Expertise
Social Identity, health interventions, behaviour change
Biography
I joined the School of Psychology at University of Plymouth in September 2023. My research focuses on the development and evaluation of group-based behaviour change interventions for improving health. Informed by the Social Identity Approach to Health, my work has translational relevance to the range of health conditions for which groups are often employed in the delivery of care. With Professor Jon Pinkney (University of Plymouth), I currently co-lead a £2.5m NIHR programme grant (the PROGROUP study) which involves a definitive trial of a new group-based intervention for managing severe obesity (https://theprogroupstudy.co.uk/; https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/primarycare/obesity/progroup). Within PenARC, I am also involved in the Group Singing for Aphasia project and teaching on the Making Sense of Evidence workshops.
Qualifications
PhD in Psychology, University of Leicester (2000)
BA Applied Social Science, Coventry University (1996)
Publications
- Healthy Parent Carers: Acceptability and practicability of online delivery and learning through implementation by delivery partner organisations
- A group-based behavioural intervention for weight management (PROGROUP) versus usual care in adults with severe obesity: a feasibility randomised controlled trial protocol
- Healthy Parent Carers programme: mixed methods process evaluation and refinement of a health promotion intervention
- Healthy Parent Carers: feasibility randomised controlled trial of a peer-led group-based health promotion intervention for parent carers of disabled children
- The Effectiveness and Usability of Online, Group-Based Interventions for People With Severe Obesity: Protocol for a Systematic Review
- Challenges of Recruiting Patients Into Group-Based Stroke Rehabilitation Research: Reflections on Clinician Equipoise Within the Singing for People With Aphasia (SPA) Pilot Trial
- Group singing intervention to improve wellbeing for people with aphasia
- Healthy Parent Carers peer-led group-based health promotion intervention for parent carers of disabled children: protocol for a feasibility study using a parallel group randomised controlled trial design
- Alcohol consumption among university students is in the night-time economy in the UK: a three-wave longitudinal study
- Eating well in care homes: Testing the feasibility of a staff training programme aimed at improving social interaction and choice at mealtimes
- How group-based interventions can improve services for people with severe obesity.
- Group-Based Diet and Physical Activity Weight-Loss Interventions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials
- Exploring residents’ experiences of mealtimes in care homes: A qualitative interview study
- Relationship between perceptions of ageing and frailty in English older adults
- Attitudes, perceptions and experiences of mealtimes among residents and staff in care homes for older adults: A systematic review of the qualitative literature
- Patient experiences of a bariatric group programme for managing obesity: A qualitative interview study
- “Interventions utilising contact with people with disabilities to improve children’s attitudes towards disability: A systematic review and meta-analysis”
- Creating psychological connections between intervention recipients: Development and focus group evaluation of a group singing session for people with aphasia
- Rasch analysis of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scale
- Older adults’ perceptions of ageing and their health and functioning: a systematic review of observational studies
- Children’s contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a cross-sectional study
- “Thinking you’re old and frail”: A qualitative study of a frailty in older adults
- Effects of norm referent salience on young people’s dietary orientation
- A checklist to improve reporting of group-based behaviour-change interventions
- The association between children’s contact with people with disabilities and their attitudes towards disability: a systematic review
- The Consequences of Meta-stereotyping for Members of Disadvantaged Groups
- Social identity structures the effects of perspective taking
- Social identity and perceptions of torture: It’s moral when we do it
- Effects of self-categorization on orientation towards health