Catching up

Another day of catching up, including:

• Talking to a charity sector partner organisation about recruiting a student intern to work with them in the coming academic year.  
• Making arrangements for students to resit exams deferred from May/June, including special needs such as extra time and particular colour of paper (yellow can help with some disabilities).
• Marking some literature review papers submitted by students on the Health Psychology Masters programme (Reducing weight bias in healthcare professionals, home carers' experience of dementia care, types of chronic fatigue).  
• Giving feedback on the data analysis a PhD student has done.
• Attempting to write references for recent graduates (with some difficulty as the online student records system seems to have temporarily gone phut)

Hoping to get back into my own research tomorrow!

Health and lifestyle management

Teaching again today on 305HLM Health behaviour change, on the BSc Hons Health & Lifestyle Management Programme.

We were discussing employment opportunities and what our graduates could contribute to multidisciplinary teams in various settings.

Examples of interesting jobs we discussed included:

PhD studentships, e.g. http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ABZ072/fully-funded-environmental-sciences-phd-studentship/

Rehab support workers, e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912602438

Low Intensity Worker (IAPT), e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912601336

Smoking cessation advisor, e.g. http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912597565

Some disappointment was expressed at the starting salaries...

Unrelatedly - I bought a second hand strimmer on ebay to start clearing the allotment with.

Spring soon to be be springing

Term restarted yesterday, so seems a reasonable time to post again - plus the winter solstice has been and gone, so the days are getting longer...

Managed to send a paper off yesterday, which should be published in conference proceedings.  Now just need to arrange a US visa and flight, etc, so I can attend and present it.

Very pleased to say that PhD student Felicity had a successful Progress Review Panel at the end of her first year of research. Well done!

I also got my membership card for the allotment today, so much fantasising about digging, sowing, growing and eating...

Having an assistance dog

Today I have been giving some feedback on a draft PhD chapter, and thinking about people's experiences of having dogs in the family, when a member is ill or disabled.

Have been looking at a few published accounts, including:

• A Puppy Called Aero: An Inspirational Story by Liam Creed
• Endal: How one extraordinary dog brought a family back from the brink by Allen Parton
• Every Dog Has A Gift : True Stories of Dogs Who Bring Hope & Healing into Our Lives by Rachel McPherson
• Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives by Jane Miller
• Learn with LaDee: A Service Dog by Betty Jean Pearson
• My Invisible World: Life With My Brother, His Disability and His Service Dog by Morasha R. Winokur
• Please...Don't Eat the Crayons, Harry!: Moving Beyond Attention Deficit with Help from a Service Dog Named Harry! by Rita Kirsch Debroitner
• Sassy: The short stories of being a service dog by Elizabeth Reeve
• Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog by Sandra J. Gerencher
• The Dog that Saved My Life: Incredible true stories of canine loyalty beyond all bounds  by Isabel George
• The Joy of Lex: Life with a Service Dog by John Thomas Clark
• Transformation of the Heart: Tales of the Profound Impact Therapy Dogs Have on Their Humans by Teri Pichot

But for now I am off through the snow (on foot, sans wheelbarrow) to see if Sainsburys have any carrots...

Testing the interns

Slower going today:

Writing some instructions on literature searching, and designing a test for our (so far) six prospective interns on the disaster management project. Applicants need to pass so we can ensure the quality and consistency of our data analysis.

Also happily signed off the ethics screening protocol for Felicity's survey of assistance dog providers. Looking forward to the data coming in.

Oh and meanwhile... while my hubbie was out treating an elderly patient the other night, he saw a farm offering private allotments.  I talked to them them today and should be getting one in January.  After several years on the waiting list in Warwick I am reaching a fever pitch of excitement!

Double booked, but in a good cause

Good meeting today with Felicity, the PhD student I co-supervise with colleagues Gill Ward and Sandy Herron-Marx.  We agreed on work to be completed before the annual progress review meeting in early January.  And Felicity is almost ready to go live with her first set of data collection.  Link will appear on her blog soon.

