This CISHE website is an archive of past work conducted between 2003 - 2012. Please visit either DECIPHer or theSchool of Social Sciences for current information.
Samia Addis
An investigation of the take up of free school meal entitlement in secondary schools: barriers and facilitators.
Funded by Wales Office of Research and Development - Welsh Assembly Government
Start date: 1st October 2010
End date: 30th September 2012
Supervisors: Professor Gareth Williams and Dr Simon Murphy
The aim of this research is to build on existing research and provide a comprehensive review of free school meal provision in secondary schools in Wales. Informed by the socio ecological approach to health promotion (McLeroy et al 1988) this research will identify influential factors across a range of socio ecological levels and examine the process of choice and decision making by secondary school children and parents and carers in respect of registering and using free school meals entitlement, taking into account the context of policy, the community, school family and child.
Rachel Brown
An investigation into the role of alcohol in social network formation in new university students
Jointly funded by Alcohol Research (UK) and MRC
Start date: September 2011
End date: September 2015
Supervisors: Dr Simon Murphy and Professor Laurence Moore
Evidence shows that 16-25 year olds are generally more likely to engage in binge drinking than any other age group and further suggests that rates of participation may be higher in students than non-students.
Research suggests that social networks may have a significant role for students in the transition to a new university lifestyle, and can be highly influential in the formation of drinking patterns although understanding of their formation and possible impact on alcohol behaviour is not yet clearly theorised. The study will adopt a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis in order to explore the processes of human interaction and their effects on behaviour within networks. To date, research on social networks has been largely quantitative and has focused on the structure of networks, whereas this study will also use qualitative data in order to explore the processes of human interaction and their effects on drinking behaviour. An understanding of the role of social networks in transition events and the impact of this on alcohol use would contribute to the theoretical literature on social networks and could form the basis of an intervention development study
Rhiannon Evans
Can mental health promotion initiatives accomodate heterogeneous needs? A process evaluation of Student Assistant Programmes.
Funded by the WORD funding stream of the Welsh Assembly Government
Start date: January 2010
End date: March 2013
Supervisors: Dr Simon Murphy and Dr Jonathan Scourfield.
The significance of gendered identities and practices to mental health is indicated by (amongst other things) the disproportionate rate of self-harm and suicide attempts in women and the disproportionate rate of suicide in men. This research project aims to move beyond this simplified categorization of ‘male’ and ‘female’, and explore the range of gendered identities in Wales and the extent to which this diversity impacts upon responsiveness to an emotional literacy initiative. Gender is not merely a binary concept of ‘femininity’ or masculinity’ but a contextualized identity connected to a wide variety of cultural and social experiences. This sentiment is reflected in Welsh Assembly policy documents which stipulate that mental health promotion initiatives need to be sensitive to the complexity of needs that result from a diverse range of individual identities.
Through a process evaluation of the Student Assistance Programme, a school-based initiative which endeavours to enhance the emotional literacy of adolescents, this research will make an initial assessment of how effective WAG-funded mental health promotion strategies are in appreciating the array of mental health needs within their target population, and how successfully these programmes are tailored to accommodate this social diversity. The research project will combine ethnographic study of the Student Assistance Programme in two contrasting socio-economic areas with some quantitative data on the responses of diverse groups of children to the initiative. The process evaluation will examine the theoretical basis of the programme as implemented, the extent to which its delivery matches its stated aims, levels of acceptability to participants and school staff, its integration in schools and its sustainability.
Anna Flicker
Preventing alcohol misuse in young people: A Process evaluation of the Kids, Adults Together programme (KAT)
Funded by DECIPHer
Start date: October 2010
End date: October 2013
Supervisors: Dr Jeremy Segrott and Dr Simon Murphy.
This project will evaluate the KAT programme and is a primary school based intervention that targets children and their parents and promotes pro-social communication within families, in order to reduce alcohol misuse in young people. Previous evaluation of a pilot implementation of KAT in two schools found high levels of reach and acceptability amongst parents, positive perceived short-term changes in family communications and attitudes towards alcohol
Due to the success of the pilot study a larger exploratory trial of KAT will be take place in early spring 2011.
