Overview
Background
Rebecca Olson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Queensland, cutting-edge translational qualitative researcher, mentor and award-winning educator with expertise in the sociologies of health and emotions. As Director of SocioHealthLab, she leads an interdisciplinary collective of researchers, health professional educators and practitioners interested in doing health and healthcare differently: more socially aware, more relational, more inclusive and more just. As Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Social Science, she prioritises collaborative, reflexive, creative and emotions-centred practices in higher education. With over 75 scholarly publications – as well as news media and creative video productions – Rebecca is a prolific contributor to public debate. With research interests spanning medicinal cannabis and health professions education to climate anxiety, Olson is internationally renowned for bringing sociological insight to complex challenges related to emotions, wellbeing, healthcare and caregiving.
Availability
- Associate Professor Rebecca Olson is:
- Not available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
Research interests
-
Emotions, Methodology, Healthcare and Education
Emotions play a key role in how we experience and interact with the everyday world. Olson’s research intersects the sociology of emotions and the sociology of health & illness. Her work seeks to understand emotions and their importance to health and healthcare, with topics ranging from parents management of climate anxiety, to medicinal cannabis and wellbeing in advanced cancer contexts, Interprofessional practice, and higher education teaching and learning, including health professional education. Olson has a specific interest in innovative, participatory qualitative methodologies, such as video-reflexive ethnography and critical reflexive ethnography. This allows her to work collaboratively with health specialists and educators in ways that encourage greater insight into the minutiae of everyday healthcare and education practices. Recently, she has used these approaches to investigate: • Emotionally reflexive labour in palliative care and interprofessional practice • Socio-emotional aspects of cigarette smoking and lung cancer screening • Patient perspectives toward medicinal cannabis policy and it’s efficacy • Discourses of emotion and feedback in health professional education • Biopsychosocial approaches to physiotherapy and the work-readiness of graduate physiotherapists
Research impacts
With over a decade of experience as a teaching and research academic, Olson has a strong track record of higher degree research supervision, innovative teaching and learning scholarship and high impact research published in a range of top academic outlets such as Social Science & Medicine, Medical Education and Qualitative Health Research.
With competitive funding from NHMRC, ARC, Arthritis Australia, and Cancer Australia, Olson uses innovative sociological theory in the study of interprofessional and informal palliative care, biopsychosocial approaches in physiotherapy, medicinal cannabis treatment and policy, and emotions and reflexivity in higher education teaching and learning. Her research innovatively applies participatory methods such as video reflexive methodology, to enable collaborative, theory-informed research that invites health professionals – established and pre-licensure – to reflect upon and refine their practice.
Across all domains of her research, Olson advocates for the democratisation of research practices through participatory and reflexive approaches to knowledge production that promote social justice in healthcare.
Works
Search Professor Rebecca Olson’s works on UQ eSpace
2022
Conference Publication
Are normative deaths celebrated, reinforced, or disrupted in children's media? A critical discourse analysis of Coco and Soul
Zheng, Zhaoxi and Olson, Rebecca (2022). Are normative deaths celebrated, reinforced, or disrupted in children's media? A critical discourse analysis of Coco and Soul. The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 28 November - 2 December 2022.
2022
Journal Article
Towards an ethical multiplicity in low back pain care: practising beyond the biopsychosocial model
Mescouto, Karime, Olson, Rebecca Eileen and Setchell, Jenny (2022). Towards an ethical multiplicity in low back pain care: practising beyond the biopsychosocial model. Sociology of Health and Illness, 45 (3), 522-541. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13598
2022
Journal Article
A catalyst for change: developing a collaborative reflexive ethnographic approach to research with hospital doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic
Creese, Jennifer, Byrne, John-Paul, Olson, Rebecca and Humphries, Niamh (2022). A catalyst for change: developing a collaborative reflexive ethnographic approach to research with hospital doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodological Innovations, 16 (1), 3-14. doi: 10.1177/20597991221137813
2022
Journal Article
‘Engaging on a slightly more human level’: A qualitative study exploring the care of individuals with back pain in a multidisciplinary pain clinic
Mescouto, Karime, Olson, Rebecca E, Costa, Nathalia, Evans, Kerrie, Dillon, Miriam, Jensen, Niamh, Walsh, Kelly, Weier, Megan, Lonergan, Kathryn, Hodges, Paul W. and Setchell, Jenny (2022). ‘Engaging on a slightly more human level’: A qualitative study exploring the care of individuals with back pain in a multidisciplinary pain clinic. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 28 (1), 1-22. doi: 10.1177/13634593221127817
2022
Journal Article
Medicinal cannabis in palliative medicine: lessons learnt from randomised controlled trials
Gurgenci, Taylan, Hardy, Janet, Olson, Rebecca, Huggett, Georgie, Foster, Karyn and Good, Phillip (2022). Medicinal cannabis in palliative medicine: lessons learnt from randomised controlled trials. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 13 (2) spcare-2022-004035, 1-3. doi: 10.1136/spcare-2022-004035
2022
Conference Publication
(Un)certainty and emotions in low back pain care - insights from an ethnographic study
Costa, Nathalia, Olson, Rebecca, Mescouto, Karime, Hodges, Paul, Dillon, Miriam, Evans, Kerrie, Walsh, Kelly, Jensen, Niahm and Setchell, Jenny (2022). (Un)certainty and emotions in low back pain care - insights from an ethnographic study. The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 29 November-2 December 2022.
