Kristen Foley

Research Interests

Allied health and rehabilitation science Public Health and Health Services Applied Sociology Feminist methodologies Social Sciences Methods History and Philosophy of Science Social determinants of health Gender, policy and administration Health Policy Public Policy Market-based mechanisms

Mrs Kristen Foley

NHMRC Grant-Funded Research Fellow

School of Public Health

College of Health

My research explores how health and illness outcomes are structured across and amongst populations; with a strong emphasis on the sociopolitical realities and affective economies of value that give rise to these patternings. I use predominantly qualitative methods to consider interplays between people, science, culture, emotion, market, policy, and place; and have contributed methodological innovations to both public health and social science disciplines. I am an invited guest lecturer to students in allied and public health fields. I hold an NHMRC funded post-doctoral scholarship (allied health priority stipend) to explore the commercial determinants of alcohol consumption for Australian women in midlife.

Date Position Institution name
2024 - ongoing Grant-Funded Researcher University of Adelaide
2024 - ongoing Clinical Council Board Member Adelaide Primary Health Network
2022 - ongoing Research Fellow Torrens University Australia

Date Institution name Country Title
2016 Flinders University Australia Master of Public Health
2010 University of South Australia Australia Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy)

Year Citation
2025 Freeman, T., Foley, K., Anaf, J., Nosworthy, B., & Baum, F. (2025). A systematic-narrative hybrid review of evidence: Exploring how corporate social responsibility initiatives impact population health. Health, 29(6), 1-21.
DOI Scopus3 WoS2
2025 Ward, P., Foley, K., Warin, M., Lunnay, B., Palmer, C., & MacLean, S. (2025). A hope for hope: refocusing health promotion on hopefulness to reduce alcohol consumption and breast cancer. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(2), 188-1-188-8.
DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1
2025 Ward, P. R., Foley, K., Warin, M., & Lunnay, B. (2025). A political economy of hope: Materialisations of social class and inequity in women's imaginings of alcohol (free) futures. Social Science and Medicine, 371, 117884-1-117884-9.
DOI Scopus1
2025 Potter, R. E., Foley, K., Richter, S., Cleggett, S., Dollard, M. F., Parkin, A., . . . Lushington, K. (2025). National review into work conditions & discrimination for pregnant and parent workers in Australia. Safety Science, 186(106830), 106830.
DOI
2025 Stanhope, J., Foley, K., Butler, M., Boddy, J., Clanchy, K., George, E., . . . Weinstein, P. (2025). Australian allied health professionals’ perspectives on current practice, benefits, challenges, and opportunities in nature-based approaches. Health and Place, 93(103430), 103430-1-103430-15.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Foley, K., McLean, C., De Zylva, R., Asa, G., Maio, J., Batchelor, S., . . . Dimassi, A. (2025). Developing a Critical Imagination for How Researchers can use Artificially Intelligent Tools Reflexively and Responsibly During Qualitative Literature Reviews. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24, 17 pages.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3
2025 Foley, K., McLean, C., & Olivares-Aising, D. (2025). Social practice methodologies for understanding patterns of and within occupation. Journal of Occupational Science, 32(3), 397-419.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Ward, P. R., Foley, K., & Lunnay, B. (2025). What Can Alcohol Reduction ‘Do’ for/in Midlife Women's Hopes? A Qualitative Study in Australia. Sociology of Health and Illness, 47(8), e70114.
DOI
2024 Fitzpatrick, S. E., Foley, K., Crittenden, T., Watson, D., & Dean, N. R. (2024). Australian women’s experiences of post-partum rectus diastasis: A qualitative study. Women's Health, 20, 17455057241233123.
DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC1
2024 Schumacher, A. E., Kyu, H. H., Aali, A., Abbafati, C., Abbas, J., Abbasgholizadeh, R., . . . Murray, C. J. L. (2024). Global age-sex-specific mortality, life expectancy, and population estimates in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1950–2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. The Lancet, 403(10440), 1989-2056.
DOI Scopus661 WoS383 Europe PMC601
2024 Foley, K., & Barr, P. N. (2024). Barr, Philippa Nicole, Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague (Cambridg e: Cambridge University Press, 2024). ISBN: 9781108908061. EMOTIONS-HISTORY CULTURE SOCIETY, 8(2), 326-327.
DOI
2024 Lunnay, B., Foley, K., Lawn, S., Baigent, M., Weightman, A., Lawrence, D., . . . Ward, P. R. (2024). Work-related impacts on doctors' mental health: a qualitative study exploring organisational and systems-level risk factors. BMJ open, 14(11), e088283.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2024 Lunnay, B., & Foley, K. (2024). Gender-responsive health promotion for women: Regulating the sociopolitical landscape of alcohol product marketing. Health Promotion International, 39(5), daae119-1-daae119-7.
DOI Scopus12 Europe PMC6
