Mental Health Postgraduate Research
The Department of Mental Health and Learning Disability has developed an impressive research profile and made a significant contribution to the School's recent success in the 2009 Research Assessment exercise (RAe). We are now one of the leading centres for mental health research in the country, having secured a range of funded contracts from competitive bidding.
We support a variety of research interests amongst staff and students and work closely and collaboratively with local services and increasingly with service users. We aim to address key issues facing consumers and employees of mental health services and seek to ensure that departmental teaching and learning is informed by recent and ongoing research activity.
Additionally, we have evaluated a number of innovative approaches to teaching and learning in mental health education, including client attachment, harm reduction in substance use, service user involvement and online learning.
Professor Len Bowers has recently been awarded a £2 million grant by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to lead a five-year programme of research to reduce aggression and other disruptive behaviour in psychiatric inpatient settings.
Recently completed projects exploring conflict and containment in psychiatric inpatient settings include the 'City 128 Study' of observation and outcomes on 136 acute psychiatric wards across England), the 'City Nurses' practice development project, and the 'Tompkins Longitudinal Study of Acute Psychiatric Wards' carried out in partnership with the local East London NHS Foundation Trust.
He has published around 100 research papers and collaborates with colleagues in many parts of the world. In 2008 he gave the prestigious 'Eileen Skellern Memorial Lecture', during which he placed current research into the impact of locking psychiatric ward doors in a socio-historical context. He and his team's research has influenced local and national NHS policy and been recommended by the Mental Health Act Commission, the Chief Nursing Officer's Mental Health Nursing Review and been cited in NICE guidance.
Professor Sally Hardy, Head of Department, has kept research interests closely linked with clinical healthcare and service users, aiming to integrate research with developing clinical practice and improved health care experience. Working within a variety of health care settings (e.g. mental health, child health and adult health care perspectives) Professor Hardy's research has included the development of a range of evaluation approaches that includes working with individuals, teams and stakeholders to ultimately influence and create workplace cultures of effectiveness. Professor Hardy has also published extensively on nurse education and promoting health care practice expertise.
Dr Alan Simpson is a post-doctoral research fellow and lecturer, partly funded by the Health Foundation. He has recently been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health Research's, Research for Patient Benefit programme, to run a pilot randomised controlled trial of peer support for service users discharged from psychiatric hospitals, in collaboration with East London NHS Foundation Trust. Previously, Alan has conducted research studies in community and inpatient mental health settings, evaluated several educational projects and has a particular interest in developing user involvement in education and research.
Dr Julia Jones is a lecturer, currently completing a study investigating aggressive incidents on haemodialysis units in two London hospitals, funded by the St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Charitable Foundation. Julia also holds an Honorary Research Fellowship at the University of Verona, Italy, where she continues her research interests in cost evaluation research and the relationship between deprivation and mental health service utilisation.
Dr Duncan Stewart is a research fellow currently investigating longitudinal patterns of conflict and containment in psychiatric inpatient settings and is also undertaking a case note study exploring the sequence of conflict and containment events. Duncan is also leading on literature reviews of restraint and seclusion and absconding. His previous research interests have included studies of prisons and addictions.
Dr Peter Phillips is a senior lecturer and has established research interests in substance use and dual diagnosis. Recent studies have included an exploration of the motivations for and social context of drug and alcohol use among mentally ill in-patients; an evaluation of the substance misuse healthcare team (formerly the blood borne virus team) in East London; innovative harm reduction teaching with nursing students; and the prevention of heroin overdose deaths through group psycho-educational intervention and CPR training for injecting drug users. Peter also holds an honorary research fellowship at University College London Medical School.
Dr Louise Phillips is a senior lecturer whose research interests include mental health in a networked society; the supervision of nurses working with women with mental health needs; and the experience of student nurses in contact with patients who self harm in acute mental health settings. She has also published her research on mental illness and the body.
Mr Chris Flood is a lecturer in mental health and an evaluation manager at the National Patient Safety Agency. He is currently completing his Phd on…. His research interests and publications embrace economic evaluation and mental health, quality of life and mental health, and the treatment of severe and enduring mental illness using joint crisis plans. Chris was also one of the lead researcher-practitioners in the City Nurse practice development project.
Ms Madeline O'Carroll is a senior lecturer with a particular interest in the research, teaching and practice of psychosocial interventions, including working as a research therapist on a national randomised controlled trial assessing the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for schizophrenia. Madeline is currently developing her interests in systemic approaches and the role of emotion in learning and teaching.
Ms Lisa Reynolds is a doctoral research fellow currently a completing an observational study of a psychiatric medium secure unit. She is part of an established research team which has undertaken research into forensic mental health care and risk and completed an evaluation of an innovative teaching intervention involving mental health service users and online learning.
Ms Sara Eales is a lecturer with research interests in liaison mental health services, suicide and deliberate self-harm, risk assessment and management and maternal mental health. She is also involved with a study investigating aggressive incidents on haemodialysis units.
Ms Caroline Howard is a lecturer who has special interests in therapeutic interventions and cross cultural therapy. She has conducted empirical studies on the uptake of mental health services among the Ethnic Chinese in Britain and the efficacy of Rational Emotive Behavioural Education (REBE) and has presented widely at numerous conferences.
Ms Lynny Turner is a senior lecturer and was part of a team evaluating the introduction of a pilot client attachment scheme in mental health nursing education (an alternative method of providing clinical experience for student mental health nurses).
Ms Marie Van Der Merwe is a research assistant currently working on a number of projects including the impact of locked doors on psychiatric wards; the sequence of conflict and containment events; and literature reviews in relation to seclusion, self-harm and the use of pro re nata (PRN) medication in psychiatry. Marie previously worked in South Africa on studies of HIV and AIDS.
Ms Soo Moore is a senior lecturer involved in an ongoing project to develop and evaluate client attachment, an alternative framework for supporting students to undertake clinical learning in practice.
Ms Jennifer Oates is a lecturer in mental health, currently involved in a study of violence and aggression in renal dialysis units.
General research enquiries
Ms Christina Daly is research administrator for the department and can be contacted on 0207 040 5923 or email: C.Daly-1@city.ac.uk
Research students
We are keen to support PhD and Masters research students interested in conducting high quality research in mental health, so if you would like to discuss your ideas further please contact:
PhDs
Dr Julia Jones
J.Jones-4@city.ac.uk
Tel: 0207 040 5485
Masters
Dr Louise Phillips
L.A.Phillips@city.ac.uk
Tel: 0207 040 5950