Overview of research activity

The Counselling and Health Psychology Research Group generally conduct research with an applied focus.

Members of counselling team are particularly interested in methodological issues and provide support and input to one another regarding the research process as well as dissemination. They have an extensive range of research expertise in counselling as evidenced by the below subject areas:

Self-image

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Facial disfigurement following trauma

Young women’s experiences with negative body image

The other woman’s experience of extra-dyadic relationship

& also eating disorders noted below.

Sexuality

Existing as a transsexual

Gay/bisexual men’s use of club drugs

Construction of BDSM among trainees

& also CSA noted below.

Trauma

Adult relationships following CSA

Sense of self following CSA

Help-seeking in adult male survivors of CSA

Self-harm in You-Tube images

Hope within self-harm

Therapists’ experiences of working with people who self-harm

& also Ireland abuse noted below.

Psychological concerns within families

Parents’ experiences of having a child in therapy

Mothers’ experiences of adult daughter in therapy

Fathers’ experiences of raising a son with challenging behaviours

Rumination after bereavement

& also couples issue, families re. diabetes noted below & CSA noted above.

Psychological impact of health-related concerns

Couples’ experiences when one suffers from an eating disorder

Diabetes – family social support and self care

Mothers’ experiences of being told child is overweight

Adult cancer patients in therapy

Altruistic kidney donors

Trauma symptoms following childbirth

Persistent primary nocturnal enuresis

Older male carers for partners with dementia

Young adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Growing older with HIV.

Social and Cultural Issues

Institutional abuse of children in Ireland

Resilience of survivors of Irish institutional abuse

South-Asian therapists’ experiences of matching services

Ghanaian psychologists working with clients with traditional belief systems

Indigenous people from Mexico who have been wrongly imprisoned

Engaging military veterans in therapy

Workplace bullying

Male prisoners’ constructions of help-seeking research

Therapists’ experiences working with prisoners

Experiences of counsellors working with Iraqi refugees in Jordan

Craving in pathological gamblers.

Practitioner identity and development

Wounded healer

Burnout

Mindfulness for CBT practitioners

Therapist attire in psychotherapy

Therapist disclosure to eating-disordered clients

Humour – with psychotic clients

Impact of domestic violence on therapists’ intimate relationships

Therapists’ experiences of sexual harassment from clients

Therapists’ experiences of self within different approaches

Therapists’ experiences of self within sessions

Impact of therapists’ life experiences on clinical practice

Choice of psychological professional with older adults

Therapists’ emotional experiences in working with anorexia.

The health psychology team focus their research on health service evaluation and improvement, the understanding the effectiveness of health psychology interventions and the experience of illness and well-being. The team has a strength and applied expertise in evaluating innovative approaches and policies designed to improve health and well-being in community, work and hospital settings.

Together the health psychology team has combined experience of using a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods including action research, interpretative phenomenological analysis, grounded theory, discourse analysis, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews.

The Counselling and Health Psychology Research Group is particularly focused on making sure that its research has impact. For example, in the case of Pires-Yfantoudas’s work on how to support patients with musculoskeletal conditions through motivational interviewing techniques, her results were disseminated through blogs to widen access to the research findings. Sykes’s research on pregnancy sickness (experienced in approximately 80% of singleton pregnancies) has led her to become a trustee of the Pregnancy Sickness Support Charity, with remits in deciding the charity’s research strategy and managing the data that the charity collects. Willig contributed to the prestigious American Psychological Association (APA) Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology which represents the latest authoritative guide to research methods in counseling psychology.

Achievements and news

The health psychology team has presented at two important health psychology conferences this year. The Annual Division of Health Psychology Conference and the 8th International Society of Critical Health Psychology Conference. Amongst the presentations, were findings from a qualitative study exploring healthcare professionals’ experiences of patient reported stress a study looking at paramedics’ discourse in pain management to people with dementia and the results of a brief mindfulness- based intervention to help resist chocolate.

The Biopsychosocial Understandings of Hyperemesis Gravidarum Conference was hosted by the health psychology team this year. The conference was a great success with speakers from around the world attending to present the latest research and developments in the care and management of women with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. MSc and undergraduate health psychology students formed part of the conference committee contributing to its success and gaining valuable work experience.

The health psychology team values its collaborations with external organisations working at the front line of healthcare service delivery. For example, the team is working in collaboration with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to explore the beliefs and attitudes to work return amongst patients suffering with chronic pain. This multi-phase project will inform future service development for patients with chronic pain, building on expertise from multidisciplinary teams, consisting of experienced health psychologists and specialist healthcare providers.

The counselling team’s purpose is to showcase its activities, to encourage collaboration and facilitate joint publications involving both members of staff and graduates. In addition, the counselling team aims to establish links with researchers in other institutions in order to create a platform for collaboration and integration.

The counselling team holds monthly meetings at which researchers present their work-in-progress. As a result of meetings held during 2012-13 two journal articles and one conference presentation have been produced by alumni.

The counselling team welcomes presentations by researchers external to City University London and has benefited from the input of the following visitors during 2012-13:

Dr Catherine Nelson,Counselling PsychologistMaggie’s LondonCharing Cross Hospital

Elizabeth Hughes, PhD student in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck (under the supervision of Stephen Frosh)

Ryan Kemp

Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Addictions Lead Psychologist

Central & North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust

Chair: Faculty of Addictions (British Psychological Society)

Andrea Calsamiglia, Research student in Social Psychology PhDUniversitat Autonoma de Barcelona,Open University

Teaching

The health psychology team run two courses in health psychology.

The MSc Health Psychology is designed for those looking to start, or progress in, a career in the rapidly-changing healthcare space.

The MSc is professionally-focused and innovative, and you will complete the course with both the practical and critical skills you need to stand out. Our goal is to equip you for employment with a range of skills that you can put into practice to further advance your career.

The Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology Training Course is the stage two component of health psychology training to be completed by aspiring health psychologists with the view of pursuing a career in health psychology, offering services to the public.

The Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology provides the trainee with all of the competencies of the health psychologist as well as a development of individual skills and experience.

The ultimate aim of the course is for the trainees to be able to both competently and confidently practice in health psychology and produce an original piece of research that contributes to the knowledge of applied health psychology.

The course aims to provide professional and academic training that will enable trainees to work as health psychologists in a broad range of settings, including the NHS, charities, industry, government, private practice and academic and research settings, among others.

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