the social, political and cultural determinants of health and in the interface between communities and government institutions.
In terms of any future research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, she is committed to community driven research and community research priorities.
Leonie’s original profession was in mental health and she registered as a nurse in 1980.
Over two decades working in psychiatry and in the alcohol and other drugs field in Queensland and NSW included clinical roles in acute in-patient settings, in community crisis intervention and work on several research projects. She went on to practice as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and counsellor.
Leonie coordinates, teaches and tutors in mental health and Indigenous and multicultural perspectives.
Research interests
Her educational research focuses on constructivist approaches and issues impacting on Indigenous retention and participation in higher education.
Her anthropological background provides a strong grounding in multicultural issues in both education and health.
Teaching
Teaching and learning areas
- health, culture and diversity
- cultural safety
- Indigenous health and social and emotional well-being
- mental health nursing
- sociology/anthropology and nursing.
Current Coordination
Research supervision
- 2010: Principal Supervisor, Belinda Chaplin’s Honours Project: Psychosocial impacts of Sexual Reassignment Surgery on the daily lives and social functioning of the post-operative transgender person.
- 2009: Principal Supervisor, Rachel Sambrano’s Honours Project: ‘Exploring Indigenous Peoples’ Experience of Seclusion’.
- Principal Supervisor, Asako Tomsett’s Honours Project: ‘Exploring job enjoyment for registered nurses in Japan and Australia: a phenomenological study’
- 2008 – present: Co-supervise with Dr Anthony Welch, Ms Suryani ‘s RHD project ‘The phenomenon of auditory hallucinations as described by Indonesian people living with schizophrenia’:
- 2007 – present: Co-supervise with Dr Mark Brough Caroline Lenette’s RHD with the School of Humanities and Human Services entitled ‘Resilience and wellbeing in the lived experiences of refugee women in Brisbane.
- 2007: Principal Supervisor for two RHD completions (Dr Wendy Foley: Healthy eating and managing Type 2 diabetes in an urban Indigenous community; Dr Chelsea Bond: A Matter of Life or Death? Narrating Urban Aboriginal Identity within Public Health).
- Principal Supervisor for Independent Study NSB421 by Rachel Sambrano-Indigenous Housing
Experience
QUT Research Projects
- 2009 – 2011: Promoting resilience and effective workplace functioning in international students enrolled in health courses, ALTC Competitive Grant
- 2009: From theory to practice: Cultural Safety (T and L Project)
- Collaboration with government, industry and community: Research and Learning/Teaching research
- 2007-ongoing: consultant on an Indigenous social and emotional well-being project with the Mater CYMHS “Bringing up children Gran’s Way”
- 2010: member of a Queensland Health Community of Practice (COP) on cultural issues in nurse education and a related Queensland Health’s Steering Committee Implementing the Cross Cultural Learning and Development Strategy.
- work with the Rotary Indigenous Mental Heath Forum Planning Committee and a resulting in a community forum with the Inala Elders on mental health issues which is being carried forward by an Indigenous colleague.
Publications
- Cox L, (2009) Queensland Aborigines, multiple realities and the social sources of suffering: Psychiatry and moral regions of being, Oceania p97-120
- Henderson G, Robson C, Cox L, Dukes C, Tsey K, Haswell-Elkins M, (2007) Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People within the Broader Context of the Social Determinants of Health, Beyond Bandaids: Exploring the Underlying Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health p136-164
- Cox L, (2007) Fear, Trust and Aborigines: The Historical Experience of State Institutions and Current Encounters in the Health System, Health and History p70-92
- Vlack S, Cox L, Peleg AY, Canuto C, Stewart C, Conlon A, Stephens A, Giffard PM, Huygens F, Mollinger A, Vohra R, McCarthy JS, (2006) Carriage of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in a Queensland Indigenous Community, Medical Journal of Australia p556-559
- Ogwang T, Cox L, Saldanha J, (2006) Paint on their Lips: Paint-sniffers, Good Citizens and Public Space in Brisbane, Journal of Sociology p412-428
- Cox L, (2004) Book review: Judy Atkinson. Trauma Trials, Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia, The Australian Journal of Anthropology p347-348
- Cox L, (2002) Book review: Colin Tatz Aboriginal Suicide is Different: A Portrait of Life and Self-Destruction, The Australian Journal of Anthropology p371-374
- Cox L, (2001) Young Aboriginal People And Issues For The GP, The Missing Link Adolescent Mental Health In General Practice
For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.
Awards
Awards and recognition
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2010
- Details
- Invited to a National Teaching Mental Health Workshop in Melbourne June 2010
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- Consultant to Mater Child and Youth Mental Health Services: Indigenous Program for the Indigenous driven project Bringing Up Children Gran's Way. The project produced a community resource for Elders, has a publication under review and is seeking further funding to extend the project. I have consulted for the project from 2006 to the present time 2010.
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- Appointed to the Queensland Health Multicultural Services Steering Committee for Implementing the Cross Cultural Learning and Development Strategy
- Type
- International Collaboration
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- Invited to contribute a book chapter about Aboriginal religion and nursing by Marsha D. Fowler, PhD, MDiv, MS, FAAN Professor of Ethics, Spirituality, and Faith Integration Senior Fellow, Institute for Faith Integration Azusa Pacific University WC Bldg 1, Rm 219 in Suite 209 (Honors) "The Surge" 901 E. Alosta (Rte. 66) P.O. Box 7000 Azusa, California 91702-7000. After discussion with Indigenous colleagues it was decided that my role would be to liaise with local Indigenous academics and the publishers. To this end I facilitated a connection between Nereda White and Joan Hendricks from ACU and Professor Fowler and the latter contacts me if needed to pursue progress.
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2008
- Details
- Vice-Chancellor's Performance Award
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2006
- Details
- 2009: Australian Health Review, Manuscript Draft, Manuscript Number: AHR824 2008: Australian Health Review Telephone case management reduces distress and psychiatric hospitalisation 2008: Australian Health Review Barriers to comorbidity service delivery: the complexities of dual diagnosis and the need to agree on terminology and conceptual frameworks 2008: Health and History Too Much Sorry Business: Revisiting Indigenous Health and History: Life Expectancy in Traditional Aboriginal Society with a Particular Focus on the East Coast of Australia 2007:Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, Special Issue Oodgeroo Unit, QUT, Big worry: Implications of Anxiety in Indigenous Youth. 2007: For Australian Health Review A piece of the puzzle-the role of ethnic health staff in hospitals 2006: For Social Change Research Personal and social transition and the concept of enforced liminality for Indigenous Australians with adult-acquired physical disability