2022
Conference Publication
'What price do you put on your health?' Medicinal Cannabis, financial toxicity, and patient perspectives on medication access in advanced cancer
Olson, Rebecca, Smith, Alexandra, Good, Phillip, Dudley, Morgan and Hardy, Janet (2022). 'What price do you put on your health?' Medicinal Cannabis, financial toxicity, and patient perspectives on medication access in advanced cancer. The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 29 November-2 December 2022.
2022
Conference Publication
Beyond pathology: towards a new (re)conceptualisation of distress in chronic pain care
Dillon, Miriam, Setchell, Jenny, Olson, Rebecca, Miciak, Maxi and Window, Peter (2022). Beyond pathology: towards a new (re)conceptualisation of distress in chronic pain care. The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 29 November-2 December 2022.
2022
Conference Publication
Towards an ethical multiplicity of low back pain care: practicing beyond the biopsychosocial model
Mescouto, Karime, Olson, Rebecca and Setchell, Jenny (2022). Towards an ethical multiplicity of low back pain care: practicing beyond the biopsychosocial model. The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 29 November-2 December 2022.
2022
Journal Article
‘What price do you put on your health?’: Medical cannabis, financial toxicity and patient perspectives on medication access in advanced cancer
Olson, Rebecca E., Smith, Alexandra, Good, Phillip, Dudley, Morgan, Gurgenci, Taylan and Hardy, Janet (2022). ‘What price do you put on your health?’: Medical cannabis, financial toxicity and patient perspectives on medication access in advanced cancer. Health Expectations, 26 (1), 160-171. doi: 10.1111/hex.13642
2022
Journal Article
The ubiquity of uncertainty in low back pain care
Costa, Nathalia, Mescouto, Karime, Dillon, Miriam, Olson, Rebecca, Butler, Prudence, Forbes, Roma and Setchell, Jenny (2022). The ubiquity of uncertainty in low back pain care. Social Science and Medicine, 313 115422, 115422. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115422
2022
Journal Article
Using a qualitative sub-study to inform the design and delivery of randomised controlled trials on medicinal cannabis for symptom relief in patients with advanced cancer
Olson, Rebecca E., Smith, Alexandra, Huggett, Georgie, Good, Phillip, Dudley, Morgan and Hardy, Janet (2022). Using a qualitative sub-study to inform the design and delivery of randomised controlled trials on medicinal cannabis for symptom relief in patients with advanced cancer. Trials, 23 (1) 752, 1-16. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06691-1
2022
Journal Article
Emotions and lung cancer screening: prioritising a humanistic approach to care
Olson, Rebecca E., Goldsmith, Lisa, Winter, Sara, Spaulding, Elizabeth, Dunn, Nicola, Mander, Sarah, Ryan, Alyssa, Smith, Alexandra and Marshall, Henry M. (2022). Emotions and lung cancer screening: prioritising a humanistic approach to care. Health and Social Care in the Community, 30 (6), e5259-e5269. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13945
2022
Journal Article
Imperatives of health or happiness: narrative constructions of long-term smoking after undergoing lung screening
Olson, Rebecca E., Ek, Xuan Wen, Staines, Zoe, Goh, Felicia and Marshall, Henry (2022). Imperatives of health or happiness: narrative constructions of long-term smoking after undergoing lung screening. Health, 27 (6), 136345932210991-1134. doi: 10.1177/13634593221099108
2022
Journal Article
The VOTIS, part 1: development and pilot trial of a tool to assess students’ interprofessional skill development using video-reflexive ethnography
Hill, Anne E., Bartle, Emma, Copley, Jodie A., Olson, Rebecca, Dunwoodie, Ruth, Barnett, Tessa and Zuber, Alice (2022). The VOTIS, part 1: development and pilot trial of a tool to assess students’ interprofessional skill development using video-reflexive ethnography. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 37 (2), 1-9. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2022.2052270
2022
Journal Article
Physiotherapists both reproduce and resist biomedical dominance when working with people with low back pain: a qualitative study towards new praxis
Mescouto, Karime, Olson, Rebecca E., Hodges, Paul W., Costa, Nathalia, Patton, Mary Anne, Evans, Kerrie, Walsh, Kelly, Lonergan, Kathryn and Setchell, Jenny (2022). Physiotherapists both reproduce and resist biomedical dominance when working with people with low back pain: a qualitative study towards new praxis. Qualitative Health Research, 32 (6) 10497323221084358, 104973232210843-915. doi: 10.1177/10497323221084358
2022
Journal Article
How can video-reflexive ethnographers anticipate positive impact on healthcare practice?
