Project Description
I am the Co-PI for HBSC England. As a NMC registered academic community nurse and health visitor, my main research interest is in primary and community health care, especially research that seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of families and children in the community. I hold a strong belief in working in partnership with parents and families and understanding their needs to inform research and practice, most recently the experiences of women in Ukraine of perinatal mental health issues, Becoming Breast Feeding Friendly in UK and parenting using the TOPSE evaluation tool.
As a nurse and health visitor I have promoted the role of nursing in primary and community care throughout my career and supervised and managed multiple practice-based studies that examine the public health contribution to primary health care practice and policy. With my co-researchers I developed and validated the TOPSE tool for measuring parenting self-efficacy (www.topse.org) that is now widely used nationally and internationally. This has led to research with Aboriginal communities in Western Australia where I am Adjunct Professor and the Sir Walter Murdoch outstanding International Scholar at Murdoch University. I recently led the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly project across the UK in collaboration with Yale School of Public Health and am currently working with the Children’s Policy Research Unit at UCL on several NIHR funded studies related to the evaluation of the Family Nurse Partnership in England, the delivery of the Health Visiting Service and Adverse Childhood Experiences.
As the lead for research capacity in the NIHR ARC for Kent, Surrey and Sussex, I also have a great interest in mentorship and supporting the health care workforce to develop their clinical and academic careers as a route to bringing transformation to health care delivery and outcomes for patients and families.