Mental Health, Health and Social Care Research Group

Hello. We are the Mental Health, Health and Social Care research group (MH2aSC) [it’s pronounced “Mask”].

The Mental Health, Health and Social Care (MH2aSC) sits within the College of Social Science and the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincoln.  MH2aSC encompasses research across the range of Mental Health; Public Health and Social Care with a strong interest in developing research capacity and capability through the development of Clinical Academic Careers for health professionals.

Historically, MH2aSC evolved from the Centre for Clinical and Academic Workforce Innovation (CCAWI) and subsequently the Mental Health Research, Education and Development group (MHRED).   The original group was set up by Professors Tony Butterworth and Ian Baguley and Dr Christine Jackson in 2005, and is now led by Dr Ros Kane and Dr Ian McGonagle.   MH2aSC has evolved to encompass a broader range of research activity that involves social care and adult health, particularly ‘Cancer Survivorship’ through a partnership with Macmillan and increasingly research in Public Health and Social Care with funding from the NIHR Clinical Research Network and Lincolnshire County Council. We also work internationally, particularly with colleagues in Thailand where Dr Ros Kane holds a visiting Professorial position and throughout Europe, in partnership with our colleagues in the UDINE-C network.

Developing Clinical Academic Careers

We have a strong interest in workforce development, particularly innovation around Clinical Academic Careers and lead the National Institute of Health Research/Health Education England Integrated Clinical Academic Internship (ICA) award across the East Midlands.

The Programme is being led by Dr Ros Kane (Associate Professor and Director of Research in the School of Health and Social Care: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/rkane) and Dr Ian McGonagle (Associate Professor: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/imcgonagle).

Health Education England (HEE) East Midlands fund up to 8 places for Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health Professionals, Chiropractors, Clinical Psychologists, Healthcare Scientists, Health Visitors, Operating Department Practitioners, Optometrist and Dispensing Opticians, Osteopaths, Pharmacy Professions, Non-Medical Public Health Specialty Trainees, Specialists and Consultants and Wider Dental Team Professions, working within in the East Midlands, For more information about eligible and approved regulatory bodies click here.

Who should apply?

Applications are invited from clinicians in the East Midlands area (Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) who are looking to further develop their clinical academic career.

This programme will provide the opportunity to prepare for the next step on the clinical academic career pathway. The programme is individually tailored with a choice over a range of assessments to support next steps either to a Masters in Research of possibly onto PhD level study. Please visit the NIHR ICA web site for full details of clinical academic training opportunities.

We work in close collaboration with our colleagues at the University of Nottingham, who provide the Pre- and Post Doctoral ICA awards. For full information on all programmes and links to application forms please click here.

Current studies

One You Lincolnshire (OYL) mixed-method study: Evaluation of an integrated community based healthy lifestyle behaviour change service using the RE-AIM framework.

Team: Dr Ros Kane, Dr Hannah Henderson, Dr Dave Dawson, Dr Nima Moghaddam, Professor Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, Miss Emma Sayers

Funded by Lincolnshire County Council 2020-2022

Key Contact: Emma Sayers (esayers@lincoln.ac.uk)

Many unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco smoking, poor diet, harmful alcohol use and physical inactivity tend to group. Around a quarter of people engage in three or more unhealthy behaviours in England, contributing to a higher risk of ill health and mortality. As these behaviours are likely to interact with one another, interventions, known as integrated lifestyle services (ILS), have been developed to target common underlying determinants. The support hopes to lead to sustained behaviours changes and reduced health care costs. Lincolnshire County Council commissioned Thrive Tribe, a non-NHS provider, to design and deliver a single point of access integrated service called One You Lincolnshire (OYL). This study aims to identify the impact of addressing unhealthy behaviours through One You Lincolnshire (OYL) and establish OYL implementation, valuing the quality of outcomes and highlighting any potential risks and challenges that may impact ILS delivery in the future.

Developing Shared Lives®: Cancer: An innovative online tool to support people living with and affected by cancer.

