Dr Eden Thain

Lecturer

Optimisation and Stabilisation

Integration Management Office

Available For Media Comment.


I have studied psychology since high school, always interested in the question "Why do people do what they do?"
 
I loved the brain and physics and wanted to work with fMRI machines (nearly did radiology). The brain would explain why people do what they do!
 
But throughout my studies, I found that people do what they do with other people. So, I focus my work on exploring the messy complexity of social relationships - particularly how people talk with one another (that's what we do most of the time, including right now!). 
 
I have a broad range of interests, and I am always eager to jump into a new topic and see how my perspective can help any project.
 
That said, my interests are: 

Contextualisation of Social Decision Making / Governance (hierarchy, bureaucracy, adhocracy, holacracy, sociocracy, etc.)
Economic Intersections of Social Relationships
Complex Trauma
LGBTQIA+ Discourses and Identity Constructions (inter- and intra-group discursive community separations)

 
My teaching focus areas include: 

Community Psychology
Qualitative Methods in Psychology (e.g. interviews through to action research and ethnography)
Critical Psychology (and critical history of psych)
Discursive Psychology 

 
I care not only about learning what social science has to offer but also about constantly remaining critical, curious, and open in research and teaching.
 
My research and teaching are driven by values that reward effort over outcome, invest in community voice over authority, and move with passion over metrics. 
 
How can I help? 
 
Photo Credit to Catherine Leo Photography 

Year Citation
2025 Goodes, E., Webb, S., & Thain, E. (2025). From transition to detransition: Exploring societal attitudes towards gender detransitioning. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 11 pages.
DOI
2025 Hagos, A. K., Thain, E., Cox, S., Knight, L., Schofield, P., & Butler, T. (2025). Women's experiences of changes in related men's impulsivity and domestic violence following men's participation in the ReINVEST clinical trial. Bmc Public Health, 25(1, article no. 2945), 1-15.
DOI
2025 Usher, R., Parsons, L., O'Donnell, M., Walter, B., Thain, E., & Chung, D. (2025). "It's not a normal upbringing": Insights from young mothers with care experience to improve parenting support and prevent intergenerational out-of-home care. Children and Youth Services Review, 179(108593), 1-9.
DOI
2024 Thain, E., Cox, S., Paton, A., Shihata, S., & Bromfield, L. (2024). Complex trauma from child abuse and neglect 'I'm not sure we're even all talking about the same thing and we're probably not':. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 17(4), 1151-1168.
DOI WoS1
2023 Thain, E. (2023). 'You think that, again, that's the medication': reflecting on qualitative methods for interviewing family members of violent and impulsive men in an intervention trial. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 20(3), 471-501.
DOI Scopus3 WoS1
2018 Guerin, B., Bergo Leugi, G., & Thain, A. (2018). Attempting to overcome problems shared by both qualitative and quantitative methodologies: two hybrid procedures to encourage diverse research. The Australian community psychologist, 29(2), 74-90.
WoS10

Year Citation
2025 Thain, E. (2025). Trans youth in the media: discursive constructions. In C. Nelson, D. Buiten, & J. Death (Eds.), Source details - Title: The Public Child Media Power, Strategic Silencing, and Children’s Rights in Australia (Vol. Part F1021, pp. 221-239). Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about the contexts for emotions. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 123-126). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). The Experiences of Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 70-96). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Some general questions to understand someone's contexts: Resource-social relationship exchanges. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 65-69). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about group and cultural contexts. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 94-99). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). Psychology of Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 33-47). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). Discourses in Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 119-143). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about the contexts for thinking. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 116-122). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Introduction: What is research and what is context?. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 3-11). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about language histories and communities. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 108-115). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about the contexts for secrecy and monitoring. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 70-80). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). The basics of social contextual analyses and their advantages. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 12-21). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about social relationships. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 100-107). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Social policy and context. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 151-160). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). Pathways in Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 97-118). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Researching biographies and autobiographies: What do you need to know about your own context?. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 149-150). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Putting current research methodologies into context. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 50-62). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Contextual research for detective and intelligence operations. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 161-168). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). The Contexts of Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 48-69). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Contextual research in sensitive and difficult situations. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 169-178). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Finding out about societal contexts which shape behaviour, talk and experience. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 81-93). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). What Is Poverty?. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 11-32). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Analyzing “strange” or “odd-looking” behaviours. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 144-148). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Best practices and methods for gathering contextual material. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 22-40). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). How to Help Those in Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 1-10). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). What do we do with our contextual data? Analysis, answers and action. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 41-49). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Guerin, B., Thain, E., Stevens, K., Richards, A. C., & Leugi, G. B. (2024). Exploring the outcomes of bad life contexts. In Conducting Contextual Research (pp. 129-143). Routledge.
DOI
2024 Thain, E. (2024). Why We Have Not Solved Poverty. In Reimagining Poverty through Social Contextual Analyses (pp. 144-151). Routledge.
DOI

Year Citation
2025 Thain, E., Perfect, D., Collins, A., Borges Jelinic, A., Bromfield Smith, L., & O'Leary, P. (2025). Australian approaches to the disclosure of child sexual abuse: reviewing the grey literature. South Australia: University of South Australia, Australian Centre for Child Protection.
DOI
2024 Paton, A., Burgess, S., Perfect, D., Thain, E., Winslade, K., & Bromfield, L. (2024). Evidence based review of therapeutic residential care models. Australia: University of South Australia.
DOI
2024 Krakouer, J., Thain, E., Maclean, M., Octoman, O., & Kaltner, M. (2024). Evaluation of SA family group conferencing: final report. Australia: Department for Child Protection, Government of South Australia.
2022 Thain, E., & Cox, S. (2022). ReINVEST trial partner and family interviews: qualitative content analysis. Australia: University of South Australia.
DOI
2022 Burgess, S., Paton, A., Thain, E., Herbert, J., Edgeworth, P., & Russell, E. (2022). Improving practice together: Victorian group supervision model: final recommendations report and jurisdictional scan. Australia: University of South Australia, Australian Centre for Child Protection.
DOI
2022 Thain, E., Shihata, S., Paton, A., & Cox, S. (2022). Conceptualising child abuse and neglect related complex trauma in children and young people: an exploratory pilot study. Australia: University of South Australia.
DOI
2022 Cox, S., Thain, E., & Bromfield, L. (2022). Integrative treatment of complex trauma for children and adolescents: a rapid evidence assessment. Australia: Australian Centre for Child Protection.
DOI
  • Understanding the experiences of child sexual abuse disclosure in Australia in the wake of the Royal Commission, National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse - Competitive Grant, 23/11/2023 - 30/11/2025

Courses I teach

  • BEHL 1003 Psychology 1A (2025)
  • BEHL 1022 Counselling Foundations (2025)
  • BEHL 3023 Language, Context and Social Behaviour (2025)
  • BEHL 3037 Exploring the History and Foundations of Psychology (2025)
  • BEHL 1022 Counselling Foundations (2024)
  • BEHL 3037 Exploring the History and Foundations of Psychology (2024)

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