Distinguished Emeritus Professor
Mary Sheehan
Faculty of Health,
Office of the Executive Dean, Health
Biography
BackgroundEmeritus Professor Mary Sheehan retired from the directorship of CARRS-Q on 30 June 2008, but continues her research and postgraduate mentoring and activities at the Centre.
Mary’s specific area of research interest is the application of social psychological theory to educational and rehabilitation initiatives to enhance community road safety, particularly the safety of young people, and in reducing the incidence of drink driving. This has resulted in some of CARRS-Q’s most successful and innovative road safety programs such as
- the development of the seminal Under the Limit (UTL) Drink Driving Rehabilitation Program
- a trial of alcohol ignition interlocks with high-risk Queensland drink drivers (UTL 2)
- the Rural and Remote Road Safety Research project in North Queensland
- the Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) school-based first aid and peer protection program.
Mary has received international recognition for her work in alcohol, drugs and traffic safety through ministerial and executive appointments such as the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) and the United States Academy of Science Transportation Research Board (TRB).
She is a foundation member of the Australian College of Road Safety (ACRS), and was awarded a Fellowship in 2000 for her contribution and commitment to road safety.
Awards
Professor Sheehan was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List for service to education and to public health through research work into the causes and prevention of road, work and social accidents in Australia, and through the development of community awareness programs raising the level of debate in the area.
Research interests
- school transport safety
- youth risk-taking
- rural and remote road safety.
Personal details
Positions
- Emeritus Professor
Faculty of Health,
Office of the Executive Dean, Health
Keywords
Drink driving, Health promotion, Rural and remote road safety, School transport safety, Youth risk-taking
Research field
Other psychology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Queensland)
- GradDipPsych (University of Sydney)
- BA(Hons) (University of Sydney)
Publications
- Buckley, L. & Sheehan, M. (2008). The relevancy of 'mates don't let mates...' as a key strategy for a school curriculum-based road safety program. Proceedings of High Risk Road Users - Motivating Behaviour Change: What Works and What Doesn't Work? National Conference of The Australasian College of Road Safety and The Travelsafe Committee of the Queensland Parliament 2008, 16–28. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/9102
- Rowden, P., Steinhardt, D. & Sheehan, M. (2008). Road crashes involving animals in Australia. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 40(6), 1865–1871. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/224514
- Buckley, L. & Sheehan, M. (2009). A process evaluation of an injury prevention school-based programme for adolescents. Health Education Research, 24(3), 507–519. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15320
- Sheehan, M., (2007). Can Applied Psychology Specialities Thrive Outside the Mainstream Potting Shed? 42nd Australian Psychology Society Conference.
- Sheehan, M., Siskind, V. & Steinhardt, D. (2007). Rural and Remote Road Safety Study. Presentation to Funding Consortium.
- Sheehan, M., (2007). Impaired Driving: Are You Fit To Drive? Probus Group.
- Sheehan, M., (2007). Policy convergence: Can Australians learn from the European Sunflower road safety achievements? Transportation Research Board.
- Sheehan, M., (2007). Rural and Remote Road Safety in an International Context.
- Freeman, J., Schonfeld, C. & Sheehan, M. (2007). Re-Offending after Program Completion: A Study into the Characteristics of the Hard-Core Recidivist Drink Driver. International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, 1–4. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/11888
- Freeman, J., Sheehan, M. & Schonfeld, C. (2007). The Impact of Alcohol Ignition Interlocks on a Group of Recidivist Offenders: A Case-Study Approach. International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, 1–7. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/11871
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Mary, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/m.sheehan
Supervision
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- The Design and Preliminary Evaluation of an Intervention to Reduce Risk-taking Behaviour among Adolescents: the potential for protective behaviour toward friends (2008)
- Stealing a Car to be a Man: the Importance of Cars and Driving in the Gender Identity of Adolescent Males (2006)
- Case Studies of the Transfer of Road Safety Knowledge and Expertise from Western Countries to Thailand and Vietnam, Using an Ecological 'Road Safety Space' Model: Elephants in Traffic and Rice Cooker Helmets (2005)
- A Psychometric and Clinical Investigation of Anxiety Sensitivity in Anxiety Disorders (2004)
- Identity stressors associated with the reintegration experiences of Australasian undercover police officers (2004)
- Influencing Recidivist Drink Drivers' Entrenched Behaviour: The Self Reported Outcomes of Three Countermeasures (2004)
- The Psychosocial Characteristics and On-Road Behaviour of Unlicensed Drivers (2004)
- At Home on the Road? Territoriality and Driver Behaviour (2003)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.