Dr Rebecca Olson

• Qualifications
• Biography
• Research
• Selected Publications 
• Grants/Current Projects
• Teaching Interests 
• Awards/Honours
• Professional Activities

Qualifications

PhD, BA Hons, BA

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Biography

Dr Rebecca Olson joined the University of Western Sydney in June 2010 as a lecturer in public health in the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences. Prior to this, she was a member of the teaching staff in the School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU) and at the ANU College in Canberra. 

Rebecca’s academic and teaching interests are in medical sociology and sociology, public health, health promotion and population health. She has recently completed a grant with Cancer Australia and Cancer Council ACT on carers of cancer patients. The research made a significant contribution to the field of cancer caregiving, showing the importance of time-sovereignty to understanding cancer carers’ experiences and support preferences. Her doctoral thesis, Time to feel: Understanding cancer carers’ emotions and support preferences was nominated for the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences publishing prize.

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Research 

Research interests include:

• Carers of cancer patients
• Time-sovereignty
• Sociology of cancer caregiving
• Sociology of health and illness
• Sociology of emotions
• Sociology of diagnosis
• Qualitative research methods
• Psychosocial concepts of grief
• Coping strategies in carers
• Multidisciplinary care communication with carers
• Interprofessional Education (IPE) in health 
  

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Selected Publications

Olson, R. (in Press). Is cancer care dependant on informal carers? Australia Health Review (accepted 22 December 2011)

Olson, R. (2011). Managing hope, denial or temporal anomie? Informal cancer carers' accounts of spouses' cancer diagnoses. Social Science & Medicine. 73(6), 904 - 911.  doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.12.026.

Olson, R. (2011). "Living in the now”: Cancer carers’ experiences of indefinite loss and indefinite grief. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, November 29- December 1, 2011, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW.

Olson, R. (2011). Time to feel: What carers of cancer patients’ experiences can offer the sociology of emotions. Paper presented at the International Society for Research on Emotions Conference, July 26 – July 29, 2011, Kyoto Garden Palace, Kyoto, Japan.

Olson, R. (2010). Relying on carers at home and in the hospital. Refereed paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, December 6-9, 2010, Macquarie University, Sydney.

Olson, R. (2010). Improving carer support. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, December 6-9, 2010, Macquarie University, Sydney.

Olson, R. (2009). Carers of cancer patients: Understanding their support service needs, Cancer Australia, Canberra, ISBN 978-0-646-52201-2, pp. 50.

Olson, R. (2008). Time to feel: making cents of cancer carers’ emotions. Paper presented at the British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Conference, September 4-6, 2008, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.

Olson, R. (2008). Spouse cancer carers: Juggling cultures of life and death. Paper presented at the Limina Conference, June 6, 2008, University of Western Australia, Perth.

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Grants/Current Projects

Seed Grant, University of Western Sydney, ‘Boys [and girls] in white updated: Revisiting Becker et al.’s class study with Australian allied health students’, 2011-2012

New Research Project Development Grant, University of Western Sydney, ‘Boys [and girls] in white updated: Revisiting Becker et al.’s class study with Australian allied health students’ - A systematic review, 2011

Cancer Australia (Commonwealth of Australia) and The Cancer Council ACT, Carers of cancer patients: understanding their support service needs’, 2008-2010.

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Teaching Interests

Current teaching interests are in Public health, Population health and Health promotion. In particular, Rebecca is interested in interprofessional health education and the teaching and learning contexts that enable the teamwork and understanding necessary for improved health care outcomes. Rebecca is also involved in the supervision of PhD and Honours students.

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Awards/Honours

• Featured Speaker, ‘Making sense of cancer caregiving’, World Cancer Day Lecture, The Canberra Hospital and Cancer Council ACT, February 4, 2010
• Australian National University JG Crawford Thesis Prize nominee, 2010
• Keynote speaker, Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, Cancer Council ACT, 2010
• Keynote speaker, World Cancer Day, Cancer Council ACT and the Canberra Hospital, 2010
• ANU Vice Chancellor research and travel grant award recipient, 2008
• Australian Federation of University Women South Australia (AFUWSA), Jean Gilmore Bursary Recipient, 2008
  

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Professional Activities

Rebecca is an active member of The Australian Sociological Association’s (TASA) health thematic group and emotions research group. She is a reviewer of journal articles for Qualitative Health Review and Social Science & Medicine, a reviewer of conference papers for the TASA health thematic group, and a reviewer of public health textbooks for Elsevier. She is also a member of the School of Science and Health School Academic Committee.  

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