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Dr Oliver Bonnington

Honorary Assistant Professor

United Kingdom

I am a sociologist with degrees in Geography (UCL) and Sociology as Applied to Medicine (KCL). Before joining LSHTM in 2013, I completed a PhD and held a research post within the NIHR-funded SAPPHIRE Programme on mental illness-related stigma and discrimination at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, KCL. Prior to this, I conducted qualitative studies funded by the UK government, charities, private companies and the EU.

Affiliations

Department of Public Health, Environments and Society
Faculty of Public Health and Policy

Teaching

I have lectured, led seminars and acted as panel discussant on various modules of the MSc Public Health at LSHTM during the past ten years. I have been personal tutor and dissertation supervisor to students taking the MSc Public Health and MSc Demography & Health courses, and I currently co-supervise DrPH students. In the past, I have lectured at King's College London on the Research on Stigma & Discrimination module of the MSc in Mental Health Service and Population Research.

In my current role as Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of the West of England (UWE), I Co-Programme Lead the BSc Public Health (Apprenticeship). Within this degree, I am Module Leader for Introduction to Health Promotion and the End Point Assessment, and I teach across the course. I also contribute to UWE's MSc Public Health through dissertation supervision and teaching on the the Qualitative Health Research module.

Research

My broad research interests lie in the sociology of health and illness, social theory and health, and modes of qualitative inquiry. I currently lead on Public Mental Health strategy at LSHTM, helping to advance the School's teaching and research remit in this area.

I am particularly interested in reimagining the logics of stigma by investigating its imbrications with related concepts such as oppression, discrimination and abjection, and exploring how different philosophies and ontologies – notably those of a realist, post-structuralist and more-than-human nature – can enable a refocusing on the tension between the ‘mark’ and ‘marking’, being and becoming. I first examined these themes during my PhD which presented a critical realist exploration of stigma and discrimination among people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, and investigated experiences of stigma by association among the families and friends of people so diagnosed. Using abductive and retroductive inference the study drew upon Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic sequence and Roy Bhaskar’s three overlapping domains of reality to establish a novel, empirically informed conceptualisation of stigmatisation, casting it as a temporal process that unfolds across structure and agency.
Recently I explored these ideas further within a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Humanities & Social Science (2017-2022). This work, titled Resisting Depression Stigma, explored the multiple ways in which depression, stigma and anti-stigma are conceived and mobilised by different actors, noting the complementarities and contradictions within and across social 'scales'. The project had three elements. The first explored depression-related anti-stigma discourses and practices in the Global Mental Health field. The second involved an ethnographic exploration of the ways national mental health charities develop and enact depression-related destigmatisation. And the third was a qualitative investigation of how people diagnosed with depression respond to stigma in their local, everyday lives. Three linked papers are due to be published from this study in 2024.

Previously I explored stigma-related issues within two projects at LSHTM, one based in the Faculty of Public Health & Policy, the other in the Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health. The first (HepCATT), with Prof. Tim Rhodes and Dr Magdalena Harris, funded by the Department of Health, sought to understand why people who inject illicit drugs (heroin, amphetamines, steroids, etc.) do not receive testing and treatment for Hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus they may be particularly exposed to. This longitudinal, qualitative study evaluated the role of a peer support intervention in UK drug treatment settings that aims to facilitate testing and treatment uptake. The second (Bottlenecks), with Prof. Basia Zaba and Dr Alison Wringe, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looked at why people living with HIV in six African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe) do not transition to antiretroviral therapy. Its principal aim was to make qualitative comparisons across seven research sites in these countries to understand how differences in HIV policy and programme implementation influence the healthcare-seeking experiences of people living with HIV from diagnosis to treatment. This study was part of research conducted within the ALPHA Network.

