Rate My Professor Rachel Tester

Rachel Tester is a Research Fellow in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice at the University of Otago, Wellington, within the Health Sciences Division of the Faculty of Medicine. She holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and a Graduate Diploma in Science (GradDipSci) in psychology with a focus on social discursive approaches. With over 12 years of experience as a qualitative researcher, Tester specializes in health communication and patient experiences in primary care, particularly on sensitive topics such as mental health, addictions, substance use, weight management, diabetes, lifestyle changes, and stigmatized conditions. She incorporates her personal lived experience of mental distress into her work and has interests in Jungian analysis and recovery from psychological trauma. As a senior researcher and data manager in the Applied Research on Communication in Health (ARCH) group, she contributes to analyzing video-recorded healthcare interactions using conversation analysis and narrative interviews from the ARCH Corpus. Tester is also affiliated with the Department of Psychological Medicine, where she helped establish and manage the World of Difference service user research group.

Tester manages several key projects, including HPA-funded Like Minds, Like Mine anti-stigma and discrimination education programmes for healthcare professionals such as medical students and psychiatric registrars, and for New Zealand Police. She is currently project managing the Health Research Council-funded Enabling Supported Decision Making: Mental Health Advance Preference Statements (MAPS) initiative at pilot sites in Te Whatu Ora Waikato and Lakes. Her research aims to promote recovery-oriented services to improve health outcomes for people experiencing mental distress. Notable publications include 'Young People Talk About Digital Support for Mental Health: A Qualitative Study' (2024, Health Expectations), 'Therapist Voices on a Youth Mental Health Pilot: Implementation Learnings' (2023, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health), 'A Longitudinal Study of Interactions Between Health Professionals and People with Newly Diagnosed Diabetes' (2018, Annals of Family Medicine), 'Nurse-patient communication in primary care diabetes management: An exploratory study' (2013, BMC Nursing), 'Challenges to alcohol and other drug discussions in the general practice consultation' (2012, Family Practice), and 'Demystifying addiction through personal stories: An online educational resource' (2013, Ako Aotearoa). She has co-authored studies on topics including police mental health training, family health history discussions, and end-of-life care practices.