Research Fellow

Tel: 01865 613171

Email: jorun.rugkasa@psych.ox.ac.uk

Biography

I joined the Social Psychiatry Group in May 2008. My research interests include treatment pressure and coercion in community mental health services and the role of family carers of people with mental health problems. I currently manage the OCTET study, which comprises of a large randomised controlled trial of community treatment orders and qualitative studies of how community compulsion is experienced by patients, their families and clinicians. I also manage the AMEND study, where we are one of three sites, and which assesses how changes in the definition of mental disorder and the detention criteria in the 2007 MHA impact on clinical practice.

Before joining the group I was at the University of Westminster where I researched the experiences of carers of people with severe mental health problems in Black and minority ethnic communities. This was a collaboration with the Health Experiences Research Group at the Department of Primary Health Care at University of Oxford, where I was a visiting academic.

I originally trained as a Social Anthropologist at the University of Oslo and spent 12 months conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a Filipino village. After completing my studies I moved to Northern Ireland where I worked for nearly ten years at the social science end of Public Health, specialising in the evaluation of complex social interventions to reduce health inequalities. I hold a PhD in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast.

 I have recently taken up a post as Senior Research Fellow at the Health Services Research Unit at Akershus University Hospital in Norway. Here I hope to develop a programme of work around coercion and pressure in Norwegian mental health care.

Profile:

2008 - present: Research Fellow, Social Psychiatry Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

2010 – present: Senior Research Fellow, Health Services Research Unit, Akershus University Hospital, Norway

2007- 2008: Research Fellow, School of Integrated Health, University of Westminster

2002- 2007: Research Officer (Social Science), Institute of Public Health in Ireland.

2001- 2002: Researcher, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland

2000- 2001: Research Assistant, Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland

1999- 2000: Research Assistant, Northern Ireland Centre for Diet and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster

1997- 1999: Part time University Lecturer, Queen's University of Belfast, University of Ulster, LSB College Dublin.

Relevant publications:

Dunn, M., Hope, T., Maughan, D., Canvin, K., Rugkåsa, J., Sinclair, J., Burns, T. (in press). Threats and Offers in Community Mental Health Care. An Ethics Analysis. Journal of Medical Ethics.

Manning, C., Molodynski, A., Rugkåsa, J., Dawson, J., Burns, T. (2011). Community treatment orders in England and Wales, clinicians’ views and use: a national survey. The Psychiatrists, 35, 1-6. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.110.032631

Dawson, J., Burns, T., Rugkåsa, J. (2011). Lawfulness of a Randomsied Trial of the New Community Treatment Order Regime for England and Wales. Medical Law Review, 19(1), 1-26 doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwq030.

Rugkåsa,J.,  Canvin, K. (2010). Practical Issues in Recruiting Research Participants from Minority Ethnic Communities. Qualitative Health Research. doi:10.1177/1049732310379115

Molodynski, A., Rugkåsa, J., Burns, T. (2010). Coercion and Compulsion in Community Mental Health Care. British Medical Bulletin. 95; 105-119. doi:10.1093/bmb/ldq015

Rugkåsa, J., Burns, T. (2009). Community Treatment Orders. Psychiatry, 8(2), 493-495.

Burns, T., Rugkåsa, J., Molodynski, A. (2008). The Oxford Community Treatment Order Evaluation Trial. The Psychiatrist, 32. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.108.022814

Boydell, L., Hoggett, P., Cummins, A. M., Rugkåsa, J. (2008). Intersectoral Partnerships, The Knowledge Economy and Intangible Assets. Policy and Politics. 36: 209-224

Rugkåsa, J., Shortt, N., Boydell, L. (2007). The Right Tool for the Task. Boundary Spanners in a Partnership Approach to Tackle Fuel Poverty in Rural Northern Ireland. Health and Social care in the Community. 15: .221-230

Rugkåsa, J, Canvin, C (2007).  DIPEx – a Collection of Personal Narratives of Health and Illness. KnowledgShare section of Diversity in Health and Social Care. 4 (4): 110

Boydell, L, Rugkåsa, J. (2007). Benefits of Working in Partnership: A Model. Critical Public Health. 17: 217-228.

Shortt, N., Rugkåsa, J. (2007). “The Walls were so Damp and Cold”. Fuel Poverty and Ill Health in Northern Ireland: Results from a Housing Intervention. Health and Place. 13: 99-110

Wilde, J., Boydell, L., Rugkåsa, J. (2006). Integrating Sustainable Development and Public Health on the Island of Ireland. An All Island Dimension. Journal of the Royal Institute of Public Health, 120: 601-603.

Stewart-Knox, B. J., Sittlington, J., Rugkåsa, J., Harrison, S., Treacy, M., Abaunza, P. (2005) Smoking and Peer Groups: Results from a longitudinal Qualitative Study of Young People in Northern Ireland. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44: 397- 414.

Rugkåsa, J., Stewart-Knox, B., Sittlington, J.,  Santos Abaunza, P., Treacy, M. P. (2003). Hard Boys, Attractive Girls: Expressions of Gender in Young People's Conversations on Smoking in Northern Ireland. Health Promotion International, 18: 307-314.

Rugkåsa, J, Kennedy, O., Barton, M., Abaunza, M. P., Knox, B. (2001). Smoking and Symbolism: Children, Communication and Cigarettes. Health Education Research. Theory and Practice, 16: 131-142.

Rugkåsa, J., Knox, B., Sittlington, J., Kennedy, O., Treacy, M. P., Abaunza, P. S. (2001). Anxious Adults vs. Cool Children. Children’s Views on Smoking and Addiction. Social Science and Medicine, 53: 103-112.