Tag Archives: CaHRU

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CaHRU Newsletter (Spring 2017)

CaHRU_logotypeThe latest edition of the CaHRU Newsletter (Spring 2017) was published in June 2017. The newsletter presents the work of the research centre over the previous three months and includes articles from the CaHRU blog covering publications, conferences and funding. The newsletter is written by members of the CaHRU team and produced by Sue Bowler, CaHRU administrator.

[su_document url=”https://communityandhealth.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2017/07/CaHRU-Newsletter-Spring-2017.pdf” responsive=”no”]Multi-morbidity, goal-oriented care, the community and equity[/su_document]

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Research on health effects of sleep features in BBC1 documentary ‘The truth about…sleep’

V0011624 A hospital ward for insomniacs. Pen drawing by G.E. Studdy(?I have been working on sleep and health for around 7 years now. When I first started there was very little interest. A clinician, on a national funding committee, said to me “why are you worried? Sleep is natural…” I think this attitude is finally changing.

Graham LawYou may have seen an increased interest in the media in relation to sleep. There are news articles, nearly daily, about the new research and the ‘dangers’ of bad sleep. I suppose they need to sell papers. I was recently part of a BBC1 programme (‘The truth about…sleep’) with Michael Mosely. They approached us to conduct some sort of experiment. Working with my colleague (Dr Eleanor Scott) we recorded the blood glucose in 6 participants for a week. During this time, they were required to reduce their time asleep by 3 hours on 2 consecutive nights.

The results took us by surprise. We know that this should have some sort of impact, but all six participants had raised glucose the days after their sleep restriction. And the rise was around 0,5mmol/L which, as well as being statistically significant, is clinically significant. I am busy writing this up for a journal.

Hopefully, we are going to carry on this idea by looking at shift-workers. That is the plan….

By Prof Graham Law

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Community and Health Research Unit & NHS Health Research Forum, June 2017

sunflowerThe latest CaHRU/NHS Research Forum took place on 7th June 2017 at the University of Lincoln. The Research Forum, which takes place three times a year, is an opportunity for colleagues to showcase their research particularly focussing on studies conducted within Lincolnshire. The meeting began with a lunch and was attended by NHS staff, university staff and students, and colleagues interested in health and social care research.

At the forum three researchers presented their work: Helene Markham (the University of Lincoln & United Lincolnshire Hospitals); Michael Toze, PhD student at CaHRU and Dr Murray Smith, Research Fellow in Econometrics and Health Economics in CaHRU.

mtozeHelene was first to present on her doctoral study entitled: ‘Evaluating follow-up and complexity in cancer clinical trials’. Helene explained that her study seeks to develop an objective methodology to define and quantify trial complexity, intensity and workload to improve operational management and enhance models of trial delivery.

Next, Michael Toze presented his doctoral work on older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) people’s experiences of primary care. His study sought to elicit older LGBT people’s experience of healthcare when consulting with their GP or primary care staff.

murraysmith1Last but not the least was Dr Murray Smith who discussed his work relating to ‘Value of specialist shoulder physiotherapy in the perspective of cost effectiveness’ which involved a cost analysis of extended scope physiotherapy.

All three speakers gave excellent presentations of their work, and there was a lively discussion and response to questions following each. Professor Niro Siriwardena, Director of the Community and Health Research Centre (CaHRU) thanked the speakers and the attendees for helping to make the forum a successful event.

By Joseph Akanuwe

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Mental health and stigma: why knowledge about mental illness is important

brainThe mental health charity Mind states that 1 in 4 individuals experience a mental health problem within their lifetime. Some of these individuals may experience mental health stigma, which is often due to negative connotations associated with mental health [1].

Previous research has highlighted the types of mental health stigma people experience, for example, believing individuals with a mental health disorder are dangerous, [2] and is suggested to be a result of a culture’s pre-determined beliefs. Research has also demonstrated that it is due to members of the public receiving inaccurate information from the media [3, 4]. Because of this, stigma is a big problem as it can prevent individuals from seeking help [5].

laurasimmonsNew research published this week by lead author and PhD student Laura Simmons has suggested that using knowledge and information about mental illness can be used to reduce mental health stigma.

Within her research, Laura conducted a pre and post-test and asked participants to record their level of knowledge and stigma before and after being presented with information about mental health from the charity Mind.

 

CaHRU_logotypeHer article, reducing mental health stigma: the relationship between knowledge and attitude change has been published in the European Journal of Mental Health. It demonstrates that it is possible to change attitudes that are related to mental health stigma, which she suggests should be used when designing education programmes or mental health campaigns.

Laura’s current work focuses on stress as a cause of sickness absence in the ambulance service. Research has outlined that mental health problems are prevalent among the ambulance service due to the nature of their role and reducing stigma is important for them to seek help.

Laura is a PhD student in CaHRU and the Lincoln Institute for Health.

 

 

1. Petty, R. E., D.T. Wegener & L.R. Fabrigar. (1997). Attitudes and attitude change, Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 609-647. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.609

2. Crisp, A.H., M.G. Gelder, H.I. Meltzer & O.J Rowlands. (2000). Stigmatisation of people with mental illness. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 4-7. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.177.1.43.

3. Lam, C.S., H.W.H. Tsang., P.W. Corrigan., T. Lee., B. Angell., K. Shi., S. Jin & J.E. Larson. (2010). Chinese lay theories and mental illness stigma: Implications for research and practices. Journal of Rehabilitation, 76, 35-40.

4. Ineland, L., L. Jacobsson., R.E. Salander & P. Sjolander. (2008). Attitudes towards mental disorders and psychiatric treatment changes over time in a Swedish population. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 62, 192-197. DOI: 10.1080/08039480801962855.

5. Wahl, O.F. (1999). Mental health consumer’s experience of stigma. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 467-478.

By Laura Simmons

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CaHRU/LIH seminar: Causal models and Directed Acyclic Graphs – Professor Graham Law

Graham LawProfessor Graham Law, who recently joined the university and CaHRU as Professor in Medical Statitics, delivered the latest of CaHRU/LIH’s Implementation Science and Research Methods seminar series – on Causal Models and the use of Directed Acyclic Graphs. Professor Law set out the epidemiological context for the seminar. Epidemiology is the study of disease. The scientific methods used within epidemiology aim to discover the determinants of disease. The state of having the disease is the outcome. Causal models seek to examine the factors that contribute to this outcome. Causation is not usually dealt with by statistics. Instead, statistics concerns itself more with associations and relationships between variables.

dagA Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) comprises variables (nodes) and arrows between nodes (directed edges) such that the graph is acyclic, i.e., it not being possible to start at any node, follow the directed edges in the arrowhead direction, and end up back at the same node. In seeking to represent causation, DAGs typically display a series of factors, mediators and outcomes. Having explained this, Graham split the audience into two groups and challenged them to create their own DAGs to display all the possible factors involved in whether sunlight causes lymphoma. The interactive nature of the seminar engaged the audience. The fun nature of the concluding task made a potentially complicated subject easier for the audience to understand and apply.

By Viet-Hai Phung