Nyssa Ferguson is a PhD candidate based in the DruGS Program at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society. Her research examines the provision of take-home naloxone and overdose prevention training in Victoria.

Nyssa has a background in Public Health and previously worked as a research assistant at Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre in the Treatment and Systems team. She has extensive qualitative research experience, having worked on a number of projects including an examination of consumer experiences of help seeking and treatment for alcohol and other drug and mental health issues in emergency services.

Publications

Ferguson, N., Savic, M., McCann, T. V., Emond, K., Sandral, E., Smith, K., Roberts, L., Bosley, E., & Lubman, D. (2019). “I was worried if I don’t have a broken leg they might not take it seriously”: Experiences of men accessing ambulance services for mental health and/or alcohol and other drug problems. Health Expectations: an International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy, 22(3), pp. 565–574. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12886

McCann, T. V., Savic, M., Ferguson, N., Bosley, E., Smith, K., Roberts, L., Emond, K., & Lubman, D. (2018). Paramedics’ perceptions of their scope of practice in caring for patients with non-medical emergency-related mental health and/or alcohol and other drug problems: A qualitative study. PloS One, 13(12), e0208391. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208391

McCann, T. V., Savic, M., Ferguson, N., Cheetham, A., Witt, K., Emond, K., Bosley, E., Smith, K., Roberts, L., & Lubman, D. (2018). Recognition of, and attitudes towards, people with depression and psychosis with/without alcohol and other drug problems: Results from a national survey of Australian paramedics. BMJ Open, 8(12), e023860. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023860

Ferguson, N., Savic, M., Manning, V., & Lubman, D. (2017). #WaysToRelax: developing an online alcohol-related health promotion animation for people aged 55 years and over. Public Health Research & Practice, 27(2), e2721718. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp2721718

Savic, M., Ferguson, N., Manning, V., Bathish, R., & Lubman, D. (2017). What constitutes a ‘problem?’ Producing ‘alcohol problems’ through online counselling encounters. International Journal of Drug Policy, 46, pp. 79-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.05.047

Qualifications

• MPH (University of Melbourne)
• BSocSc (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)

Research interests

• Injecting drug use, harm minimisation, drug treatment and service provision

Email: n.ferguson@latrobe.edu.au