Katie Aubrecht
Dr. Katie Aubrecht is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX). Dr. Aubrecht's research program analyzes marginality and mental health, rurality and resilience, across the life span as health equity and social justice issues. This work draws on social theory, intersectional disability studies, aging studies and interpretive, decolonial and arts-informed qualitative research methods to analyze disability and care education, policy and practice. As Director of the Spatializing Care: Intersectional Disability Studies Research Lab at St.F.X. Aubrecht leads a participatory health research infrastructure that supports and enhances meaningful and ethical community engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration to bridge medical, social and cultural approaches to care.
Canada Research Chair Health Equity and Social Justice: People living in rural and remote communities in Canada and around the world face unique challenges when it comes to accessing quality mental health services. On top of that, recent humanitarian disasters have intensified mental health disparities. To address these issues, policies and programs to promote sustainable, equitable mental health care are urgently needed. As Canada Research Chair in Health Equity and Social Justice, Dr. Katie Aubrecht aims to inform domestic and international policy on mental health in rural areas by using a participatory action research and training program with three objectives. First, she and her research team are identifying promising directions in human rights-based approaches to rural mental health care. They are also evaluating the health equity impacts of human rights-based approaches to mental health. Lastly, they are working to promote social justice by mobilizing the mental health knowledge they generate.
Education:
PhD Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto
MA York University
BA Honours St. Francis Xavier University
4 Interrelated Streams:
1) DISABILITY AND CARE: intersectional disability studies, aging and disability, dementia, person-centred care, long-term care;
2) MENTAL LIFE: marginality and mental health, university student mental health and illness, university culture;
3) HEALTH STUDIES: health equity, health services and social policy, social determinants of health;
4) SOCIAL JUSTICE THEORIES AND METHODS: critical social theory, community-based research, arts-informed research and pedagogies, postcolonial studies, decolonizing methodologies
Teaching
Social Policy
Conceptions of Disability
Disability and Culture
Mental Health and Society
A full list of Dr. Aubrecht's publications can be found at Google Scholar or ORCID.
Select Publications
Funk, L., Klostermann, J., Symonds-Brown, H., Aubrecht, K., & Giguère, L. (2024). Producing the public caregiver: The discursive politicization of family caregiving by Canadian caregiver organizations. International Journal of Care and Caring, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1332/23978821Y2024D000000079
Herron, R., Spencer, D., Novek, S., Funk, L., Kelly, C., & Aubrecht, K. (2024). Exploring space and practices of control in long-term residential care violence prevention strategies. Social Science and Medicine, 355(117091). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117091
Koncul, A., Kelly, C., Aubrecht, K. & Bartlett, R. (2023). Care homes for older people: Carceral spaces in times of crisis or perpetually? Space & Culture, 26(3), 309-322. https://doi.org/10.1177/12063312231159219
Bourgeault, I., Daly, T., Aubrecht, K., Armstrong, P., Armstrong, H., & Braedley, S. (2022). Leadership for quality in long term care. Healthcare Management Forum, 35(1), 5-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/084047042110355, 117091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117091
Novek, S., Herron, R., Funk, L., Aubrecht, K., Spencer, D., & Lu, Y. (2022). Conceptualizing violence in long-term residential care policy: A citizenship perspective. Journal of Aging Studies, 63, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2022.101064
Chandler, E., Aubrecht, K., Ignagni, E., & Rice, C. (2021). Cripistemological approaches to disability arts and culture: Reflections on the Cripping the Arts Symposium. Studies in Social Justice, 15(2), 171-179. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/issue/view/128
Herron, R., Kelly, C., & Aubrecht, K. (2021). A conversation about ageism: Time to deinstitutionalize long-term care? University of Toronto Quarterly, 90(2), 183-206. https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/utq.90.2.09
Aubrecht, K., Barber, B., Gaunt, M., Larade, J., Levack, V., Earl, M., & Weeks, L. (2021). Empowering younger residents living in long-term care homes as co-researchers. Disability & Society, 36(10), 1712-1718. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1976112
Aubrecht, K., Kelly, C., & Rice, C. (Eds.). (2020). The aging/disability nexus. Disability culture and politics series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Aubrecht, K., & La Monica, N. (Guest editors). (2019). Survivals, ruptures, resiliences: Perspectives from disability scholarship, art and activism. Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 8(4). https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/issue/view/28
Titchkosky, T., & Aubrecht, K. (2017). One in five: The prevalence problematic in mental illness discourse. In M. Morrow & L.H. Malcoe (Eds.), Critical inquiries for social justice in mental health (pp. 312-332). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Aubrecht, K., & Krawchenko T. (Guest editors). (2016). Disability & aging: International perspectives. Special Double Issue of Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, 12(2&3). https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/640
Titchkosky, T., & Aubrecht, K. (2015). WHO’S MIND, Whose future?: Mental health policies as colonial logics. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 21(1), 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504630.2014.996994
Aubrecht, K. (2014 [2012]). Disability studies and the language of mental illness. Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, 8(2), 31-44. https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/98
Aubrecht, K. (Guest editor). (2013). Translating happiness: Medicine, culture and social progress. Special Issue of Health, Culture & Society, 5(1). https://hcs.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/hcs/issue/view/6/showToc
Aubrecht, K. (2012). The ‘new vocabulary’ of resilience and the governance of university ‘student life’. Special Issue of Studies in Social Justice: The Politics of Resilience and Recovery in Mental Health Care, 6(1), 67-83. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/view/1069