Olson, Rebecca E. and Dadich, Ann (2022). How can video-reflexive ethnographers anticipate positive impact on healthcare practice?. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21. doi: 10.1177/16094069221083370
2022
Journal Article
The VOTIS, part 2: Using a video-reflexive assessment activity to foster dispositional learning in interprofessional education
Olson, Rebecca E., Copley, Jodie A., Bartle, Emma, Hill, Anne E., Barnett, Tessa, Dunwoodie, Ruth and Zuber, Alice (2022). The VOTIS, part 2: Using a video-reflexive assessment activity to foster dispositional learning in interprofessional education. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 37 (2), 1-8. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2022.2037531
2022
Journal Article
Uncertainty in low back pain care – insights from an ethnographic study
Costa, N., Olson, R., Mescouto, K., Hodges, P. W., Dillon, M., Evans, K., Walsh, K., Jensen, N. and Setchell, J. (2022). Uncertainty in low back pain care – insights from an ethnographic study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 45 (5), 1-12. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2022.2040615
2022
Conference Publication
“I felt more like myself”: Wellness, wellbeing, and the use of medicinal cannabis in the advanced cancer context.
Smith, Alexandra , Olson, Rebecca E. , Cuerton, Maddison , Dudley, Morgan , Good, Phillip and Hardy, Janet (2022). “I felt more like myself”: Wellness, wellbeing, and the use of medicinal cannabis in the advanced cancer context. . A Better Body: Towards a Sociology of Wellness Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 17 February 2022.
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Rebecca Olson is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding obstetric violence in Australia: prevalence, experiences and maternity carers perspectives
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Nigel Lee
-
Doctor Philosophy
Online Dating Experiences of Cancer Survivors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Mair Underwood, Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Online Dating Experiences of Cancer Survivors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Mair Underwood, Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding children's constructions and experiences of death, dying and loss
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Staton
-
Doctor Philosophy
Towards a Critical Post-humanist Symphony of Children-Deaths
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Staton
-
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring how physiotherapists navigate distress in low back pain care
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Towards a Critical Post-humanist Symphony of Children-Deaths
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Staton
-
Doctor Philosophy
Online Dating Experiences of Cancer Survivors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Mair Underwood, Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Discursive Renderings of Medicinal Cannabis Patients: Policy, Practice, Priorities
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Jenny Munro
-
Doctor Philosophy
Beyond pathology: (re)conceptualising distress in physiotherapy and chronic low back pain care
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Examination of constructions of health information exchange, as a specific action of person-centred care, occurring for and between professionals and patients.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Christy Noble
-
Doctor Philosophy
Online Dating Experiences of Cancer Survivors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Mair Underwood, Dr Stefanie Plage
-
Doctor Philosophy
Acceptance of digital mental health interventions: Sociodemographic aspects of user engagement with digital psychological interventions
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Paul Henman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Evidence based use of oral medicinal cannabinoids in the palliative management of patients with advanced cancer
Associate Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Acceptance of digital mental health interventions: Sociodemographic aspects of user engagement with digital psychological interventions
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Paul Henman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Collaborative clinical practice in healthcare
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Nadine Foster, Dr Lisa Anemaat
Completed supervision
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Melanotanning: A Sociological investigation of user experiences of the injectable tanning peptide (melanotan) in the context of identity, health and risk.
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Navigating a diagnosis, navigating an identity: Adults diagnosed Asperger's Disorder/Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1
Principal Advisor
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
A study of the meanings of spirituality in the context of depression
Principal Advisor
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Enhancing low back pain care: Thinking and practising critically beyond the biopsychosocial model
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Paul Hodges
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Gendered views on parole: Exploring how emotion and emotion management help to explain gender differences in the Australian public's views on parole
Associate Advisor
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
Psychosis and Self-Transformation: Addressing Relationship Negotiation with the Unruly Self
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Rebecca Olson directly for media enquiries about:
- allied health training
- cancer
- carers
- interprofessional education
- social support
- sociology
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: