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Dr Sally O'Keeffe

Research Fellow

School of Health Sciences Division of Health Services Research and Management

Contact details

Address

Dr Sally O'Keeffe M107, Myddelton Street Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Sally's research focuses on developing the evidence base for psychological interventions for mental health problems. She is particularly interested in young people, patient experience and the therapeutic alliance.

Sally is Programme Manager for the ASsuRED study, which aims to develop and test a brief psychological intervention in Emergency Departments to improve outcomes for people who present with self-harm (www.assuredstudy.co.uk). Prior to joining City, Sally worked as a researcher at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, where she was Trial Manager for studies investigating psychological therapies in the treatment of depression. She completed her PhD at University College London which was a mixed-methods investigation into treatment dropout in adolescents receiving psychotherapy for depression. She is particularly interested in integrating qualitative and mixed methods into clinical trials. She has co-authored a book on ideal-type analysis, a qualitative method to constructing typologies.

Qualifications

  1. PhD Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, United Kingdom
  2. MSc Research Methods in Psychology, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
  3. BSc (Hons) Psychology, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom

Employment

  1. Programme Manager / Research Fellow, City, University London, May 2019 – present
  2. Research Tutor, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families / University College London, Oct 2017 – Jun 2019
  3. Trials Coordinator, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Dec 2013 – Oct 2017
  4. Senior Research Assistant, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, May 2012 – Aug 2015

Award

  1. Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) (2018) Counselling Research Award
    Counselling Research Award winner for paper presented at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Research conference: “A qualitative study exploring types of dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression”, May 2018

Publications

Publications by category

Book

  1. Stapley, E., O'Keeffe, S. and Midgley, N.J. (2021). Essentials of Ideal-Type Analysis A Qualitative Approach to Constructing Typologies. Essentials of Qualitative Meth. ISBN 978-1-4338-3453-0.

Conference papers and proceedings (6)

  1. O'Keeffe, S. and Stapley, E. (2021). Constructing Typologies in Qualitative Research Using Ideal-Type Analysis. Qualitative Research in Psychology in Europe (EQuiP) 17-19 June, Thessaloniki, Greece.
  2. O'Keeffe, S., Martin, P. and Midgley, N. (2018). Rupture-repair processes in the therapeutic alliance prior to dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression. British Psychological Society: Faculty for Children, Young People and their Families Annual Conference 9-10 October.
  3. O'Keeffe, S., Martin, P. and Midgley, N. (2018). An investigation into rupture-repair processes in the therapeutic alliance prior to dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression. Society for Psychotherapy Research 27-30 June, Amsterdam.
  4. O'Keeffe, S., Martin, P. and Midgley, N. (2018). A qualitative study exploring types of dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression. British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy 11-12 May, London.
  5. O'Keeffe, S. and Midgley, N. (2017). Inside the therapy room - additional findings from IMPACT using the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scales (CPPS). Society for Psychotherapy Research 20-22 September, Oxford.
  6. O'Keeffe, S., Martin, P. and Midgley, N. (2017). A typology of dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression. Society for Psychotherapy Research 20-22 September, Oxford.

Datasets (2)

  1. Parkinson, S. REDIT-CT: Improving Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Primary Care: An Evaluation Study of Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) in a High-Intensity Comparator Sub-study.
  2. O'Keeffe, S. and McCabe, R. A brief psychological intervention for self-harm in Emergency Departments.

Journal articles (17)

