Diversity Week
Associate Professor Lynne Hillier
I am a psychologist by discipline but I discovered very early that rigid quantitative methodologies were of limited use in understanding adolescent sexual diversity; lesbian health; intellectual disability and sexuality. I am a social researcher who enjoys using a creative mix of quantitative and qualitative methodologies in my work. Where the quant data gives an association, the qual data helps to understand the whys of those connections.
I have been researching with same sex attracted young people for over 12 years, including the Writing Themselves In Reports (1998; 2005) two large national studies on the sexual health and well being of this group.
I am interested in the social determinants of health and moving beyond describing deficits and problems with these young people to documenting the creative ways that they work to reframe discourse and their worlds to provide positive healthy ways of thinking about being sexual. I am also interested in safe spaces and how they are created.
My work is framed by feminism and I often use critical discourse analysis, particularly in regard to resistance. My recent PhD students have studied lesbian experiences with the health system, sex education in Victorian schools, sex tolerance zones in St Kilda and the experiences of 18-25 year old women with an intellectual disability.
Current Projects:
- POSH Interviews (funded by Vic Health) This project follows 30 same sex attracted youth over two years, looking at their strategies for dealing with critical events in their lives.
- Evaluation of Xtribe: a sex and health positive website for men who have sex with men - funded by Gilead Science, an ARCSHS collaboration with Victorian AIDS Council. This is an evaluation of an innovative sexual health website for men who have sex with men.
- Evaluation of Phase 2 of the "What is this HepC thing?" - funded by DHS collaboration with The Alfred.
- Internet chat rooms STI awareness, screening and testing outcomes – funded by DHS, collaboration with The Alfred.
Email: l.hillier@latrobe.edu.au
Phone: 9285 5360
La Trobe Biography