Current Research Projects

If you are a user of mental health services or part of a user group we should be very happy to help with any research you are planning. We can offer help in research design, statistical analysis (if you are using statistics), and preparing a report for publication.
Contact us by clicking here if you think you'd like some help from us.

A number of staff in the Department are involved in various research projects.
Some of these are listed below -

Dr. Suzanne Elliott is a Clinical Psychologist who was working with a team of clinical psychologists based in Shropshire (Dr.Julia Henn, Dr. Rachel Cox and Dr.Biza Kroese) on a research project investigating mens’ experiences of self-harm. Masculinities and the psychology of men's mental health is a summary of the research.

Dr. Janine Soffe-Caswell and Chris Pitts are conducting a research project with National Health Service (NHS) staff with managerial responsibilities, working in adult mental health services, with regard to their views about the concept of ‘service user involvement ’. The aim is to learn more about managerial staffs’ understanding of service user involvement and whether this is linked to how they approach the role of management within the NHS. Mental health service professionals include those with managerial responsibilities. However, studies have shown that there is often a discrepancy between the theoretical positions taken by staff in relation to service user involvement and clinical practice (Cole & Oxtoby 2000, Kent & Read 1998, Wadsworh and Epstein 1998). Moreover, a recommendation from the study by Kent & Read (1998) was that the attitudes of managers (and funders) of mental health services should be researched as they occupied positions of influence in relation to the facilitation of service user involvement. Nevertheless, there is little known about the views of staff with managerial responsibilities at ‘ground level’ regarding service user involvement and whether this links to their practice. Therefore it is proposed that this research project will help us to learn more about what those views are. If you would like to more about the project, please e-mail either Janine or Chris

Dr.Janine Soffe-Caswell completed her doctoral thesis on Clinical Psychologists' views on Service User involvement - read her article

Cailzie Dunn was part of a survey of service users' desires to be involved in the planning of mental health services

A project examining Attachment Theory and relationships of service users with mental health workers was recently conducted by Dr. Isabel Goodwin and Dr. Guy Holmes. Read a summary of this research