Baseline data for the trial will be collected from pupils in eight schools (4 intervention and 4 control) and follow-up data will be collected 6 months later. My role in the exploratory trial will be to build on previous research of the KAT program and conduct a process evaluation in order to explore the implementation fidelity, programme reach and acceptability of KAT and to refine and develop the theoretical model of how KAT works.
Gabi Jerzembek
Pedagogic approaches to promoting self-regulation in Personal and Social Education (PSE) in secondary schools in Wales: an exploratory study.
Funded by the ESRC
Start date: April 2009
End date: March 2012
Supervisors: Dr Simon Murphy & Dr Eva Elliott; Dr Gabrielle Ivinson acts as advisor and much of her work informs the research approach my PhD project uses.
Personal and Social Education (PSE) aims to prepare learners for life and support their well-being through empowerment and the promotion of health behaviours. However, PSE does not sit easily within the overall secondary school curriculum.
Health education lessons are often dominated by information provision, placing learners into the role of a passive recipient. It is evident from evaluations of previous school-based health promotion interventions that an increase in health-related knowledge is not necessarily linked to health behaviour change. Self-regulatory strategies such as goal setting, planning and self-monitoring were found to increase health behaviours and improve academic performance. Pedagogic practice facilitating pupils’ active contribution and the development of self-regulatory strategies was suggested to support school-based health promotion outcomes.
This case study explored how PSE is taught in four Welsh schools, and what the facilitators and barriers are to adopting pedagogic practice that provides opportunities for pupils to become actively involved in their learning and develop self-regulatory skills. Lesson observations in the four case study schools have shown that only a small proportion of the classroom talk explicitly encouraged pupils’ active involvement. Interview data identified facilitators and barriers to changing pedagogic approaches across three levels: a) policy initiatives and their interpretation by stakeholders, b) ethos and power structures within schools and c) schemata held by teachers about their professional ‘comfort zones’ describing the repertoire of topics and pedagogic approaches that is acceptable to them.
Sarah McDonald
Understanding how families experience primary-school-based approaches to food and eating
Funded through a Researcher Development Award from the Department of Health and NHS R&D, and funded in Wales by the Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care (WORD).
Start date: October 2006
End date: September 2013
Supervisors: Dr Simon Murphy and Dr Eva Elliott
Efforts to facilitate dietary health improvement amongst children have been directed towards schools due to the capacity of such approaches to reach large numbers of children simultaneously and shape habitual behaviours. Initiatives such as the health promoting school have adopted a holistic approach to health improvement and links with families have been identified as key to this approach.
However, attempts to date have been undermined by ineffective linking mechanisms and a lack of understanding of family processes. This reflects limitations at a policy level where the focus is on individual responsibility and behaviour overlooking social contexts, and the dynamics and complexity of family life. In order to improve family-school links for children’s dietary health improvement further work is needed to understand family practices and families’ experiences of links with school. This will help shape measures which go beyond behaviour modification to focus on how social context can be modified in order to improve overall population nutrition levels. A theoretical framework which draws together social context, social practices and the agency of different family members offers a way forward for investigating family approaches to food and eating.
The overall aim is to understand how family food practices are influenced by school-based dietary health improvement approaches. To investigate this further two key objectives are as follows:
- To investigate how social context shapes family food practices, particularly what enables and constrains healthy food choices
- To investigate the family-school interface in terms of school approaches to food and eating.
Heather Trickey
A human ecology and asset-based approach to improving breastfeeding support: developing a ‘family and friends’ intervention for mothers who plan to breastfeed
Funded by: MRC DECIPHer Studentship and NCT
Start Date: January 2012
End Date:
Supervisors: Professor Laurence Moore
The research aims to understand the potential for improved breastfeeding experiences via an intervention to facilitate effective and acceptable support from mothers’ existing family and wider social networks. The research will draw on cultural theory and on current understanding of the relevance of human ecology to breastfeeding experiences and outcomes (Stuart-Macadam & Dettwyler, 1995; Bilson & Dykes 2009). The research also relates to social capital and asset-based approaches to health promotion intervention (Hawe, 2009; Morgan & Ziglo, 2007).