Team: Heidi Green, Dr Ros Kane, Dr David Nelson and Dr Sam Cooke

Funders: Macmillan Cancer Support; The East Midlands Cancer Alliance and The NIHR East Midlands Clincial Research Network.

Key Contact: Heidi Green (heigreen@lincoln.ac.uk)

The Shared Lives®: Cancer (SL:C) website is a brand-new digital approach to disseminating existing qualitative academic research conducted at the University of Lincoln in the field of cancer survivorship and recovery. Data were collected across a range of ages, genders, cancer types, treatment received, and included carers and people who support those with cancer. Rather than only disseminating the findings of these studies, Shared Lives®: Cancer aims to support people living with and beyond cancer by presenting the qualitative data in an anonymised, user-friendly, searchable quote and story format. The quotes will be searchable by patient demographics, cancer type, approximately 40 themes, and free text keywords. Several interview transcripts have also been developed into patient lived experience stories and are linked to the quotes.

A recent £27,000 funding award from the East Midlands Clinical Research Network, is enabling the research team to conduct a new study that will support the development of Shared Lives®: Cancer. The research includes a rapid scoping review reporting on the development and utilisation of web-based tools for supporting people living with and affected by cancer and website usability testing. Usability testing will employ think-aloud cognitive interviewing to ensure we create a resource that is fit for purpose and grounded in the needs of its users.

Shared Lives®: Cancer An update on the development of an innovative digital health tool to support those affected by cancer will be presented at the NCRI conference in November 2021.

Barriers and facilitators in help seeking by Polish victims of domestic violence.

Study Team: Dr Iwona Zielinska; Dr Michael Rasell; Professor Sundari Anitha and Dr Ros Kane.

Funder: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship

Key contact: Dr Iwona Iwona Zielinska (izielinska@lincoln.ac.uk)

Our research team has been working together since 2017 to design and raise funds for the implementation of the first comprehensive study on domestic violence among Polish people living in the UK.

Research indicates that migration, xenophobia and racism are among many factors that can aggravate susceptibility to various forms of domestic violence. The experience of migration also affects help seeking by victims and the type of support offered to them.

The study aims to investigate how and if being Polish and living in the UK affects seeking and accessing help in cases of acts of domestic violence.   The purpose of this preliminary study is to identify the problem from the lived experiences of women who have experienced domestic violence and perspectives of British practitioners working in services which support victims of domestic violence.

Evaluation of Occupational Therapy Provision in General Practice (The OT in GP Pilot)

Team: Heidi Green, Dr Ros Kane, Emma Sayers and Carol Duff

Funders: Health Education England: East Midlands.

Key Contact: Heidi Green (heigreen@lincoln.ac.uk)

Lincolnshire was selected as an ideal test site to embed the Occupational Therapist (OT) within primary care, interdisciplinary health teams, in an advanced practitioner role that addresses the needs of patients, and carers at universal, targeted and specialist levels and for an associated student emerging placement.

Our evaluation was the first of its kind in Lincolnshire. The findings demonstrate the importance of the OT role as a first point of contact service in Lincolnshire. The OT in GP pilot expanded primary care therapy-led services by enabling patients to directly access, close to home or at home, specialist OT intervention faster than if accessed via traditional referral pathways. The OT in GP care model takes decisive steps to break down barriers to accessing healthcare and builds capacity and capability to respond to changing service demands. We observed genuine enthusiasm for, and positive commitment towards, the concept of the OT in GP care model and its opportunities for earlier preventative and proactive integrated care intervention and support that progresses improved patient health and wellbeing outcomes.

Social care for vulnerable adults with complex needs: Scoping practice and informing an evaluation framework.

Team: Heidi Green, Dr Ros Kane, Professor Mo Ray; Dr Michael Rasell; Helen Davies; Rachael Mason and Dr Sam Cooke.

Funders: NIHR East Midlands Clinical Research Network.

Key Contact: Heidi Green (heigreen@lincoln.ac.uk)

The Team Around the Adult (TAA) was launched by Lincolnshire County Council Adult Services in early 2020. Prompted by the pandemic, implementation was deferred until January 2021. The TAA is an early intervention model providing comprehensive and coordinated social care for the most complex cases referred to a District Councils Vulnerable adult panel (or similar).

