Thursday 30 September 2010

Whoopsie: double entry



Forgot to write my blog yesterday: "quel dommage!"

But just to show that I wasn't actually just goofing off somewhere...

Met with Disaster Management colleague Fang yesterday to plan the first draft of our paper for the conference in Florida next year. 

Have spent a lot of today reading details on various funding sites, including The British Academy, to whom I may be requesting help with conference travel costs.

Also spent time discussing marks with my co-assessor of MSc Health Psychology dissertation projects.  Some great studies:
  • The experience of male breast cancer
  • Assessing shared decision making in healthcare consultations
  • The experience of women alcoholics
  • The psychological impact of eczema
  • Health information-seeking via the internet
We hope that some of our students will eventually submit their work for publication.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Psychosocial support needs in polycystic ovary syndrome



Nice visit to Stratford upon Avon today to speak at the Endocrine Nurse Update about psychosocial support needs in polycystic ovary syndrome.

I also heard some presentations that got me thinking.  While much of the biochemistry and physiology went over my head, I was struck by case presentations focused on endocrine cancers.

I thought I'd have a look at what work has been done on the psychosocial impact of these conditions (for example, multiple endocrine neoplasias), and indeed on supportive interventions. Although there have been calls for more work in this area, not much seems to have been published yet.  Perhaps one for a student on our MSc Health Psychology to look at researching for a dissertation project...

Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Stratford_Armouries_Elephant.jpg

Monday 27 September 2010

A life on the ocean wave!


hmmm... Back after a few days holiday bobbing about in the Norfolk Broads.  I know it's probably raining there now but it still seems kind of appealing.

It's freshers week here, which means the streets of Coventry are vibrant/crawling with bright young things (depending on your point of view).

I am feeling ever so slightly smug as my sabbatical has started, meaning I am somewhat remote from the frenetic activities that herald a new academic year. 

I had a very fruitful meeting with PhD student today to discuss her plans for research on assistance dogs.  We are thinking about possible publications already.

Photo credits: Rope by Richardsons of Stalham, cardigan and trousers (just seen) knitted by the late Mrs Nimmons, Blackrock Road, Randalstown; hat - model's own.


Friday 17 September 2010

Misty eyed



I have been working today  - HONEST.  More marking  - had enough now.  Just a few emails, etc. to deal with before it's time to put up the 'out of office' sign and then I'm officially on my hols.

Off to the misty autumnal Norfolk broads for a few days messing around in a boat. 

Thursday 16 September 2010

Review and planning day


Like most academic staff in the Psych Department, I was at the review and planning day today.  This is our 'getting ready to launch' meeting in preparation for the start of the autumn term.

Although a lot of the discussion revolved around arrangements for taught students - how to welcome freshers, develop our students' employability, ensure the quality of the course, etc. - we also discussed our plans for applied research and the various targets that we've been set for bringing in external income. 

As usual, it all seems rather daunting...  But on the other hand, we are really starting to build up a head of steam as regards psychology applied research.  Here are just a few of the publications authored by staff in 2010 - and the year isn't over yet!
 
Bowen, E. (2010). Therapeutic environment and outcomes in a U.K. domestic violence perpetrator program. Small Group Research, 41(2), 198-220. doi:10.1177/1046496409357081
Bowen, E., & Dixon, L. (2010). Concurrent and prospective associations between facial affect recognition accuracy and childhood antisocial behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 36(5), 305-314. doi:10.1002/ab.20357
Farrington-Flint, L., Canobi, K. H., Wood, C., & Faulkner, D. (2010). Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 427-448. doi:10.1348/026151009X424222
Goodman, S., & Burke, S. (2010). 'Oh you don't want asylum seekers, oh you're just racist': A discursive analysis of discussions about whether it's racist to oppose asylum seeking. Discourse and Society, 21(3), 325-340. doi:10.1177/0957926509360743
Grubb, A. (2010). Modern day hostage (crisis) negotiation: The evolution of an art form within the policing arena. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(5), 341-348. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2010.06.002
Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., & Sheehy, K. (2010). Does speech rhythm sensitivity predict children's reading ability 1 year later? Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(2), 356-366. doi:10.1037/a0018049
Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., & Sheehy, K. (2010). The contribution of sensitivity to speech rhythm and non-speech rhythm to early reading development. Educational Psychology, 30(3), 247-267. doi:10.1080/01443410903560922
Sage, L., & Kavussanu, M.(2010). Moral identity and social goals predict eudaimonia in football. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2010.05.008
Taylor, L. M., Hume, I. R., & Welsh, N. (2010). Labelling and self-esteem: The impact of using specific vs. generic labels. Educational Psychology, 30(2), 191-202. doi:10.1080/01443410903494478
Wood, C., Pillinger, C., & Jackson, E. (2010). Understanding the nature and impact of young readers' literacy interactions with talking books and during adult reading support. Computers and Education, 54(1), 190-198. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.08.003

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Different grades...


Today I have mostly been:
Doing an awful lot of marking.

Our MSc Health Psychology students each submit a paper prepared for publication in a specified journal, based on the empirical study they did for their dissertation.  Some interesting topics and high quality work - but marking them takes ages.  Grading each one is effectively the same as completing a peer review for a journal.  Each is marked by the original supervisor and independently marked by another memeber of the course team. 

The process hasn't been helped by having to be blind second marker on a resit undergraduate project which was three times the specified length!  Needless to say this did not endear it to me. 