The research will investigate the relevance of cultural norms and values to infant feeding policy and interventions among two groups of mothers and key members of their social networks. Attitudes and values (e.g. to include the importance of ‘health’ and other aspects of feeding, perceptions of pain and problems, moral frameworks for feeding, and attitudes to existing breastfeeding policy and interventions) will be compared with those of trained peer supporters, para-professionals and professionals delivering community based infant feeding interventions. The work will seek to understand what mothers themselves would ideally wish for from their existing support networks, what potential supporters (family and friends) themselves would ideally like to be able to provide, and the attitude of peer and professional supporters to engaging with friends and family. The research will also identify mother-centred outcomes for intervention.
Research Interests
• Social network and peer interventions
• Infant feeding and transition to parenthood
• Asset based approaches to public health
• Epidemiology of health behaviours
Additional information
Research Manager for NCT - UK’s largest charity for expectant and new parents (www.nct.org.uk)
Previous experience
Research Manager NCT (2004-5; 2009-present)
Senior Research Officer UK government (2000-2004)
Research Associate Loughborough University (1997-2000)
Research Associate Bristol University (1995-1997)
Qualifications
MSc Environmental Epidemiology and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1994)
BSc Geography, Bristol University (1992)
Publications
Trickey H. & Neil, M. (2011) Promoting positive experiences. NCT values and infant feeding. Perspective 12, 9-10.
Trickey H. & Newburn M. (2011) NCT and Infant Feeding. Supporting mothers’ decisions and protecting breastfeeding. Perspective 11, 9-10.
Trickey H. & Jenkins, H. (2010) Welsh Assembly Government’s Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme. Volunteer Experiences Report. NCT: London
Lødemel, I., and Trickey, H. (eds) (2000) An Offer You Can’t Refuse. Bristol: Policy Press.
Trickey, H., Turton, P., Sharp, D., Harvey, I., Wilcock, G. (2000). Dementia and the Over 75 Check: The Role of the Primary Care Nurse. Health and Social Care in the Community. Vol. 8:1 pages 9-16.
Stafford, B., Heaver, C., Ashworth, K., Bates, C., Walker, R., Mckay, S., Trickey, H. (1999). Work and Young Men: A Secondary Analysis of Young Men’s Experiences of the U.K. Labour Market in the Mid-1990s. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Work and Opportunity Series No. 14. York Publishing Services Ltd.
Trickey, H., Harvey, I., Wilcock, G., Sharp, D. (1998). Formal Consensus and Consultation: A Qualitative Method for Guideline Development. Quality in Health Care. Volume 7; Issue 4, Pages 192-199.
Trickey, H., Kellard, K., Walker, R., Ashworth, K., Smith, A. (1998). Unemployment and Jobseeking: Two Years On. Social Security Research Report No. 87. Corporate Document Services, Leeds.
Trickey, H., Harvey, I., Sharp, D., Wilcock, G. (1997). Primary Care Memory Change Guideline. Departments of Social Medicine and Care of the Elderly, University of Bristol.
Rhiannon Yapp
Alcohol and drug misuse amongst young people: an exploratory study of family roles and effective interventions’
Funder: 1 + 3 DECIPHer Studentship
Start date: October 2010
End Date: September 2014
Supervisors: Dr Jerermy Segrott and Professor Gareth Williams
This study aims to explore the role of families within substance misuse pathways of young people, between the ages of 14 to 19 years. It seeks to examine the influence of family circumstances upon young people’s use of alcohol and drugs, and the social and personal factors which put young people at risk of misusing drugs at particular transition points in their lives. The study will be guided by the following research questions:
- What potential role does the family have upon transitions both into and out of substance misuse?
- What social processes and relationships weaken or strengthen the effectiveness of substance misuse interventions?
- What are young people’s perceptions of how substance misuse interventions could be made more effective?
- In order to explore the indicative themes of the study, a qualitative methodology will be employed, and data will be explored within the context of wider circumstances.