2023 Foley, K., Lunnay, B., Kevin, C., & Ward, P. R. (2023). Developing a Women's Thought Collective methodology for health research: The roles and responsibilities of researchers in the reflexive co-production of knowledge. Health Expectations, 26(5), 1954-1964.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2023 Attrill, S., Foley, K., Gesesew, H. A., & Brebner, C. (2023). Allied health workforce development for participant-led services: structures for student placements in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.. BMC Med Educ, 23(1), 13 pages.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC2
2023 Robinson, S., Foley, K., Moore, T., Valentine, K., Burton, J., Marshall, A., . . . Brebner, C. (2023). Prioritising Children and Young People with Disability in Research About Domestic and Family Violence: Methodological, Ethical and Pragmatic Reflections. Journal of Family Violence, 38(6), 1191-1204.
DOI Scopus16 WoS13 Europe PMC3
2023 Lunnay, B., Seymour, J., Foley, K., Musolino, C., & Ward, P. R. (2023). Through the wine glass: How biographical midlife transitions and women's affective interpretations interact with alcohol consumption.. International Journal of Drug Policy, 117, 1-9.
DOI Scopus23 WoS22 Europe PMC12
2022 Ward, P. R., Foley, K., Meyer, S. B., Wilson, C., Warin, M., Batchelor, S., . . . Lunnay, B. (2022). Place of alcohol in the ‘wellness toolkits’ of midlife women in different social classes: a qualitative study in South Australia. Sociology of Health and Illness, 44(2), 488-507.
DOI Scopus34 WoS30 Europe PMC18
2022 Huppatz, E., Lunnay, B., Foley, K., Miller, E., Warin, M., Wilson, C., . . . Ward, P. (2022). Adaptive capacity: A qualitative study of midlife Australian women's
resilience during COVID-19. SSM. Mental Health, 2, 1-8.
DOI Scopus8 WoS2
2022 Meyer, S. B., Lunnay, B., Warin, M., Foley, K., Olver, I. N., Wilson, C., . . . Ward, P. R. (2022). Examining social class as it relates to heuristics women use to determine the trustworthiness of information regarding the link between alcohol and breast cancer risk. PLoS One, 17(9), 1-19.
DOI Scopus16 WoS14 Europe PMC11
2022 Dean, N. R., Foley, K., Long, R., & Ward, P. (2022). Experiences of women undergoing abdominoplasty in the public sector: a qualitative study. Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery, 5(1), 56-67.
DOI Scopus1
2021 Foley, K., Freeman, T., Ward, P., Lawler, A., Osborne, R., & Fisher, M. (2021). Exploring access to, use of and benefits from population-oriented digital health services in Australia. Health Promotion International, 36(4), 1105-1115.
DOI Scopus38 WoS32 Europe PMC26
2021 Foley, K., Warin, M., Meyer, S., Miller, E., & Ward, P. (2021). Alcohol and flourishing for Australian women in midlife: a qualitative study of negotiating (un)happiness. Sociology, 55(4), 751-767.
DOI Scopus37 WoS32
2021 Lunnay, B., Foley, K., Meyer, S. B., Warin, M., Wilson, C., Olver, I., . . . Ward, P. R. (2021). Alcohol consumption and perceptions of health risks during COVID-19: a qualitative study of middle-aged women in South Australia. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 1-11.
DOI Scopus42 WoS32 Europe PMC22
2021 Miller, E. R., Olver, I. N., Wilson, C. J., Lunnay, B., Meyer, S. B., Foley, K., . . . Ward, P. R. (2021). COVID-19, alcohol consumption and stockpiling practises in midlife women: repeat surveys during lockdown in Australia and the United Kingdom. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 1-11.
DOI Scopus17 WoS16 Europe PMC14
2021 Lunnay, B., Toson, B., Wilson, C., Miller, E. R., Meyer, S. B., Olver, I. N., . . . Ward, P. R. (2021). Social class and changes in Australian women's affect and alcohol consumption during COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 645376-1-645376-15.
DOI Scopus27 WoS24 Europe PMC19
2021 Rudge, A., Foley, K., Lunnay, B., Miller, E. R., Batchelor, S., & Ward, P. R. (2021). How are the links between alcohol consumption and breast cancer portrayed in australian newspapers?: A paired thematic and framing media analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7657-1-7657-18.
DOI Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2021 Ward, P. R., Lunnay, B., Foley, K., Meyer, S. B., Thomas, J., Olver, I., & Millere, E. R. (2021). The Case of Australia. The International Journal of Social Quality, 11(1-2), 289-308.
DOI Scopus10
2020 Foley, K., Attrill, S., McAllister, S., & Brebner, C. (2020). Impact of transition to an individualised funding model on allied health support of participation opportunities.. Disability and rehabilitation, 43(21), 10 pages.
DOI Scopus24 WoS26 Europe PMC18
2020 Gordon, S., Bidargaddi, N., Immanuel, S., Fouyaxis, J., Foley, K., Hall, K., & Baker, N. (2020). Opportunities for Technology-Assisted Healthy Ageing in a Local Government Context. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 268, 77-86.
DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC1
2019 Meyer, S. B., Foley, K., Olver, I., Ward, P. R., McNaughton, D., Mwanri, L., & Miller, E. R. (2019). Alcohol and breast cancer risk: Middle-aged women's logic and recommendations for reducing consumption in Australia. PLoS ONE, 14(2), 20 pages.
DOI Scopus33 WoS30 Europe PMC23
2019 Tsourtos, G., Foley, K., Ward, P., Miller, E., Wilson, C., Barton, C., & Lawn, S. (2019). Using a nominal group technique to approach consensus on a resilience intervention for smoking cessation in a lower socioeconomic population.. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1577-1-1577-15.
DOI Scopus14 WoS12 Europe PMC10