Have also had to book a room for tomorrow to speak to all the prospective interns who've responded to my offer of research assistant experience. Am surprised and delighted that there's been such an enthusiastic response.  I am attending a conference organised by colleagues tomorrow but will have to fore go the afternoon session to talk to the candidates. The topic is one that I think deserves much more attention than it's had to date: recognising, preventing and addressing the problems associated with female genital mutilation.

Not NICE any more

Have had a bout of non-posting. I sometimes have a 'second wind' late evening and write something then, but from Weds to Friday last week I was finishing so late that I was too 'zausted to do so.

Wednesday - yet more data analysis; agreed to a PhD student from the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies joining my health psych masters module in the New Year.  She is researching links between military, traumatic injury and sport, so I will be very interested to meet her and find out more.

Thursday - a most stimulating and rewarding day running training in motivational interviewing at the Graduate Centre. Some good evaluation feedback from a delegate who is training in Occupational Therapy:
"Really interesting. Application to practice obvious."


Friday - back to project planning; and making some minor edits to the online submission of the research paper we submitted on Monday.  Hoping it will be sent out for review soon.

Today:
Met with another PhD student to review a draft of her survey on assistance dogs organisations.  Looking very positive.

Attended a progress review panel conducted by video conferencing with a PhD student based overseas. 

Meanwhile, a lot of health related stories in the news:

National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence will continue to advise the UK health service on effectiveness of medicines, but will no longer be able to approve/disapprove them being prescribed by clinicians.

A pilot in the Isle of Wight will offer girls from age 13 years up emergency contraception via community pharmacies.

A paper just published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests that military personnel serving in Iraq had lower rates of mental distress than people in other 'high stress' jobs, such as UK police.
Another paper in the same journal highlights the link between exercise at leisure, and reduced rates of depression. I failed to go for my usual walk today - oops.

Police officers sought for PhD research

Forgot (again) to post blog entry yesterday so making amends by posting on behalf of someone else today:

My colleague Amy Grubb
Calling all police officers... I am still looking for participants for my phd! If you are an officer in any of these forces and haven't already taken part please let me know: West Midlands, West Mercia, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Devon and Cornwall, and Staffordshire...

Amy can be contacted be email using this link. Her profile can be seen on our departmental web page at
http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/HLS/psychology/staff/Pages/Meetthestaff.aspx

Jam tomorrow

.
.

Progress to date on sabbatical objectives...? hmmm

Spent morning reading and commenting on a draft PhD thesis chapter.  A fascinating area of research: the history and scope of animal based therapies. 

Spent afternoon drafting some continuing professional development programmes around health behaviour change, for health professionals.  Then in discussions about what professional bodies we should apply to for accreditation or endorsement of these.

May seem unrelated to my PCOS work, but coming up with externally funded courses like these, and marketing them successfully, is ultimately very important in creating time and funds for applied research activities. I am hoping that generating income towards our departmental targets will help me raise the funds I need personally to attend next year's Disaster Management conference. So I' hoping for jam tomorrow...

And I made a bid to supervise another PhD student this afternoon - hoping I am successful as the proposed project uses interpretative phenomenological analysis - one of my favourite research approaches.

I was also delighted to hear from someone running a specialist PCOS clinic, who'd attended my talk to the Endocrine Nurse Update last week. The very person I was hoping to catch up with over lunch but managed somehow to miss.  Am hopeful that this will lead to a fruitful and mutually beneficial collaboration.

Picture credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malnalekvar.jpg

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.

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

Image courtesy of wiki commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LiquoriceAllsorts2003.jpg

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.

Your psychology project handbook

Dr Anna Weighall, Sheffield Hallam University:

"an essential guide to the process of undertaking psychological research. It provides comprehensive step-by-step advice about each stage of a research project from the initial conception of a research idea, right through to writing it up. It will be an invaluable resource for all psychology project students. I will certainly be recommending it to my own students!"

Taught this year's last cohort of PhD students

12 May 2010

For last time this academic year I did a session on qualitative research methods as part of M001RDC - the induction module for new PG research students.

Hard to believe that we've seen four cohorts of students through this module in just one academic year - and with a huge variety of research topics, from lorry design, through needs of elderly cancer patients, to dance ethnography.

Wishing everyone success with their projects