Before this, I worked with Prof. Judith Green and Prof. Paul Wilkinson and led on a qualitative study, funded by the NIHR, which investigated the impact of home energy efficiency installations on cold-related morbidity and mortality. This UK-based study drew upon theories of practice and reflexivity to understand how items such as boilers, insulation and windows become domesticated, affect household practices, and influence health and wellbeing.
Research Area
Climate change
Complex interventions
Health education and promotion
Health services research
Public health
Social and structural determinants of health
Behaviour change
Environmental health
Social ethics
Evaluation
Global mental health
Mixed methods research
Medical sociology
Ethnography
Qualitative research
School-based health
Social science (general)
Social policy
Disease and Health Conditions
Mental health
HIV/AIDS
Hepatitis
Disability
Addiction
Substance abuse
Country
United Kingdom
Kenya
Uganda
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Tanzania
Malawi
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)
European Union

Selected Publications

Understanding hepatitis C intervention success-Qualitative findings from the HepCATT study.
HARRIS, M; BONNINGTON, O; Harrison, G; Hickman, M; Irving, W; HepCATT team,;
2018
Journal of viral hepatitis
Changing forms of HIV-related stigma along the HIV care and treatment continuum in sub-Saharan Africa: a temporal analysis.
BONNINGTON, O; Wamoyi, J; Ddaaki, W; Bukenya, D; Ondenge, K; Skovdal, M; RENJU, J; Moshabela, M; WRINGE, A;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
Traditional healers, faith healers and medical practitioners: the contribution of medical pluralism to bottlenecks along the cascade of care for HIV/AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Moshabela, M; Bukenya, D; Darong, G; Wamoyi, J; MCLEAN, E; Skovdal, M; Ddaaki, W; Ondeng'e, K; BONNINGTON, O; SEELEY, J; Hosegood, V; WRINGE, A;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
'I am treated well if I adhere to my HIV medication': putting patient-provider interactions in context through insights from qualitative research in five sub-Saharan African countries.
Ondenge, K; RENJU, J; BONNINGTON, O; Moshabela, M; Wamoyi, J; Nyamukapa, C; SEELEY, J; WRINGE, A; Skovdal, M;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
'Side effects' are 'central effects' that challenge retention in HIV treatment programmes in six sub-Saharan African countries: a multicountry qualitative study.
RENJU, J; Moshabela, M; MCLEAN, E; Ddaaki, W; Skovdal, M; Odongo, F; Bukenya, D; Wamoyi, J; BONNINGTON, O; SEELEY, J; ZABA, B; WRINGE, A;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
Using theories of practice to understand HIV-positive persons varied engagement with HIV services: a qualitative study in six Sub-Saharan African countries.
Skovdal, M; WRINGE, A; SEELEY, J; RENJU, J; PAPARINI, S; Wamoyi, J; Moshabela, M; Ddaaki, W; Nyamukapa, C; Ondenge, K; BERNAYS, S; BONNINGTON, O;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
Understanding the relationship between couple dynamics and engagement with HIV care services: insights from a qualitative study in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Wamoyi, J; RENJU, J; Moshabela, M; MCLEAN, E; Nyato, D; Mbata, D; BONNINGTON, O; SEELEY, J; CHURCH, K; ZABA, B; WRINGE, A;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
HIV testing experiences and their implications for patient engagement with HIV care and treatment on the eve of 'test and treat': findings from a multicountry qualitative study.
WRINGE, A; Moshabela, M; Nyamukapa, C; Bukenya, D; Ondenge, K; Ddaaki, W; Wamoyi, J; SEELEY, J; CHURCH, K; ZABA, B; Hosegood, V; BONNINGTON, O; Skovdal, M; RENJU, J;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
Where are we now? A multicountry qualitative study to explore access to pre-antiretroviral care services: a precursor to antiretroviral therapy initiation.
Bukenya, D; WRINGE, A; Moshabela, M; Skovdal, M; Ssekubugu, R; Paparini, S; RENJU, J; MCLEAN, E; BONNINGTON, O; Wamoyi, J; SEELEY, J;
2017
Sexually transmitted infections
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