Year Citation
2023 Ward, P. R., & Foley, K. (2023). The Emerald Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions for a Post-Pandemic World: Imagined Emotions and Emotional Futures. Emerald Publishing Limited.
DOI Scopus2

Year Citation
2024 Foley, K., Lunnay, B., & Ward, P. R. (2024). When the politics of contextuality (can) subvert science: A case study of Australian women’s perceptions of alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk. In M. Farina, & A. Lavazza (Eds.), Philosophy, Expertise, and the Myth of Neutrality (pp. 238-256). Routledge.
DOI Scopus5
2023 Foley, K., Lunnay, B., & Ward, P. R. (2023). Feeling and (dis)trusting in modern, post-truth, pandemic times. In P. R. Ward, & K. Foley (Eds.), The Emerald Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions for a Post-Pandemic World: Imagined Emotions and Emotional Futures (pp. 211-232). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd..
DOI Scopus3
2023 Ward, P. R., & Foley, K. (2023). Introduction: Pandemic-emotions, ontologies of uncertainty and imagining emotional futures. In P. R. Ward, & K. Foley (Eds.), The Emerald Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions for a Post-Pandemic World: Imagined Emotions and Emotional Futures (pp. 1-20). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd..
DOI Scopus1
2023 Lunnay, B., Foley, K., & Ward, P. R. (2023). Qualitative research in sociology: 'Seeing' social class in qualitative data. In How to Conduct Qualitative Research in Social Science (pp. 74-92). Edward Elgar Publishing.
DOI Scopus1
2023 Lunnay, B., Warin, M., Foley, K., & Ward, P. (2023). Is Happiness a Fantasy Only for the Privileged? Exploring Women's Classed Chances of Being Happy Through Alcohol Consumption During COVID-19. In P. Ward, & K. Foley (Eds.), The Emerald Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions for a Post-Pandemic World: Imagined Emotions and Emotional Futures (pp. 113-133). Emerald Publishing.
DOI Scopus10

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