Dr Peter d'Abbs
Honorary Fellow
Qualifications:
PhD, University of Melbourne, 1983; Master of Arts, University of Exeter, 1977; Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Melbourne, 1971; Diploma in Modern Languages (Chinese), University of New England, 2008.
Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:
Principal Supervisor for PhD
Location:
Biography:
Dr Peter d'Abbs is an Honorary Fellow specialising in substance misuse studies at Menzies School of Health Research, and Honorary Professor at University of Queensland's School of Public Health.
He is a sociologist with a research background in alcohol and other drug policy issues and in program evaluation, much of it conducted in Northern Australia.
In recent years he has conducted evaluations of alcohol management plans and other initiatives to reduce alcohol problems in Tennant Creek, Katherine, Groote Eylandt and Gove Peninsula, all in the Northern Territory, and in Derby (WA) and Mt Isa (QLD). He has co-authored a review of interventions into volatile substance misuse, and is currently engaged in a national evaluation of the rollout of low aromatic fuel in communities affected by petrol sniffing.
From 2001 to 2010 he was a director of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AERF – subsequently renamed Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education), and in 2007 he was placed on the Honour Roll of the National Drug and Alcohol Awards for his research into substance misuse in remote and regional settings.
Research Themes
- Liquor permits as a measure for controlling alcohol problems: a literature review
- Review of Liquor Permit schemes under the NT Liquor Act: Final Report
- Evaluation of the Revised Katherine Alcohol Management Plan
- Petrol sniffing prevention program data collection project
- An evaluation of the Gove Peninsula Alcohol Management System
- d'Abbs, P., & Chenhall, R. D. (2013). Spirituality and religion in responses to substance misuse among Indigenous Australians. Substance Use & Misuse, 48, 1-16. doi: 10.3109/10826084.2013.800746
- d'Abbs, P. (2012). Problematizing alcohol through the eyes of the other: Alcohol policy and Aboriginal drinking in the Northern Territory, Australia. Contemporary Drug Problems, 39(3), 371-396.
- MacLean, S., & d'Abbs, P. (2011). Five challenges for volatile substance misuse policy and intervention in Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review, 30, 223-227. doi: DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-3362.2010.00232.x
- d'Abbs, P., & MacLean, S. (2011). Petrol Sniffing Interventions Among Australian Indigenous Communities Through Product Substitution: From Skunk Juice to Opal. Substance Use & Misuse, 46, 99-106.
- d'Abbs, P., & MacLean, S. (2008). Volatile Substance Misuse: A Review of Interventions. National Drug Strategy Monograph Series No.65. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
- d'Abbs, P., MacLean, S., & Brady, M. (2008). From platitudes to policies: The evolving response to volatile substance misuse in Australia. In D. Moore & P. Dietze (Eds.), Drugs and Public Health: Australian Perspectives on Policy and Practice (pp. 39-48). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
- d'Abbs, P. (2004). Alignment of the policy planets: behind the implementation of the Northern Territory (Australia) Living With Alcohol programme. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't]. Drug and Alcohol Review, 23(1), 55-66. doi: 10.1080/09595230410001645556
- d'Abbs, P., & Brady, M. (2004). Other people, other drugs: the policy response to Indigenous petrol sniffing among Indigenous Australians. Drug and Alcohol Review, 23(3), 253-260.
- d'Abbs, P., & Togni, S. (2000). Liquor licensing and community action in regional and remote Australia: a review of recent initiatives. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 24(1), 45-53.
- d'Abbs, P. (1998). Out of sight, out of mind? Licensed clubs in remote Aboriginal communities. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 22(6), 679-684.
