Research

Health Services Research and Management

Health Services Research and Management (HSRM) incorporates the:

These teams work collaboratively together to deliver high quality research and teaching within their areas of specialism. All teams are research active and publish both peer reviewed journal articles as well as books and materials for people working in the professions. World class experts work closely with programme directors and contribute to teaching as well as research activities. Graduates from our programmes often progress to employment in high profile jobs or research activities. The division provides expert advice to the School of Health Sciences (SHS) as well as external stakeholders in the areas of innovation in education and research methods. An outline of the work and research areas of the teams within the division is provided below.

Education Development Unit (EDU)

EDU works across SHS and with external stakeholders to support and promote educational developments in line with SHS strategic priorities. EDU staff engage in educational development for 50% of their time, undertaking substantive teaching, learning support, research, management or business development roles for the remainder. The EDU delivers high quality programmes utilising innovative technologies and educational opportunities; promotes excellence in education within SHS; and also provides expert advice and support for the use of new educational technologies.

Research activities of the EDU focus on the student experience and innovation in education. The overlapping foci of EDU research are, work based learning (including mentorship, learning from simulated professional practice, education supporting patient safety, learner experience, learner centred design such as technology-enhanced learning, and digital literacies. One project recently completed by the EDU is the Accomplished Facilitation & Learning Transfer Project (April 2010-March2011). This study involved creating faculty development materials for simulation centres and guidance for clinical educators supporting junior doctors in practice based on an appreciation of accomplished facilitation. This project was funded by the London Deanery (£95,000).

Selected Publications

Centre for Food Policy

The Centre for Food Policy provides teaching, research and consultancy on food policy as it relates to every stage of the food supply chain. The centre has a broad remit, which takes in everything from farm to fork. The team explores the impact of food policy on human and public health, the environment, social justice and public well-being. The food policy team also undertakes research which examines how public policy affects food - what people eat, how it is grown, processed, distributed and consumed. Recent grants include EU funding for two projects: £995,00 to investigate the quality and integrity in food and food chain communication; and £2.8million for the Purefood project, to investigate urban, peri-urban and regional food dynamics.

Selected Publications

City e-Health Research Centre

City e-Health Research Centre is a multidisciplinary eHealth research centre which collaborates with national and international partners on grants funded by prestigious bodies such as the European Commission, the European Union, the World Health Organisation, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and. Control (ECDC). The team's research and development areas include computer science (web services, Semantic Web and ontologies), information science (user navigation, web logs, e-communities) and infectious diseases and public health. Current funded projects include: the development of FEM (Field Epidemiology Manual) wiki which serves as a reference, a core structure for training needs in intervention epidemiology, and a resource of training material www.femwiki.com; Medicines Support Unit for optometrists, the development of a website which brings together resources for optometrists with aim of promoting the safe and effective use of drugs; and edugames4all the development of computer games as educational tools, including the promotion of good hygiene activities such as hand washing by young people. Recent grants include £8000,000 from the National Resource for Infection control.

Selected Publications

Health Services Research (HSR)

The Health Services Research (HSR) team is an active research and teaching group, based within the Health Services Research and Management (HSRM) division of the School of Health Sciences. The HSR group has special interests in the areas of:

The HSR group was recently awarded a £5 million grant from the Department of Health for the Whole Systems Demonstrator study, investigating the use of home-based and mobile assistive technologies (telehealth and telecare) to support people with long terms conditions (diabetes, chronic heart failure and COPD) and social care needs.

There are also strong streams of research on behaviour modification and the psychosocial and cognitive impact of medical conditions and their interventions. Teams within the group are working on the development, delivery and evaluation of self-management and self-monitoring interventions. These interventions include online rehabilitation packages for long term conditions such as diabetes, coronary disease, rheumatology, juvenile arthritis and chronic kidney failure. The HSR team are working on an evaluation of surgery for strabismus, the long-term outcomes of congenital heart disease, adjustment to disfiguring conditions, patient expectations in osteoarthritis, self-management in chronic kidney failure, informal carer outcomes and patient beliefs and expectations regarding their illness and treatment. This list in not exhaustive and health services research is also undertaken in other divisions within the School of Health Sciences; for example research undertaken in the adult division into the area of the quality of life of older adults resident within care homes. A brief overview of current research taking place in the Health Service Research (HSR) team is provided below.

