Research

Health Psychology Research Group

Group membership

Academic staff

(See below for details of current research activities)

Doctoral Students

Research and teaching

The group's research and postgraduate teaching have a useful synergism. The longstanding MSc in Health Psychology/Psychology and Health has a substantial annual intake. The MSc provides a focus for 25-30 small-scale research projects each year supervised and co-supervised by group members.

The Doctorate in Health Psychology (Stage 2 training) programme creates further opportunities for trainee health psychologists to master their research and professional skills. The group also plays an active role in the Department's Professional Doctorate in Psychology Programme (DPsych) and PhD programmes, providing further opportunities to carry out research across a variety of health care settings.

The group often works with external supervisors such as Dr Vanessa Bogle and Dr Clare Eldred who are lead practitioners in their field and combine their practice with research supervision.

Research Activities

Dr Alice Simon

Dr Simon's research is in the area of cancer care and control.  She runs a wide-ranging research programme covering diverse issues; from interventions to improve early detection through to enhancing the psychosocial care of cancer survivors. 

Public attitudes to cancer

Dr Simon's research on public attitudes and beliefs about cancer is carried out with a view to improving communication about cancer control.  She is involved in research that measures cancer awareness both nationally and internationally. This research informs government public health policies such as the 'Be Clear on Cancer' campaigns commissioned as part of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) . She is also interested in symptom interpretation and patient delay and works  on developing interventions in primary care to encourage early help-seeking for cancer symptoms.

Psychosocial care of cancer patients and survivors

Dr Simon's research in the cancer patient population has included a longitudinal exploration of the impact of socio-economic status on quality of life as well as work to develop interventions to improve healthy lifestyles in cancer survivors. Her current interests in this area include an investigation of the financial strain experienced by cancer survivors as well as the effects of chemotherapy on cognition.

Active research projects:

 
Dr Catherine Hurt

Dr Hurt's research has largely focused on neurodegenerative diseases. She collaborates closely with researchers, clinicians and service users at King's College London, King's College Hospital, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust and Parkinson's UK.

Patient and carer perceptions of neurodegenerative diseases

Dr Hurt has explored how patients with mild cognitive impairment and Parkinson's disease make sense of their conditions. She is particularly focused on how illness beliefs can affect subjective well-being. She has recently begun to look at the impact of unrealistic beliefs on well-being.

Coping behaviour in neurodegenerative diseases

Dr Hurt has examined the forms of coping used by patients with neurodegenerative diseases and how these might be affected by cognitive impairment.

Determinants of quality of life

Dr Hurt's  research has explored broad determinants of quality of life in Parkinson's disease and dementia. She has recently begun to investigate quality of life after cardiac surgery.

Help-seeking behaviour

Dr Hurt has explored factors which predict help-seeking for subjective memory complaints and more recently disclosure of non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Active Research Projects:

 
Dr Catherine Sykes

Dr Sykes started her research career working on projects funded by the European Commission in the field of health promotion and dementia. Her current research focuses on patient empowerment and involvement, health service improvement and health psychology intervention evaluation.

Health promotion

Dr Sykes has investigated the effectiveness of a smoking cessation programme based on cognitive behavioural therapy. She managed a Randomised Controlled Trial based in a deprived area of London.

Dr Sykes has analysed the discourses used in health promotion and how the discourses position recipients of health promotion and those charged with delivering health promotion.

Dr Sykes has investigated the effectiveness of psychological interventions for childhood obesity and concluded that further investment is needed to improve current research and find new, more imaginative ways to research childhood obesity.

Dementia

Dr Sykes explored the determinants in carer burden of informal carers of people with Alzheimers' Disease and Related Disorders in 15 European Member States. A high sense of coherence was found to be protective against carer burden.

Patient empowerment and involvement

Empowering the users of healthcare service users is the central motivation of Dr Sykes' research. She has been involved in several research projects that look to understand the patient's experience. She has developed a measure to assess patient involvement in healthcare decision-making.

Health psychology intervention evaluation

Dr Sykes has been involved in several research projects that assess the effectiveness of interventions based on health psychology theory. She has also developed cognitive behavioural therapy manuals for the treatment of patients with  chronic diseases. More recently she has become interested in interventions that incorporate social media and technology.

Active Research:

 
Dr Renata Pires-Yfantouda

Dr Pires-Yfantouda's research interests include behaviour change, particularly in relation to addictions (smoking cessation, drugs and alcohol), and acquired brain injury and chronic disease management (diabetes, chronic pain, chronic fatigue).

She is interested in the use of motivational interviewing and other types of therapy (including cognitive behaviour therapy) in relation to health behaviours and addictions.
She has a particular interest in adjustment to physical health difficulties across the lifespan.

 
Dr Paula Corcoran

Dr Corcoran's research interests include the social representations of heroin use. She is currently exploring the role of control amongst heroin users. She is also involved in research with the William Harvey Foundation exploring why members of the public take part in clinical trials. Dr Corcoran is also part of a research group at the Centre for Self- Management Support in Cambridge. Their current interests are self-management and shared decision-making in the health setting.

She is currently co-supervising Sara Amalie O' Toole Thommessen's PhD with Dr Brenda Todd on The Intergenerational Transmission of Refugee Trauma.