Research Interests
Deborah's primary research interest is in the area of children's developing understanding and insight, the effect that understanding has on coping, and the development of materials and programs to enhance understanding. She has looked at children's understanding of physical illness, mental illness and obesity to date, and plans to investigate children's understanding of their diagnoses of Asperger's Syndrome and Tourette's Disorder.Deborah also has a keen interest in paediatric psychology and she spent some time in New Zealand establishing and working in a mental health consultation liaison service in a paediatric hospital in Auckland. She is currently involved with the Pain and Palliative Care Team at The Children's Hospital at Westmead in developing a service to best treat pain in children with cancer.
Deborah's other research interest is in the assessment and treatment of OCD, and more particularly in the under-recognised area of anxiety disorders known as 'perfectionism'. A proportion of her clinical work is with adolescent females who previously had Anorexia Nervosa and who continue to have perfectionist or very high standards and comorbid depressed mood.
Tertiary Education
Bachelor of Science (Psychology) with First Class Honours(University of New South Wales, 1996)
PhD in Psychology
(University of New South Wales, 2000)
Thesis The Development of Childrens Understanding of Illness
Supervisor Professor John Taplin
Master of Psychology (Clinical)
(University of New South Wales, 2001)
Professional Memberships
Registration with the NSW Psychologists Registration Board (PS0053921)Member of the Australian Psychological Society
Member of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists
Member of the Australian Association for CBT
Conference Papers and Publications
Finney, D. A., McDonald, A., & Burge, S. (2006, September). Psychology in a new Consultation Liaison service in South Auckland NZ. 2006 Joint Conference of the APS and NZPsS, Auckland, New Zealand.
Finney, D. A., & Falkov, A. (2003, May). Mummy has the sad sickness: Children’s understanding of parental mental illness. 38th Congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Hobart, Australia.
Finney, D. A., & Taplin, J. E. (2001, September). Children’s understanding of blood. 36th Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
Finney, D. A., & Taplin, J. E. (2001, July). Children’s understanding of the causes of illness. Twelfth Australasian Human Development Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
Finney, D. A. (1999, October). Illness: Do children know what adults think they know? 34th Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, Hobart, Australia.
Finney, D. A., & Taplin, J. E. (1999, July). I have Mummy’s asthma: Children’s understanding of the heritability of some illnesses. Eleventh Australasian Human Development Conference, Sydney, Australia.
Taplin, J. E., Finney, D. A., & Gelman, S. A. (1998, July). Theory-based constructs underlying children’s causal analysis of illness. XVth Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Berne, Switzerland.
Finney, D. A., & Taplin, J. E. (1998, July). Childrens understanding of illness in living kinds. XVth Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Berne, Switzerland.
Finney, D. A., & Taplin, J. E. (1997, July). The development of children’s understanding of germs as biological causes of illness. Tenth Australasian Human Development Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
Blagus, L., Scroope, J., Finney, D. A., & Fulcher, G. (2001, October). Immunotherapy support and the effects of gender on adherence. Conference of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis, Melbourne, Australia.
Dohrn, C., OKeefe, S., Atkin, E., Finney, D. A., & Fulcher, G. (2001, October). MS, sex and intimacy downunder: A client services research project. Conference of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis, Melbourne, Australia.
Publications
Finney, D. A. (in press). Verbal therapy with a girl who could not hear. Clinical Psychologist.
Finney, D. A., & Falkov, A. F. (in press). Children’s understanding of severe mental illness. The Clinician.