Dr Renata Kokanovic - Researcher Profile

Renata Kokanovic

Address

School of Political & Social Inquiry
Faculty of Arts, Clayton

Biography

Associate Professor Renata Kokanovic, BA (Hons) University of Zagreb, Croatia, PhD (Murdoch University, WA), sociologist of health and illness, is Monash Fellow in the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Monash University.

Renata is a member of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA), the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House) Research Sub-Committee, the Victorian Refugee Research Network, Oxford University's DIPEx (personal experiences of health and illness) International Research Group, and an associate member of the Medicine and Science Group, University of Sussex.

From 2004 to 2010 Renata worked at the University of Melbourne, developing social research on the medicalisation of emotional distress, focussing on the phenomenon of depression.  Her work is concerned with developing more sophisticated conceptualisations of mental health and illness, using qualitative research methods and contextualising subjective experiences within broad political and cultural processes. Renata has also had a long-standing commitment to forced migration research and in examining discourses of ethnicity and culture and their relevance for research on emotional and psychological distress.

Renata actively welcomes approaches from prospective research candidates interested in qualitative research exploring the following areas:

  • Body, health, and emotions
  • The biopolitics of common mental health disorders, with particular reference to pharmaceuticals/mood-altering medication, the surveillance of sadness and the governance of depression
  • Social, political and personal significance of psychiatric diagnosis
  • Culture, ethnicity and health
  • Forced migration research

 Associate Professor Renata Kokanovic is a recipient of the Faculty of Arts Industry and External Collaboration Award 2011

Qualifications

DR OF PHILOSOPHY
Institution: Murdoch University
Year awarded: 2002

Publications

Book Chapters

Kokanovic, R., 2011, The diagnosis of depression in an international context, in The SAGE Handbook of Mental Health and Illness, eds David Pilgrim, Anne Rogers and Bernice Pescosolido, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks California US, pp. 127-146.

Kokanovic, R., 2006, Exiles, in Sociology: Place, Time & Division, eds Peter Beilharz and Trevor Hogan, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 353-356.

Petersen, A.R., Kokanovic, R., Hansen, S., 2002, Consumerism and mental health care in a culturally diverse society, in Consuming Health: The Commodification of Health Care, eds Saras Henderson and Alan Petersen, Routledge, London, United Kingdom, pp. 121-139.

Journal Articles

Kokanovic, R., Butler, E., Halilovich, H., Palmer, V.J., Griffiths, F.E., Dowrick, C., Gunn, J., 2013, Maps, models and narratives: the ways people talk about depression, Qualitative Health Research [P], vol 23, issue 1, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 114-125.

Kokanovic, R., Butler, E., Halilovich, H., Palmer, V.J., Griffiths, F.E., Dowrick, C., Gunn, J., 2013, Maps, models, and narratives: The way people talk about depression, Qualitative Health Research [P], vol 23, issue 1, Sage, United States, pp. 114-125.

Kokanovic, R., Bendelow, G., Philip, B., 2012, Depression: The ambivalence of diagnosis, Sociology of Health and Illness [E], vol E, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 1-14.

Ziebland, S., Kokanovic, R., 2012, Emotions and chronic illness, Chronic Illness [P], vol 8, issue 3, Sage Publications Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 159-162.

Boardman, F., Griffiths, F., Kokanovic, R., Potiriadis, M., Dowrick, C., Gunn, J., 2011, Resilience as a response to the stigma of depression: A mixed methods analysis, Journal of Affective Disorders [P], vol 135, issue 1-3, Elsevier BV, The Netherlands, pp. 267-276.

Killngsworth, B., Kokanovic, R., Tran, H., Dowrick, C., 2010, A Care-full diagnosis: Three Vietnamese Australian women and their accounts of becoming "mentally ill", Medical Anthropology Quarterly [P], vol 24, issue 1, American Anthropological Association, United States of America, pp. 108-123.

Griffiths, F., Borkan, J., Byrne, D., Crabtree, B., Dowrick, C., Gunn, J., Kokanovic, R., Lamb, S., Lindenmeyer, A., Parchman, M., Reis, S., Stuart, J., 2010, Developing evidence for how to tailor medical interventions for the individual patient, Qualitative Health Research [P], vol 20, issue 10, July 2010, Sage pubkications, United States, pp. 1629-1641.

Palmer, V., Gunn, J., Kokanovic, R., Griffiths, F., Shrimpton, B., Hurworth, R., Herrman, H., Johnson, C., Hegarty, K., Blashki, G., Butler, E., Johnston-Ata'ata, K., Dowrick, C., 2010, Diverse voices, simple desires: a conceptual design for primary care to respond to depression and related disorders, Family Practice [E], vol 27, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 447-458.

