Associate Professor Caroline Bulsara

PhD, Grad Dip Educ Studies, BA (Hons UK)

Academic qualitative researcher

Email: caroline.bulsara@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0217

  • Biography

    Professor Caroline Bulsara is a research academic at the University of Notre Dame with her main areas of research focus as dementia & cognitive decline, residential aged care and psycho oncological research. She has over 25 years of experience in health and primary care research fields.  She has published over 130 papers to date and has received more than $8 M in research grants funding. She has supervised numerous HDR students since 2012 to completion.  Her main methodological areas of expertise are qualitative research, survey evaluative designs, community participatory research and mixed methods research.

  • Teaching areas

    Is an active staff member within the IHR in terms of teaching and mentoring research staff and students primarily in qualitative and QSR NVivo areas. She provides one on one and small group training sessions in numerous settings throughout the year with strong demand for her input.

  • Research expertise and supervision

    She has supervised 27 HDR students since 2012 to completion.  Currently she supervises the following HDR students across a number of health related disciplines:

    Doctor of philosophy (Physiotherapy) Defining current practice and implementing evidence-based practice in the management of stable self-limiting fractures from the Emergency Department.

  • Book chapters

    • palliative cancer care in Cho, WCS (ed) Evidence based anti-cancer complementary and alternative medicines. Medicine 4. Doi 10.1007/978-94-007- 5833-9_10. Springer Science and Business Media.
    • Bulsara, C, Styles, I. Empowering patients: coping with cancer in ‘Advances in Psychology Research’ Volume 48. Nova Publishers US. November 2006.
    • Bulsara, C, Chan, A and Styles, I. Motivating Women with Breast Cancer to achieve empowerment by the use of support strategies in Motivating Health Behaviour. Nova Publishers US. Second quarter.
    • Williams A, Bulsara C, Peterson A. Evidence based non pharmacological therapies for palliative cancer care in Cho, WCS (ed) Evidence based anti-cancer complementary and alternative medicines. Medicine 4. Doi 10.1007/978-94-007- 5833-9_10. Springer Science and Business Media.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    She has over 125 publications to date with some of the more recent publications included here.

    • Lane H, Saunders R, Crookes K, Ang SG, Bulsara C, Bulsara MK, Ewens B, Gallagher O, Gullick K, Haydon S, Hughes J. Prevalence of frailty and pain in hospitalised cancer patients: implications for older adult care. Internal Medicine Journal. 2024 Apr;54(4):671-4.
    • Skoss R, Chivers P, Arendts G, Bulsara C, Vithiatharan R, Codde J. What supports are people with intellectual disability living in group homes provided to access health care? A case study. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2024.
    • Truter P, Edgar D, Mountain D, Saggers A, Bulsara C. 'I just need to find out if I had broken something or not.'a qualitative descriptive study into patient decisions to present to an Emergency Department with a simple fracture. International emergency nursing. 2024 Mar 1;73:101420.
    • Down M, Picknoll D, Hoyne G, Piggott B, Bulsara C. “When the real stuff happens”: A qualitative descriptive study of the psychosocial outcomes of outdoor adventure education for adolescents. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education. 2024 Jan 17:1-21.
    • Crookes K, Saunders R, Kemp V, Gallagher O, Ghosh M, Bulsara C, Gullick K, O'Connell B. Nurses’ perceptions of using volunteer support in health care settings: A systematic scoping review. International Nursing Review. 2023 Sep;70(3):405-14.
    • Epton L, Patman S, Coventry T, Bulsara C, Ward K. Hospitalised Smokers’ and Staff Perspectives of Inpatient Smoking Cessation Interventions and Impact on Smokers’ Quality of Life: An Integrative Review of the Qualitative Literature. Journal of Smoking Cessation. 2023 Jan;2023:e8.2023.
    • Down MJ, Picknoll D, Hoyne G, Piggott B, Bulsara C. e‐Delphi in the outdoors: Stakeholder contributions to the development of a wellbeing‐focused outdoor adventure education intervention program. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 2024 Apr;35(2):470-80.
    • Down M, Picknoll D, Piggott B, Hoyne G, Bulsara C. “I love being in the outdoors”: A qualitative descriptive study of outdoor adventure education program components for adolescent wellbeing. Journal of Adolescence. 2023 Aug;95(6):1232-44.
    • Timler A, Bulsara C, Bulsara M, Vickery A, Jacques A, Codde J. Examining the use of cannabidiol and delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol‐based medicine among individuals diagnosed with dementia living within residential aged care facilities: Results of a double‐blind randomised crossover trial. Australasian Journal on Ageing. 2023 Dec;42(4):698-709.
    • Timler, A., Bulsara, C., Bulsara, M., Vickery, A., Smith, J., & Codde, J. (2020). Use of cannabinoid-based medicine among older residential care recipients diagnosed with dementia: study protocol for a double-blind randomised crossover trial. Trials, 21, 1-11.
    • Kachila, H. Bulsara, C, Farrant, B. Johnson, A. Michie, C. Pell, C. Health Outcomes of Children Living in Out-of-Home Care in Metropolitan Western Australia: A Sequential Mixed-Methods Study—A Protocol Paper. Children 2023, 10, 566. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10030566
    • Piggott B, Chivers P, Sarasjärvi KK, Bhoyroo R, Lambert M, Millar L, Bulsara C, Codde J. Life in a time of COVID: retrospective examination of the association between physical activity and mental well-being in western Australians during and after lockdown. BMC public health. 2023 Apr 14;23(1):701.
    • Gilkes L, Bulsara C, Mavaddat N. Chronic non-cancer pain management–insights from Australian general practitioners: a qualitative descriptive study. Australian Journal of Primary Health. 2023 Jan 23;29(4):365-74.
    • Saunders R, Crookes K, Seaman K, Ang SG, Bulsara C, Bulsara MK, Ewens B, Gallagher O, Graham R, Gullick K, Haydon S. Frailty and pain in an acute private hospital: an observational point prevalence study. Scientific reports. 2023 Feb 27;13(1):3345. Down M. Wellbeing in the Outdoors: Exploring the Impact of an Outdoor Adventure Education Program for the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Western Australian Adolescents from Selected Independent Schools.

  • Conference papers

    • Bulsara C, Boban S, Codde J, Cohen P, Downs J. Patient involvement in the development of a patient-reported outcome measure for ovarian cancer. (2021). IPOS 2021 Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice, 3, e054.Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice, 3, e054. https://doi.org/10.1097/OR9.0000000000000054
    • Bulsara C, Williams P, Joske DJ, Williams AW. : Caring for the carer: empowering carers through educational workshop participation. (2021). Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice, 3, e054. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1097/OR9.0000000000000054

  • Professional affiliations

    • National Cervical Cancer Screening working party 2020- current.
    • International Psycho Oncology Society, member 2022-current.
    • WA GP Based Research Network, member - 2023 - current.

  • Community engagement

    Solaris Cancer Care Clinical Governance working group, 2022 - current.

  • Awards

    • Best paper Australian Journal of Primary Health at the National Primary Health Care Research conference, Sydney, July 2013.