  1. O'Keeffe, S., Suzuki, M., Ryan, M., Hunter, J. and McCabe, R. (2021). Experiences of care for self-harm in the emergency department: comparison of the perspectives of patients, carers and practitioners. BJPsych Open, 7(5). doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.1006.
  2. O'Keeffe, S., Martin, P. and Midgley, N. (2020). When adolescents stop psychological therapy: Rupture–repair in the therapeutic alliance and association with therapy ending. Psychotherapy, 57(4), pp. 471–490. doi:10.1037/pst0000279.
  3. O’Keeffe, S., Weitkamp, K., Isaacs, D., Target, M., Eatough, V. and Midgley, N. (2020). Parents’ understanding and motivation to take part in a randomized controlled trial in the field of adolescent mental health: a qualitative study. Trials, 21(1). doi:10.1186/s13063-020-04857-3.
  4. O’Keeffe, S., Martin, P., Goodyer, I.M., Kelvin, R., Dubicka, B., Midgley, N. … Fonagy, P. (2019). Prognostic Implications for Adolescents With Depression Who Drop Out of Psychological Treatment During a Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(10), pp. 983–992. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.11.019.
  5. Fonagy, P., Lemma, A., Target, M., O'Keeffe, S., Constantinou, M.P., Ventura Wurman, T. … Pilling, S. (2019). Dynamic interpersonal therapy for moderate to severe depression: A pilot randomized controlled and feasibility trial. Psychological Medicine. doi:10.1017/S0033291719000928.
  6. Grossfeld, M., Calderón, A., O’Keeffe, S., Green, V. and Midgley, N. (2019). Short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a depressed adolescent with borderline personality disorder: an empirical, single case study. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 45(2), pp. 209–228. doi:10.1080/0075417x.2019.1659387.
  7. O’Keeffe, S., Martin, P., Target, M. and Midgley, N. (2019). ‘I Just Stopped Going’: A Mixed Methods Investigation Into Types of Therapy Dropout in Adolescents With Depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00075.
  8. Midgley, N., Reynolds, S., Kelvin, R., Loades, M., Calderon, A., Martin, P. … O'Keeffe, S. (2018). Therapists’ techniques in the treatment of adolescent depression. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 28(4), pp. 413–428. doi:10.1037/int0000119.
  9. Dunn, V., O’Keeffe, S., Stapley, E. and Midgley, N. (2018). Facing Shadows: working with young people to coproduce a short film about depression. Research Involvement and Engagement, 4(1). doi:10.1186/s40900-018-0126-y.
  10. O’Keeffe, S., Martin, P., Goodyer, I.M., Wilkinson, P., Consortium, I. and Midgley, N. (2018). Predicting dropout in adolescents receiving therapy for depression. Psychotherapy Research, 28(5), pp. 708–721. doi:10.1080/10503307.2017.1393576.
  11. Midgley, N., O’Keeffe, S., French, L. and Kennedy, E. (2017). Psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents: an updated narrative review of the evidence base. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 43(3), pp. 307–329. doi:10.1080/0075417x.2017.1323945.
  12. Parkinson, S., Dunn, V., Stapley, E. and Midgley, N. (2017). 003 BP: SERVICE USER PARTICIPATION IN QUALITATIVE MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH: SHARING ADOLESCENTS' EXPERIENCES OF DEPRESSION THROUGH FILM. BMJ Open, 7(Suppl 2). doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016492.13.
  13. Midgley, N., Parkinson, S., Holmes, J., Stapley, E., Eatough, V. and Target, M. (2017). “Did I bring it on myself?” An exploratory study of the beliefs that adolescents referred to mental health services have about the causes of their depression. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26(1), pp. 25–34. doi:10.1007/s00787-016-0868-8.
  14. Parkinson, S., Eatough, V., Holmes, J., Stapley, E. and Midgley, N. (2016). Framework analysis: a worked example of a study exploring young people’s experiences of depression. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 13(2), pp. 109–129. doi:10.1080/14780887.2015.1119228.
  15. Midgley, N., Holmes, J., Parkinson, S., Stapley, E., Eatough, V. and Target, M. (2016). “Just like talking to someone about like shit in your life and stuff, and they help you”: Hopes and expectations for therapy among depressed adolescents. Psychotherapy Research, 26(1), pp. 11–21. doi:10.1080/10503307.2014.973922.
  16. Midgley, N., Parkinson, S., Holmes, J., Stapley, E., Eatough, V. and Target, M. (2015). Beyond a diagnosis: The experience of depression among clinically-referred adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 44, pp. 269–279. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.08.007.
  17. O'Keeffe, S. and Midgley, N. A commentary on ‘Dropout from randomised controlled trials of psychological treatments for depression in children and youth: a systematic review and meta-analyses’. Journal of Affective Disorders.