Dr Jessica Sharp

Biography

Dr Jessica Sharp is a Lecturer in Statistics and Psychology at Swinburne University’s Department of Psychological Sciences. Her research focuses on the psychosocial wellbeing of at-risk populations, with the aim of identifying support needs and improving mental health outcomes among these populations.

Her recent trauma focused research has explored post traumatic growth and wellbeing among young adults with a history of child maltreatment and pathways to post traumatic symptoms among women with a history of interpersonal violence.

Current projects investigating psychological distress and wellbeing among university students explore students’ motives and goals, emotional reactions to success and failure, self-defeating achievement behaviours, and their coping strategies such as self-compassion and social support. A particular focus includes identifying the benefits and challenges of higher education for students who are also juggling the demands of parenting.

Recent collaborative research in personalised health care includes identifying challenges and support needs of mothers who are breast cancer survivors; identifying the psychosocial characteristics and information needs of patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary as part of the SUPER study; and gaining user insight to improve the efficacy of Navigate - an online treatment decision aid for men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer.