Centre for Health Services Research

Group Lead: Dr Jessie Cooper

The group comprises researchers from the social science disciplines including: medical sociology and anthropology, critical social policy, social and health psychology, economics, management and organisation studies. We are engaged in work that critically explores the interfaces around: healthcare policy and practice; patient and health professional experience; and the development and use of medical and healthcare tools and technologies (which includes high technology developments, as well as more ‘everyday’ technologies, such as diagnostic algorithms, protocols and patient pathways). Underpinning many of the studies in this area is the importance of understanding how such issues are shaped by various socio-cultural, political, economic and historical contexts and how these, in turn, construct the ways in which we can know and engage with developments in healthcare and technology.

Some examples of research from our group:

China Mills has been Principal Investigator on two consecutive British Academy grants researching global knowledge production and global standardisation in mental health, with a focus on the World Health Organisation's mhGAP Intervention Guide. The research looks at the social life of global tools, and the ways they 'do' mental health in diverse contexts around the world, including their appropriation, adaption and resistance.

Jessie Cooper is currently conducting a study on the ethics-in-practice of organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) in the UK. This study uses ethnographic approaches to understand how the process of DCD is made to work in everyday clinical practice in order to develop insights into its ethical implications.

Charitini Stavropoulou has been doing work on public perceptions towards new technology in healthcare and AI in particular. She is also interested in the role of patients in shaping health priorities, working closely with patient groups and charities.

Yaru Chen has been working on how GPs and other healthcare professionals adopt and adapt technological innovations. She is also interested in perceptions of healthcare professionals on the use of AI in radiology and the implications on AI adoption.

Alexandra Ziemann’s research is focusing on improving the spread of innovations in health and social care. Her current work investigates the influence of external contextual factors on the implementation of innovations, and the adaptation of innovations that spread from high to low- and middle-income countries.

Research Lead: Dr Martin Cartwright

Health Psychology is the study of psychological processes in health, illness, and healthcare. Health Psychology focuses on relationships between cognitions, emotions and behaviours for healthy individuals, patients and healthcare professionals. By elucidating the drivers and barriers of individual behaviour and professional practice within these groups, Health Psychologists are able to develop specific interventions to maintain health, mitigate the impact of disease, and maximise the effectiveness of the healthcare system.

As a discipline Health Psychology has been at the forefront of methodological and theoretical innovations in applied health research for over two decades, and members of the Health Psychology Research Group have contributed to many of these developments. For example, novel methods to establish qualitative data saturation, the Theoretical Domains Framework, the Behaviour Change Techniques Taxonomy, and the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability.

Our group has expertise in topics including physical activity, help-seeking, screening attendance, treatment adherence, self-management, the impact of illness and treatments, technological interventions and healthcare professional behaviour. Our research focuses on a wide range of clinical populations that spans maternal and child health, developmental conditions, chronic health conditions, mental health conditions and neurodegenerative diseases. We collaborate with colleagues from across the School, the University and with an extensive network of external organisations nationally and internationally.

Group Lead: Professor Leanne Aitken

The Group focuses on developing an evidence base for care delivered within the hospital setting. Understanding how health conditions and treatment impact on patients and their families, and testing the impact of new treatment strategies, is necessary to improve both patient care and patient outcomes. Care delivered in the acute and critical care setting is performed by a range of different members of the health care team, and this multidisciplinary nature of the work is reflected in the project teams formed to undertake research in this area. Development of a strong evidence base to underpin acute and critical care practice enables improved processes of care and improved outcomes for patients and their families.

Some examples of projects in this area include:

Duncan Smith is a PhD student developing a complex intervention to improve the recognition and response to deteriorating patients in acute care settings. This intervention is being developed using the Theoretic Domains Framework to guide future behaviour change in the area.

Tracey Bowden is a PhD student examining strategies to improve cognitive recovery in patients who have undergone cardiac surgery. Tracey’s programme of work is beginning with a systematic review of the extent and domains of cognitive dysfunction in cardiac surgical patients, and will then progress to designing an intervention to improve recovery.

Leanne Aitken is leading a multi-phase programme of research designed to investigate reasons for difficulty in changing practice in the area of sedation of critically ill patients. The final phases of this programme of research will be to develop and test an intervention designed to minimise sedation in this group of patients.

Group Lead: Dr China Mills

The group is dedicated to research that improves the lives of people worldwide, especially vulnerable people in resource-constrained settings. We conduct interdisciplinary research which has a strong relevance to health policy and practice and consist of members with a wide range of expertise. Our current and past research includes topics on maternal, child and adolescent health, health financing, midwifery, global mental health, and digital health technologies. For our work on global maternal and child health and midwifery, please also see the Centre for Maternal and Child Health. Our research places a strong emphasis on the social, economic and political determinants of health, and we have strong collaborations with partner organisations in several countries in Africa, Asia and South America.

Members:

• China Mills
• Christine McCourt
• Maria Paula Prates
• Susan Bradley
• Katherine Curtis-Tyler
• Jessie Cooper
• Shashi Hirani

Examples of our group’s research include:

Maria Paula Prates researches “Health policies and sociocultural diversity: a comparative study on childbirth services” with Professor Christine McCourt, and funded by the Newton Fund (British Academy/ Royal Society). Before working in the UK, she was working as an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Brazil. She has background is in Social Anthropology and works on the encounter between indigenous communities and the health system and other institutions and communities in Brazil. Her work focuses on gender and on "ethnic minorities" and her current work continues this focus in looking at the experience of Tibetan refugee and migrant women in Britain.

China Mills has recently acted as a consultant with the UK Government Department for International Development (DfID) to produce 4 rapid evidence reviews and a theory of change to guide DfID’s work and funding on mental health internationally – focusing on rights and participation, leadership and governance, services and community support, and mental health in challenging humanitarian contexts. China was Principal Investigator on two consecutive British Academy grants researching psy-and affective technologies across India, South Africa and Australia. Her work focuses on the social production and social life of global guidelines for mental health, including the WHO’s mhGAP Intervention Guide.

Haddijatou Ceesay is a PhD student at City doing qualitative research into perceptions of wellbeing among young women who have undergone FGM in The Gambia. She previously worked with non-profit organizations in The Gambia and the United States dedicated to ending violence against women.

Group Leads: Dr Juanita Hoe and Michelle Parker

The Research Group for Quality of Care for Older People (QCOP) is a multidisciplinary group of researchers and educators, which brings together research and scholarship in older person’s care. Our primary purpose is to bring together researchers working to improve the care and quality of life for older people in hospital, residential and community settings. The group has links with a network of clinical settings locally within London and surrounding counties, other academic institutions and care organisations nationally and internationally. The group focuses on research into dementia, acute, continuing and end-of-life care for older people; its sub-themes include 'quality of life', 'quality of care' and 'quality improvement’.

The overall aim of QCOP is to:

• undertake good quality research to improve older person’s care in hospitals, care homes and at home
• promote high standards of evidence-based care in education and practice
• develop research capacity in the area of older person’s care
• engage the involvement of the public and patients in research activities
• ensure that the work of the group demonstrates change in practice and policy for older people at a local, national and international level