Jessica Simone Dunn
Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology and Undergraduate Tutor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Contact
- workRoom B1B07 Institute of Work, Health and Organisations Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - B Block (New Wing)
Malaysia Campus
Jalan Broga
43500 Semenyih
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia - work+6 (03) 8924 8297
- fax+6 (03) 8924 8019
- Jessica.Dunn@nottingham.edu.my
Biography
Jessica Dunn is an Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. She also Coordinates the UNMC's Early Career Research Network (ECRN), which is designed to stimulate multidisciplinary research activity and support the development of early career researchers at the UNMC.
Jessica is a graduate of the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations (I-WHO UK) with an MSc in Occupational Health Psychology and served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant there until 2008. She has continued her postgraduate studies at I-WHO UK where she is currently completing her PhD in Applied Psychology - looking at the psychological impact of exposure to violence and work-related stress among Jamaican police officers. After graduating with honours from The University of the West Indies, Mona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with Spanish, Jessica worked as a Research Officer in the Health Promotion and Protection Division of the Ministry of Health, Jamaica. There, she conducted a national, UNICEF-funded study on reproductive health systems and was involved in other research projects on psycho-social determinants of health. She has also worked with organisations, from various sectors in the Caribbean and Europe, researching on issues such as work-related stress and its measurement in diverse populations; violence at work; globalisation, health and development; organisational communication and personality measurement.
Jessica has published and presented her research at several international conferences in the Americas, the UK and Malaysia. She has lectured in a range of Applied Psychology subject areas within various higher education institutions in Jamaica and joined the staff at the Malaysia Campus in May 2010. Her teaching portfolio includes Cross Cultural Psychology, Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods, Applied Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Occupational Health Psychology, Epidemiological Research and Behaviour Change.
She is a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology. Jessica consults for the Police High Command of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and has conducted several training seminars on stress-management with police personnel.
Expertise Summary
Jessica Dunn is specialist in the health and psychological wellbeing of workers - particularly those in high-risk, emergency response occupations.
Jessica's current research focus is on the psychological impact of exposure to violence and work-related stress among police officers in developing countries. Her other research interests however, include:
- Psychological Issues Surrounding the Changing Nature of Work
- Work-related Stress and Violence among Emergency Responders
- Application of the Knowledge Management Paradigm in Higher Education Institutions
- Gender Differences in Attitudes to the Psychosocial Work Environment
- Individual Cultural Values, Organisational Culture and the Practice of Occupational Health and Safety
- Intrinsic motivation and work-family conflict among white-collar professionals.
Teaching Summary
Cross-cultural Psycholgy
Applied Social Psychology
Occupational Health Psychology
Applied Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
Industrial and Organisational… read more
Research Summary
General:
The psychological impact of exposure to violence and work-related stress among police officers in Jamaica and other developing countries.
Specific:
Stress in police officers has received considerable attention in occupational health research throughout the late 20th and early 21st century. Policing has been regarded by some as "one of the most hazardous occupations" (Selye, 1978) and "the most psychologically dangerous job in the world" (Axelbred and Valle, 1978). Many of the job stressors associated with police work include frontline operational duties and organisational factors - both of which require further investigation in research (Toch, 2002). Much of the international research in policing overlooks some of the most vulnerable societies, usually developing nations where crime and poor working conditions are more visible.
Jessica's current research draws on the triangulation of methods to investigate the environmental and psycho-social factors that contribute to work-related stress and health outcomes among frontline police officers. Her latest work introduces novel methodology to track the longer-term physiological responses to stress among police by looking at the moderating effect of police coping mechanisms in the stressor-strain relationship within the Jamaican police.
Future directions for her current research will involve designing, implementing and evaluating interventions to test and develop the existing organisational stress management and support services towards capacity building within police services with a similar profile.
Selected Publications
DUNN, J. S, KELLY, S and HUNT, N. & SANTOS, A., 2011. Exploring the Benefits of Triangulation of Methods in Research on Police Stress: A Caribbean Perspective (Platform Paper). In: 9th Annual Occupational Health Psychology Conference - Work, Stress and Health, 2011 - Orlando, Florida.
JAMBAYA, M. R. and DUNN, J.S., 2011. Total Quality: An Investigation into Workplace Learning and Knowledge Management in Higher Education In: Conference Proceedings, International Conference of Human Resource Development (ICHRD), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru.
DUNN, J., 2006. Caribbean Youth and Neoliberal Globalisation: The Case of Jamaica Reformed World. 56(1), 55-62