Kokanovic, R., Stone, M., 2010, Doctors and other dangers: Bosnian refugee narratives of suffering and survival in Western Australia, Social Theory & Health [P], vol 8, issue 4, November 2010, Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 350-369.

Gunn, J., Palmer, V., Dowrick, C., Herman, H., Griffiths, F., Kokanovic, R., Hegarty, K., Johnson, C., Potiriadis, M., May, C., 2010, Embedding effective depression care: using theory for primary care organisational and systems change, Implementation Science [P], vol 5, issue 62, August 2010, BioMed Central Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 1-15.

Furler, J., Kokanovic, R., Dowrick, C., Newton, D., Gunn, J., May, C., 2010, Managing depression among ethnic communities: A qualitative study, Annals of Family Medicine [E], vol 8, issue 3, Annals of Family Medicine, Inc., US, pp. 231-236.

Furler, J., Kokanovic, R., 2010, Mental health: Cultural competence, Australian Family Physician [P], vol 39, issue 4, April 2010, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 206-208.

Kokanovic, R., May, C., Dowrick, C., Furler, J., Newton, D., Gunn, J., 2010, Negotiations of distress between East Timorese and Vietnamese refugees and their family doctors in Melbourne, Sociology Of Health & Illness [P], vol 32, issue 4, April 2010, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 511-527.

Manderson, L.H., Kokanovic, R., 2009, "Worried all the time": Distress and the circumstances of everyday life among immigrant Australians with type 2 Diabetes, Chronic Illness [P], vol 5, issue 21, Sage Publications Ltd, UK, pp. 21-32.

Johnson, C., Gunn, J., Kokanovic, R., 2009, Depression recovery from the primary care patient's perspective: 'hear it in my voice and see it in my eyes', Mental Health in Family Medicine [P], vol 6, Radcliffe Publishing, UK, pp. 49-55.

Kokanovic, R., Furler, J., May, C., Dowrick, C., Herrman, H., Evert, H., Gunn, J., 2009, The politics of conducting research on depression in a cross-cultural context, Qualitative Health Research [P], vol 19, issue 5, SAGE Publications, US, pp. 708-717.

Kokanovic, R., Dowrick, C., Butler, E., Herrman, H., Gunn, J., 2008, Lay accounts of depression amongst Anglo-Australian residents and East African refugees, Social Science and Medicine [P], vol 66, Pergamon, UK, pp. 454-466.

Dowrick, C., Kokanovic, R., Hegarty, K., Griffiths, F., Gunn, J., 2008, Resilience and depression: Perspectives from primary care, Health [P], vol 12, issue 4, SAGE Publications, UK, pp. 439-452.

Gunn, J., Palmer, V., Naccarella, L., Kokanovic, R., Pope, C., Lathlean, J., Stange, K., 2008, The promise and pitfalls of generalism in achieving the Alma-Ata vision of health for all, Medical Journal of Australia [E], vol 189, issue 2, Australasian Medical Publishing Company, Australia, pp. 110-112.

Minas, H., Klimidis, S., Kokanovic, R., 2007, Depression in multicultural Australia: Policies, research and services, Australia and New Zealand Health Policy [P], vol 4, issue 1, BioMed Central, UK, pp. 1-11.

Kokanovic, R., Manderson, L.H., 2007, Exploring doctor-patient communication in immigrant Australians with type 2 diabetes: A qualitative study, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol 22, issue 4, Springer New York LLC, USA, pp. 459-463.

Klimidis, S., Minas, H., Kokanovic, R., 2006, Ethnic minority community patients and the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care initiative, Australasian Psychiatry [E], vol 14, issue 2, SAGE Publications, UK, pp. 212-215.

Kokanovic, R., Petersen, A.R., Klimidis, S., 2006, 'Nobody can help me...I am living through it alone': Experiences of caring for people diagnosed with mental illness in ethno-cultural and linguistic minority communities, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, vol 8, issue 2, Springer New York LLC, USA, pp. 125-135.

Kokanovic, R., Manderson, L.H., 2006, Social support and self-management of type 2 diabetes among immigrant Australian women, Chronic Illness, vol 2, Sage Publications Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 291-301.

Minas, H., Klimidis, S., Kokanovic, R., 2005, Impact of Australia's 'Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care' initiative in Melbourne, Primary Care Mental Health [P], vol 3, Radcliffe Publishing, UK, pp. 111-121.

Minas, H., Klimidis, S., Kokanovic, R., 2005, Mental health research in general practice, Australasian Psychiatry [E], vol 13, issue 2, SAGE Publications, UK, pp. 181-184.