I am a health psychologist and academic researcher at the University of Bath. My research is focused on improving health literacy and health communication for people with lower levels of education and literacy to empower them to be involved in decisions about their health. The overarching aim of my research is to achieve a better standard of healthcare that is sustainable, patient-centred and driven by evidence. I conduct applied health services research that seeks to facilitate shared decision-making; support healthcare professionals to understand and respond to the needs, experiences preferences of patients; and strengthen the patient voice in the design and evaluation of health services and guidelines.

I was awarded my PhD in Health Psychology from the Sydney School of Public Health (2010) at the University of Sydney, Australia, and then secured an Early Career Research Fellowship (Public Health) from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. I have extensive experience with developing and evaluating a range of psychosocial and health behaviour interventions (e.g. decision aids, question prompt lists, patient education resources, and community health programmes) to support patient involvement in health decision-making, particularly in low literacy populations. My work spans a number of areas, including cancer prevention (bowel and breast cancer screening), psycho-oncology (radiation therapy, cancer genetics, cancer and reproductive health), and maternal health (e.g. prenatal genetic testing, pre-conception counselling, post-partum health).

I am currently working with QI members, Prof Christos Vasilakis and Drs Tricia Woodhead and Anna Burhouse on research to evaluate a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on QI in healthcare which they have developed and launched in 2016. This work will contribute to our understanding of the impact of QI education (particularly online training) on people’s knowledge and confidence to translate what they have learnt on the course into clinical or professional practice. I am also collaborating with BANES, Swindon and Wiltshire Maternity System on an improvement project focused on transforming maternity health services across the region, to provide safe high quality care to mothers, children and their families.