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Monday 13 September 2010

"As a new user to the service..."Oh no I'm not!!!!!


You know how I'd almost finished my presentation for the Endocrine Nurse Update... 

Just needed to do the reference list.  About to do it this morning when disaster* struck. 

I've got in excess of 20,000 references in my RefWorks database - going back to student days in mid 1990's.  When I used EndNote, I always had a back up copy of the database, but now the University has ceased to support EndNote and switched to RefWorks, I don't have that facility.  On logging in this morning I was greeted as a new user (with no references) and invited to CREATE my database.  Horror...

I have been assured that RefWorks know about the problem, which appears to be affecting all Coventry University users.  I just hope they get it sorted out soon.

On a less frustrating note: did a telephone interview with a journalist today, about the work Glenn Furnell and I presented about the experience of Midlanders whose homes were flash flooded.  Have also seen three very interesting papers that have been published in the interim:

Carroll et al 2009 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18996730

Carroll et al 2010 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618385

Mason et al 2010 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a918846798~db=all~jumptype=rss


*I realise of course that the meaning of this word is somewhat context-specific ;-)

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Almost but not quite...

Half of today spent reviewing an application for funding to the National Institute for Health Research "Research for Patient Benefit" scheme. Very time consuming, but a good refresher given that it's the same scheme I hope to be applying to myself at the end of my forthcoming research sabbatical.

Also ALMOST finished my presentation for the Endocrine Nurse Update later this month.

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Degree redesign, "assistancedogblog" and motivational interviewing

Typical mishmash academic day today...

Degree review meeting again - to discuss the principles that will underpin the redesign of our undergraduate psychology programmes.

Also had my first look at the blog our PhD student Felicity has started to record progress on her research study on the psychosocial impact of assistance dogs.

Finally confirmed some dates for our next Introduction to Motivational Interviewing courses, which will soon be bookable via the Coventry University online store:

Thursday 30th September 2010

Thursday 28th October 2010


Monday 6 September 2010

Back to more mundane things

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Here_comes_rain_again.jpg
Back from Eastern Europe to a very wet and miserable West Midlands.  Not the most exciting of days, but an interesting item in Nursing Times which has been drawn to my attention:

Motivational interviewing 2: how to apply this approach in general nursing practice

Must remember to cite this when talking to Endocrine Nurses later this month - and follow up on room bookings for our next Motivational Interviewing training day.

Saturday 4 September 2010

Cluj-Napoca Final Day


Last day of the conference today. 

Another great keynote: Michael Murray began with a story about his last trip to Romania, (in the early 1970's) in which he and his 'hippy' companions were swiftly escorted back over the border by the army. 

He went on to take us on a brief critical tour of health psychology's past, before making suggestions for future developments.

We also had the closing ceremony with lots of thanks and roses, plus a trailer for next year's conference in Crete.

I was fortunate to be awarded a poster prize for my work on PCOS - so even I got a flower to take home on the plane :-)

Now to see if there's enough space left in my suitcase to permit another trip to that great fabric shop on Bulevardal Eroilor...

Friday 3 September 2010

Cluj-Napoca Day 4

OK - getting a bit tired now - standing by a poster for an hour at a time is quite wearing on the feet.  You can probably tell this by the look on my face in today's picture.

The paper that made the greatest impression on me today was the Keynote, by Prof. Mircea Miclea, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Prof Miclea discussed in detail the Computer Mediated Psychotherapy intervention that he and colleagues have developed: paxonline.  What makes it distinctive is that it is multi-user platform, creating a community of learning that includes patients, family physicians and psychotherapists.  It also offers a stepped care intervention, designed to meet patients' needs at the point of initial help-seeking, rather than assuming that all people with mental health problems will want to, or be able to access face to face psychotherapy.

Although it's in Romanian, and won't go online until later this month, I think I'll have a look and run it through Google Translate.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Cluj-Napoca Day 3


Met an old friend today from way back (postgraduate days at Queen’s, Belfast). Brendan was giving a talk in the 9 am slot “Thinking critically about men’s health promotion”. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to that session, but hoping to catch up with him at some point during the conference.

The most interesting presentation I attended today was a paper by Maria del Rio Carral, from the Research Centre on Health Psychology, University of Lausanne. Maria described her PhD research, using a novel “activity focused” methodology. She and her colleagues are attempting to develop context-rich models of subjective wellbeing, based on the mundane daily activities people engage in. Definitely want to take this one further by reading their publications.

I also presented one of my posters today:

Percy, C., Gibbs, T., Potter, L. & Boardman, S. (2010) Role of a support group for women with polycystic ovary syndrome. I’m the rather pink and windswept one in today’s picture.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Cluj-Napoca Day 2

Conference proper started today, with a provocative keynote from Michelle Fine from the Graduate Centre, City University of New York. Taking the conference theme "Health in Context" seriously, Prof. Fine talked about her work in participatory action research, and the commitments that underpin her approach.

She cautioned us of the dangers that (psychological) science is being recruited for a particular kind of nation building - one that increases the gap between richest and poorest. She argued that 'circuits of dispossession' need to be recognised and challenged by health psychologists' work, and gave us some homework to do:

Both Spain and France report social problems and deprivation among Roma people living on their soil. France has 'repatriated' dozens of Roma , and intends to continue - citing crime statistics as a justification. Spain has invested significantly to include Roma and address inequalities. Prof Fine suggests we treat this as a natural experiment. Let's all see how these divergent responses translate in to social and health outcomes in the years to come.