A scoping review identified, eight initiatives multi-agency, joint working initiatives, that support, protect and improve outcomes for vulnerable adults, delivered in connection with Local Authorities and two Lincolnshire district specific initiatives. The study found the TAA delivery model to be unique to Lincolnshire.

Just over one-hundred and sixty services that support, protect, and improve outcomes for vulnerable adults, were mapped and a subsequent service directory was developed.

Consultations with key stakeholders responsible for developing, delivering, and/or commissioning social care services, generated three key themes that included the importance of person at the centre, strategic and organisational contexts for working with complexity, and perspectives on the need for a TAA resource.

 

Public Health Placement Capacity Development in Allied Health

Study Team: Laura Charlesworth, Rachael Mason, Dr Christine Jackson and Dr Ros Kane

Funders: Public Health England, 2021   

Key Contact: Laura Charlesworth: lcharlesworth@lincoln.ac.uk

We were commissioned by Public Health England (PHE) to facilitate the joint delivery of their Clinical Placement Expansions Programme through the creation of a toolkit to support public-health placement provision across the full range of Allied Health Professions (AHPs).

The study also involved the creation of a suite of learning outcomes relevant to each AHP profession that could be met through public health placements. This involved working with professional bodies and educators and working with the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) to understand the administrative barriers to Higher Education Institutions identifying and accessing public health placements.

Outputs and resources from the study can be found here and  the final report, here.

Linking lifestyle datasets for public health research and service commissioning: A feasibility Study

Study Team: Dr Ros Kane; Dr Joseph Akanuwe; Dr Sam Cooke and Dr Hannah Henderson

Funders: NIHR East Midlands Clinical Research Network

Key contact: Dr Joseph Akanuwe: jakanuew@lincoln.ac.uk

We were commissioned by the NIHR EM CRN to undertake a feasibility study into the development and delivery of a fully integrated public health lifestyle dataset across the East Midlands region in England. This study is current being disseminated and a link to the interim report can be found here.

Examining the relationship between ethnicity and COVID related sickness in the healthcare workforce.

Study Team: Dr Maxime Inghels; Dr Ros Kane; Dr Priya Lall; DrDavid Nelson; Dr Zahid Asghar; Professor Derek Ward’ Tracy McCranor; Tony Kavanagh; Professor, Jaspreet Phull and Professor Frank Tanser

There is an increasing awareness of the relationship between BAME individuals and COVID 19. There have been high proportions of death and sickness in healthcare workers from BAME backgrounds (especially Black and Asian) within the UK and other populations. As yet, there have been no descriptive studies on the impact of COVID-9 in healthcare professionals from different ethnic backgrounds within a rural population, such as Lincolnshire.

This study examined the association between ethnicity and COVID-19 health status within healthcare professionals in Lincolnshire – by analysing the Human Resources sickness data during the initial outbreak period (March 2020 onwards). We conducted a time-to-event analysis to compare rates of COVID-related sickness among BAME employees versus the non-BAME employees.

Data are now analysed and the study has been submitted for publication and is soon to be presented as a Keynote speech at the 18th International Postgraduate Research Colloquium  hosted by the Behavioural Sciences Research Institute (BSRI), Srinakarintarawirot University, Bangkok, with partner universities in Indonesia, Malaysia and The Philippines.

Nursing students’ experiences of participation in nursing ethics workshops

Team: Rachael Mason; Janice Wiseman and Dr Ros Kane (In collaboration with colleagues across the 6 participating European countries)

 

We recently co-hosted a series of international workshops (please see more detail about previous and the current workshops) – around the theme of ethics in nursing care. Sessions were held on TEAMS involved taught and interactive sessions and discussions with nursing students and lecturers from England, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Slovenia and Finland.

 

This study is following up student participants who are taking part in individual evaluation interviews – exploring their views and experiences around the issues raised in the taught sessions and examining the transfer of learning into their using practice.