Members of Staff

Professor Stanton Newman - Dean, School of Health Sciences

Dr Yannis Pappas - Programme Director, MSc/MRes in Health Services Research

Dr Alice Simon - Lecturer in Health Psychology

Dr Shashivadan P Hirani - Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology

Dr Catherine Hurt - Lecturer

Dr Lorna Rixon - Research Associate

Dr Martin Cartwright - Research Associate

Hayley McBain - Research Associate & part-time PhD research student

Theodora Fteropoulli - Postgraduate Researcher / PhD research student

Justine Baron - PhD research student

Sadie Wickwar - PhD research student

The think positive (t+) study

The t+ study investigates the clinical effectiveness of a mobile-phone software (t+) designed to support insulin-requiring patients in the management of their diabetes. This randomized controlled trial takes place in the multi-ethnic London Borough of Newham. Quantitative methods are used to investigate the impact of this health technology on quality of life, health status, diabetes self-care, self-efficacy, and anxiety and depression. In addition patients' experiences using the t+ mobile-phone software are explored using a qualitative approach.

Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) Evaluation of Telecare and Telehealth

The WSD Evaluation is the largest and most comprehensive trial ever funded by the UK Department of Health, with a total budget of over £33 million and an evaluation budget of over £5 million. The Principle Investigator, Professor Stanton Newman, heads an evaluation team that spans six internationally renowned research institutions (City University, The Nuffield Trust, London School of Economics, Oxford University, Manchester University & Imperial College London). This innovative pragmatic cluster-randomised trial of telecare and telehealth recruited over 5,800 participants and employed multiple study designs and mixed-methods to assess a range of health gains including hospital utilisation, mortality, quality of life, psychological and behavioral outcomes, QALY-base cost-effectiveness, patient and professional experience of trial participation, and organisational barriers and facilitators in the provision of telecare and telehealth services. As the largest randomised trial of telecare and telehalth to date, and with the primary analyses now being published in high impact journals, the WSD Evaluations seeks to provide robust evidence that will help shape UK health services at the beginning of the 21st century.

Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)

The aim of this project is to assess the psychosocial and clinical outcomes of surgery for patients with Thyroid Eye Disease (TED). The outcomes for patients undergoing surgery with functional problems, are being compared to those undergoing surgery for aesthetic reconstruction in the absence of functional problems. Patients' expectations concerning surgical treatment for TED are also explored using qualitative methods.

Grown Up Congenital Heart Disease (GUCH) Study

The study aims to establish the extent of neuropsychological functioning in GUCH patients and the impact of the disease on the psychosocial functioning and Quality of Life (QoL) of these patients. The impact of relative's perceptions on the QoL of the patients participating in the study is also being evaluated.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) Website Study

This study is a randomised controlled trial measuring satisfaction with information provision in parents of children newly diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). The study compares outcomes in parents who receive access to a JIA information website for 12 months, in addition to standard care, versus those receiving standard care alone.

Self-Management and Genetic Risk Information Study

This BUPA Foundation funded RCT study compares the effectiveness of two innovative approaches - behavioural self-management interventions and receipt of personalised genetic risk profiling - to enable type-2 diabetes patients at risk of developing CHD to manage their risk through changes in health-related behaviour.

XtremeEverest Study

Caudwell Xtreme Everest is a research project studying human systems stretched to breaking point in extreme environments to increase our understanding of critically ill patients. Members of the HSR team are investigating the effects of altitude related hypoxia in the brain on cognitive and neuropsychological funtioning. An additional trip to the summit of Everest in 2013 will collect further data.

PQRS Study

This international collaborative study is developing a Post-operative Quality Recovery Scale that tracks multiple domains of recovery from immediate to long-term time periods in patients of varying ages, languages, and cultures. The scale is designed to aid the development of interventions and procedures to improve patients' experience of having surgery inder anaesthesia.

Selected Publications

Health Management

The Health Management team provides postgraduate management qualifications for clinicians, service managers and allied health professionals which are among the most recognised of their kind in the UK and internationally. With an outstanding track record these degree courses provide a thorough grounding in all the major business skills that health managers need to prepare them for progression to senior management.

The health management team has recently undertaken several externally funded research projects; recent grants include £250,000 from the National institute for Health Research, Service Delivery and Organisation (NIHR SDO) to explore the experiences of the allied health professions (AHPs) in management roles. Other funded projects include the contribution of AHPs to health promotion, the organisation of the European AHP workforce and scope of therapeutic practice of UK optometrists.

The research report for the organisation of the European workforce can be found at www.sdo.nihr.ac.uk/projdetails.php?ref=08-1808-237; and the report regarding the experiences of AHPs in management roles can be found at www.sdo.nihr.ac.uk/projdetails.php?ref=08-1808-237.