Tag Archives: quality

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Hannah Henderson receives PhD for studies on exercise referral schemes

Dr Hannah Henderson, lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science was awarded her PhD at this week’s graduation ceremony at Lincoln Cathedral attended by students, parents and friends, staff, and senior staff from the University of Lincoln. Hannah’s doctoral thesis entitled, “Intended actions, unintended outcomes: towards a processual graduationunderstanding of exercise referral schemes” investigated referrals for supervised physical activity by GPs and other primary care professionals. The these was supervised by Professor Siriwardena of CaHRU, Professor Jaqui Allen-Collinson (Sport and Exercise Science) and Dr Adam Evans (University of Copenhagen).

Exercise referral schemes (ERSs) have developed since the 1990s. Although the evidence for their effectiveness is still equivocal, the complexity of how schemes operate and individuals working with them interact, has been largely overlooked. Hannah was interested in how individual interpretations of ERSs might be co-produced by interactions between those central to the service, and how this might influence both service delivery and impact. The study therefore aimed to address this by exploring participants’ understanding of ERSs, and how these perceptions affected ERS service provision.

The research focused on one case-study ERS in the East of England, using semi-structured group and one-to-one interviews. A process sociological lens was adopted to provide novel insights into participants’ perceptions of ERSs, their role and their ability to influence ERS service provision. Data were also supported by self-elicited reflections from the researcher’s ‘insider’ position to the county’s ERS. The analysis revealed conflicting interpretations of ERS service provision, and perceptions of the scheme’s receipt and impact. The networks of relationships affected participants’ experiences and shaped the delivery of exercise referral. The findings suggested how the actions and interpretations of those central to a service fundamentally altered delivery which influenced the very existence of the scheme.

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Nadeeka Chandraratne, joins CaHRU as an International Research Fellow

NadeekaChandraratneNadeeka Chandraratne joined the Community and Health Research Unit in May 2017 to work on the quality and costs of primary health care, as CaHRU’s second international research fellow.. She will study monitoring and evaluation of primary care systems in the National Health Service (NHS) and their applicability to low and middle income countries with high health standards, like Sri Lanka.

Nadeeka graduated as a medical doctor (MBBS with honours) from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 2006. She gained her Master’s (MSc) in Community Medicine from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo in 2011. She also completed a Master’s degree in Development Studies (MDS) at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo in 2013 and her MD in Community Medicine from the PGIM in 2016.

During her academic and professional career she has researched, published, trained and given invited presentations on a wide range of public health topics including child sexual abuse, premenstrual syndrome, gender-based violence, sexual harassment in workplaces, economic costs of tobacco and alcohol use, migrant health, child nutrition in communities and social health insurance for universal health coverage. She has won several national and academic awards and prizes for her publications.

sigiriya2Prior to joining our University, she worked as a Consultant to the World Health Organization where she was involved in preparing the WHO Country Cooperation Strategy for Sri Lanka and provided technical support to several activities including health financing for Universal Health Coverage.

She has also worked as a Consultant to UNICEF, and is an External Lecturer for the Department of Health Promotion, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. She is also a member of the Expert Committee on Alcohol, Tobacco and Illicit Drugs and was the Secretary of the Expert Committee on Women’s Health of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

At the Ministry of Health Nadeeka has worked in several capacities including as the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in the most populated area in the country. She worked as a Senior Registrar in Community Medicine at the Gender and Women’s Health Unit, Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Health and a Registrar at the Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo.

 

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Joseph Akanuwe presents doctoral research on cancer detection at early diagnosis research conference

JosephJoseph Akanuwe, research assistant at CaHRU, recently attended the Cancer Research UK’s Fourth Biennial Early Diagnosis Research Conference on 23rd and 24th February 2017 in London. Joseph whose abstract was selected for a poster presentation was awarded a bursary to attend the conference. As part of an Early Career Researcher programme, Joseph was also invited to make a PechaKucha (3 minute) oral presentation of his work on early detection of cancer risk in primary care using QCancer, a novel cancer risk assessment tool.

crukedApart from providing an opportunity for Joseph to explain his work to other researchers, policy makers and practitioners with interest in early diagnosis of cancer, the conference included a wide range of speakers from various fields, with a potential for making a significant difference to the field of early diagnosis research and a positive impact for patients. The conference materials including posters, papers/abstracts, conference photos and film will soon be available at the Cancer Research UK website.

Overall, the conference presented an opportunity to share, learn, network and understand the latest developments in early diagnosis research.

By Joseph Akanuwe

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Ana Godoy successfully gains international doctorate

Ana Godoy, Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Extremadura, Spain and visiting research fellow at CaHRU, presented her thesis “Four essays about quality in the delivery of healthcare” last week to obtain her Ana_PhDinternational doctorate.

Ana’s thesis considered the importance of quality indicators in primary healthcare, and included the development of a weighted measurement scale of patient satisfaction with healthcare (the w-HEALTHQUAL), a multi-level analysis of patients’ satisfaction with primary healthcare in the Extremadura region of Spain, and an investigation into the use of various patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in the analysis of hospital performance in the UK.

After giving a detailed presentation of her work and responding to questions from the international panel, which included Drs. Coral Sirdifield and Zahid Asghar from CaHRU, Ana was successfully awarded her international doctorate. She now plans to build on her studies through future research at the University of Extremadura.

By Dr Coral Sirdifield