Dr Vicki Kerrigan
Postdoctoral researcher
Qualifications:
PhD, Charles Darwin University, 2022; Master of International and Community Development, Deakin University 2016; Bachelor of Arts (Communications), Charles Sturt University, 1994
Location:
Darwin – Royal Darwin Hospital
Biography:
Vicki believes stories have the power to inspire positive change. She is a multidisciplinary qualitative researcher and workshop facilitator with two decades of experience at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a broadcaster and multimedia producer. Vicki’s doctoral thesis: Batji-gum dilba (Good talk medicine): Improving culturally safe communication between doctors and Aboriginal patients in the Northern Territory of Australia explores the barriers and enablers to effective and culturally safe communication between patients and doctors at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH). The thesis was named by Larrakia Elder Aunty Bilawara Lee who is working to revive the Larrakia language.
Vicki collaborates with First Nations leaders, the NT Health service, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health services and the NT Aboriginal Interpreter Service to conduct Participatory Action Research projects. She produced the multi-award-winning cultural education podcast Ask the Specialist: Larrakia, Tiwi and Yolŋu stories to inspire better healthcare which challenges racism in healthcare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vicki collaborated with health and community leaders to develop 22 videos about COVID vaccines in Aboriginal languages: Tiwi, Yolŋu Matha, Kunwinjku, Kriol, Ngangi’kurunggurr, Murrinh-patha, Burarra, Warlpiri, Arrernte and English. She has also worked on research projects relating to rheumatic heart disease and social media and tobacco control.
- Kerrigan, V., McGrath, S. Y., Herdman, R. M., Puruntatameri, P., Lee, B., Cass, A., Ralph, A. P., & Hefler, M. (2022). Evaluation of “Ask the Specialist": a cultural education podcast to inspire improved healthcare for Aboriginal peoples in Northern Australia. Health Sociology Review.(‘Yuwinbir’, a special issue of Health Sociology Review on Indigenous and sociological knowledges: Meeting points for health equity). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2022.2055484
- Kerrigan, V., McGrath, S. Y., Majoni, S. W., Walker, M., Ahmat, M., Lee, B., Cass, A., Hefler, M., & Ralph, A. P. (2021). “The talking bit of medicine, that’s the most important bit”: Doctors and Aboriginal interpreters collaborate to transform culturally competent hospital care. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20(1), 170. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01507-1
- Kerrigan, V., McGrath, S.Y., Majoni, S.W., Walker, M., Ahmat, M., Lee, B., Cass, A., Hefler, M. and Ralph, A. (2021). From “stuck” to satisfied: Aboriginal people’s experience of culturally safe care with interpreters in a Northern Territory hospital. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1): 548.
- Kerrigan, V., Lewis, N., Cass, A., Hefler, M. and Ralph, A. (2020). “How can I do more?” Cultural awareness training for hospital-based healthcare providers working with high Aboriginal caseload. BMC Medical Education, 20(173). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02086-5
- Kerrigan, V., Lee, A.M., Ralph, A.P., Lawton, P.D. (2020). Stay Strong: Aboriginal leaders deliver COVID-19 health messages. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.364
- Kerrigan, V, Herdman R.M., Thomas D.P. and Hefler, M. (2019). ‘I still remember your post about buying smokes’: a case study of a remote Aboriginal community-controlled health service using Facebook for tobacco control. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 25(5), 443-448. doi: 10.1071/PY19008
- Hefler, M., Kerrigan, V., Henryks, J., Freeman. B,, Boot, G. and Thomas, D.P. (2019). Using Facebook to reduce smoking among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: a participatory grounded action study. BMC Public Health, 19. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6918-7
- Hughes, J., Dembski, L., Kerrigan, V., Majoni, S.W., Lawton, P.D. and Cass, A. (2018). Gathering Perspectives - Finding Solutions for Chronic and End Stage Kidney Disease. Indigenous Patient Voices - 2017 Symposium Report. Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology, 23(S1), 1-13.
- Hefler, M., Kerrigan, V., Henryks, J., Freeman, B., and Thomas, D.P. (2018). Social media and health information sharing among Australian Indigenous people. Health Promotion International, 34(4), 706–715. doi: 10.1093/heapro/day018
- Kerrigan, V. (December, 2017). Whitefella Broadcasting: Why non Indigenous journalists struggle to tell Aboriginal stories in Australia. Paper presented at the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia annual conference, Newcastle.