Pauline Thompson

Pauline Thompson
Professor, Psychology
Commons/Athletic Center, 221
25 Yearsley Mill Road
Media, PA 19063

Dr. Thompson was born in Idaho in the USA and as a child lived in a variety of places but mostly in Pennsylvania. After spending two years in active duty military service in the United States Navy as a nuclear valve technician on board the USS Samuel Gompers, she studied Psychology at DeSales University (BSc) and then Temple University (PhD), both in Pennsylvania. Dr. Thompson then worked at the University of Waikato and the Waikato Institute of Technology in New Zealand from 1997-2005. From late 2005, she worked in South Australia at the University of South Australia and then at Flinders University teaching Health Psychology and Indigenous Health. From mid-2012-2015, she was the Psychology Program Coordinator at the Pennsylvania State University Brandywine Campus. She is currently engaged in community research and education in Chester and Media practicing and teaching cultural safety, anti-racism, and a range of mental health and wellbeing projects.

Qualifications

BSc (Psychology) DeSales University

PhD (Psychology) Temple University

Teaching

Teaching gives me the opportunity to share my research and world experiences with students. In my career, I have taught a wide range of topics/ courses (such as health psychology, Indigenous health, physiological psychology, planning and evaluation in the human services, developmental psychology, learning theory, sociology, and communication) and to very diverse student populations (including health sciences, social sciences, sport and exercise science, psychology, nursing, social work, medicine, paramedics, public health and occupational therapy) and around the world (USA, New Zealand and Australia).

"There is divine beauty in learning, just as there is human beauty in tolerance. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you." --- Elie(zer) Wiesel (b. 1928) --- Romanian-born writer, lecturer, survivor Nazi camps.

Research and consultancy

I have a wide range of research interests, but generally am involved in Community Based Participatory Research or CBPR and with populations who are often described as vulnerable or marginalized (e.g., Indigenous Australians, refugees, Muslim women, persons with dementia). Topics have included: Women's health, female circumcision, parenting, mental health and social and emotional wellbeing, residential mobility, youth identity, addictions, physical activity for addiction treatment or as a mental health therapy, physical fitness and body composition, refugee resettlement/housing, employment, racism.

 

Publications since 2012:
Books

Book: NEW IN 2019!

Taylor, K. & Guerin, P. (2019). Health Care and Indigenous Australians: Cultural safety in practice, 3rd Edition.  Palgrave-MacMillan: UK.

Journal Articles

  1. Ryan, J., Guerin, P., Elmi, F. H., & Guerin, B. (2019). What can Somali community talk about mental health tell us about our own? Contextualizing the symptoms of mental health. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 15, XX-XX.
  2. Guerin, P. & Guerin, B. (Accepted August 2018). Mobility and the sustainability of remote Australian Indigenous communities: A review and a call for context-based policies. Australian Community Psychologist
  3. Grant, J. & Guerin, P. (2018). Motherhood as identity: Refugee single mothers working the intersections. Journal of Refugee StudiesImpact Factor 1.143. https://academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jrs/fey049/5104799
  4. Grant, J. & Guerin, P. (2018). Mixed and misunderstandings: An exploration of the meaning of racism with maternal, child and family health nurses in South Australia. Journal of Advanced Nursing. DOI: 10.1111/jan.13789. ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2017: 7/118 (Nursing (Science)) Impact Factor: 2.267.
  5. Guerin, B. & Guerin, P. (2014). “Mental Illness” symptoms as extensions of strategic social behaviour: The case of multicultural mental health. Rivista di Psicologia Clinica, 1, (online). Special Issue: Towards a psychology integrating low-power social groups such as migrants, elders, women, children, people with a diagnosis of disability or mental disorder. http://www.rivistadipsicologiaclinica.it/ojs/index.php/rpc/index
  6. Grant, J. & Guerin, P. (2014). Applying ecological modelling to parenting for Australian refugee families. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, February 28. GS citations =15, Impact Factor = 1.11 Doi: 10.1177/1043659614523468
  7. Grant, J., Parry, Y., & Guerin, P. (2013). An Investigation of culturally competent terminology in healthcare policy finds ambiguity and lack of definition. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 37(3), 250-256. Impact Factor = 1.897, GS citations =32
  8. Guerin, P. & Guerin, B. (2013). How can you acculturate when neighbors are throwing rocks in your window? Investigating housing issues for Somali refugees in New Zealand. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 5(2), 41-49. h5 index = 8
  9. Guerin, B. & Guerin, P. (2012). Re-thinking mental health in the context of Indigenous Australian communities: A critical look at programs, policy and practices. Community Development Journal, special issue, 47, 555-570. Impact Factor 0.75