Associate Professor Rhonda Brown

Honorary Associate Professor, ANU School of Medicine and Psychology

BSc(Hons), PhD

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About

Associate Professor Brown received her PhD in the School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She worked as a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Behavioral Neuropharmacology at Louisiana State University, USA, and then as a research-only academic in the Department of Psychological Medicine at Royal North Shore Hospital & Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, with teaching responsibilities in the Graduate Medical Program at the University of Sydney. From 2004-11, she was the course convener and lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of New England.

She is a course convener and lecturer in Health Psychology and Clinical Health Psychology at ANU.

Affiliations

Research interests

Rhonda’s research interests focus on chronic illness, in particular, psychiatric and physical symptom comorbidity, and the correlates of mental and physical ill-health in chronic illness patients. Recently this work has focused on:

Comorbidity of psychiatric and physical symptoms including affective symptoms (e.g. anxiety, depression), sleep disturbance, fatigue, other medical symptoms, and overweight/obesity
Understanding the relationship between stress, affective symptoms, psychosocial factors (e.g. coping), and medical outcomes (e.g. fatigue) in people with chronic illness(es) and in non-clinical samples
Understanding the relationship between stress, affective symptoms, coping, and social support utilization in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Work-related stressors (e.g. breaking bad medical news) in doctors and healthcare providers

Teaching information

Clinical Health Psychology

Publications

Clout, D, Brown RF. 2016. Marital relationship and attachment predictors of postpartum stress, anxiety and depression symptoms. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology.
Clout, D, Brown RF. 2015. Sociodemographic, pregnancy, obstetric, and postnatal predictors of postpartum stress, anxiety and depression in new mothers. Journal of Affective Disorders, 188, 60-67.
Honan CA, Brown RF, Batchelor J. 2015. Perceived cognitive difficulties and cognitive test performance as predictors of employment outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 21, 1-13.
Shaw J, Brown R, S Dunn. 2015. The impact of delivery style on doctors’ experience of stress during simulated bad news consultations. Patient Education & Counseling, 98(10), 1255-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2015.08.023
Honan CA, Brown RF, Hine DW, Batchelor J, Pollard JD. 2014. The Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire (MSWDQ): development of a shortened scale. Disability & Rehabilitation, 36, 635-641. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2013.805258.
Yeh SS, Brown RF. 2014. Disordered eating partly mediates the relationship between poor sleep quality and high body mass index. Eating Behaviours, 15, 291-297. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.03.014
Thorsteinsson EB, Brown RF, Richards C. 2014. The relationship between work-stress, psychological stress and staff health and work outcomes in office workers. Psychology, 5, 1301-1311. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2014.
Croft C, Brown RF, Thorsteinsson EB, Noble W. 2014. Is tinnitus acceptance the same as tinnitus habituation? International Tinnitus Journal, 18(1), 45-56. DOI: 10.5935/0946-5448.20130007.
Ellis S, Brown RF, Thorsteinsson EB, Perrott C. 2014. Trait mindfulness, affective symptoms and quality of life in people with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Journal of Cancer Therapy, 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jct.2014.512115.
Temple, E, Driver, M & Brown, R 2014, 'Cannabis use and anxiety: is stress the missing piece of the puzzle?', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 5, pp. 1-13. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00168.
Pinniger, R, Thorsteinsson, E, Brown, R et al 2013, 'Intensive tango dance program for people with self-referred affective symptoms', Music and Medicine, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 15-22.
Read, D, Brown, R, Thorsteinsson, E et al 2013, 'The theory of planned behaviour as a model for predicting public opposition to wind farm developments', Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 36, pp. 70-76.
Shaw, J, Brown, R, Heinrich, P et al 2013, 'Doctors' experience of stress during simulated bad news consultations', Patient Education and Counseling, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 203-208.
Pinniger, R, Brown, R, Thorsteinsson, E et al 2013, 'Tango programme for individuals with age-related macular degeneration', The British Journal of Visual Impairment, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 47-59.
Pinniger, R, Thorsteinsson, E, Brown, R et al 2013, 'Tango Dance can reduce distress and insomnia in people with self-referred affective symptoms.', American Journal of Dance therapy. February 2013.
Wells, L, Thorsteinsson, E & Brown, R 2012, 'Control Cognitions and Causal Attributions as Predictors of Fatigue Severity in a Community Sample', The Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 152, no. 2, pp. 185-198.
Longley, W, Tate, R & Brown, R 2012, 'A Protocol for Measuring the Direct Psychological Benefit of Neuropsychological Assessment with Feedback in Multiple Sclerosis', Brain Impairment, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 238-255.
Temple, E & Brown, R 2012, 'A comparison of internet-based participant recruitment methods: Engaging the hidden population of Cannabis users in research', Journal of Research Practice, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1-15.
Pinniger, R, Brown, R, Thorsteinsson, E et al 2012, 'Argentine tango dance compared to mindfulness meditation and waiting list control: A randomised trial for treating depression', Complementary Therapies in Medicine, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 377-384.
Honan, C, Brown, R, Hine, D et al 2012, 'The Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire', Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 871 -880.
Liffman S, Brown RF, Thorsteinsson EB. 2012. Direct and indirect associations between stress, affective symptoms and fatigue in university students. Psychology & Education, 49, 29-44.
Shaw, J, Brown, R, Dunn, SM. 2012, 'A qualitative study of stress and coping responses in doctors breaking bad news.', Patient Education & couseling, Article In press.
Honan-Lowe CA, Brown RF, Hine DW, Vowels L, Wollin JA, Simmons RD, Pollard JD. 2011. Development and validation of the Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Scale: full and short version. Multiple Sclerosis Journal. Published online 6 December 2011
Brown RF, Thorsteinsson EB. 2009. Stressful life-events and fatigue in a non-clinical sample. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 197, 707-710.
Brown RF, Valpiani E, Tennant CC, Dunn SM, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Pollard JDP. 2009. Longitudinal assessment of anxiety, depression and fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis. Psychology & Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 82, 41-56.
Thorsteinsson EB, Brown RF. 2009. Mediators and moderators of the stressor - fatigue relationship in non-clinical samples. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66, 21-29.
Brown RF, Bartrop R, Birmingham CL. 2008. Immunological disturbance and infectious disease in anorexia nervosa: a review. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 20, 117-128.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2006. Relationship between stress and relapse in multiple sclerosis: Part I. Important features. Multiple Sclerosis, 12: 453-64.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Sharrock M, Hodgkinson S, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2006. Relationship between stress and relapse in multiple sclerosis: Part II. Direct and indirect relationships. Multiple Sclerosis, 12: 465-75.
Brown RF, Bartrop R, Beumont P, Birmingham CL. 2005. Bacterial infections in anorexia nervosa: Delayed recognition increases complications. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 37: 161-65.
Brown RF, Tennant CC, Dunn SM, Pollard JD. 2005. A review of stress-relapse interactions in MS: Important features and stress-mediating and moderating variables. Multiple Sclerosis, 11: 477-84.