Our Research

Our research has an impact on people's lives by helping to improve health and social care practice and policy. 

• Depression: A couples' disease? - Depression can place huge strain on a relationship. The focus on the person with depression can lead the other party to feel unsupported, and excluded from their partner's care. Can better access to couple's therapy help?
• Can we do more to support birth mothers after a child's taken in to care? - This interdisciplinary research project, led by the Department of Sociology and Criminology, carried out a review of the Positive Choices service run by Suffolk County Council. The team also developed a new app to help social workers track the impact of such services.
• Volunteering in the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic - Dr Ewen Speed is co-investigator in this important project that will examine the volunteering response to Covid-19 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This evidence can then be used to inform policy making on volunteering and it's impact on the economic recovery of post-pandemic Britain.

Academics in our School have contributed The Conversation articles on hot topics in health and social care such as: 

• Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis' article "From Franco’s ‘stolen babies’ to Nazi Germany, social services have a dark past – it’s time for a global reckoning" looked at the darker history of social work in Europe.
• Th rollout of Universal Credit has been highly criticised for it's impact on recipients, with concerns about the impact on mental health raised in the article "Constant anxiety of benefit sanctions is toxic for mental health of disabled people" by Dr Danny Taggart and Dr Ewen Speed.
• Austerity has had a deep impact on social care services, as discussed by Professor Peter Beresford in his article, "Stop telling people who need social care they aren’t eligible – be honest, there isn’t enough money".

Our academics publish papers in a range of journals related to their areas of interest.

Professor Ewen Speed

• Hammond, Jonathan and Speed, Ewen and Allen, Pauline and McDermott, Imelda and Coleman, Anna and Checkland, Kath (2018) 'Autonomy, accountability, and ambiguity in arm’s-length meta-governance: the case of NHS England.' Public Management Review. ISSN 1461-667X
• Scambler, G and Scambler, S and Speed, E (2014) 'Civil society and the Health and Social Care Act in England and Wales: Theory and praxis for the twenty-first century.' Social Science and Medicine, 123. 210 - 216. ISSN 0277-9536
• Speed, Ewen and Gabe, Jonathan (2019) 'The reform of the English National Health Service: professional dominance, countervailing powers and the buyers’ revolt.' Social Theory and Health. ISSN 1477-8211
• Pavolini, Emmanuele and Kuhlmann, Ellen and Agartan, Tuba and Burau, Viola and Mannion, Russell and Speed, Ewen (2018) 'Healthcare governance, professions and populism: Is there a relationship? An explorative comparison of five European countries.' Health Policy, 122 (10). 1140 - 1148. ISSN 0168-8510
• Glynos, Jason and Speed, Ewen and West, Karen (2015) 'Logics of marginalisation in health and social care reform: Integration, choice, and provider-blind provision.' Critical Social Policy, 35 (1). 45 - 68. ISSN 0261-0183
• Speed, Ewen and Mannion, Russell (2020) 'Populism and health policy: three international case studies of right-wing populist policy frames.' Sociology of Health and Illness. ISSN 0141-9889

Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis

• Ioakimidis, V. and Trimikliniotis, N., (2020). Making Sense of Social Work’s Troubled Past: Professional Identity, Collective Memory and the Quest for Historical Justice. The British Journal of Social Work. 50 (6), 1890-1908
• Campbell, J., Ioakimidis, V. and Maglajlic, RA., (2019). Social work for critical peace: A comparative approach to understanding social work and political conflict. European Journal of Social Work. 66 (2), 1073-1084
• Giannou, D. and Ioakimidis, V., (2019). ‘Neither invisible nor abnormal!’ Exploring the invisibility and pathologisation of LGBT people in the Greek National Health System. Critical Social Policy. 40 (3), 370-388
• Harrop, D. and Ioakimidis, V., (2018). Practising social work in a ‘stateless state’; an exploration of the views, experiences and practice of children and family social workers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. European Journal of Social Work. 21 (5), 724-736
• Ioakimidis, V., Santos, CC. and Herrero, IM., (2014). Reconceptualizing social work in times of crisis: An examination of the cases of Greece, Spain and Portugal. International Social Work. 57 (4), 285-300

Professor Fiona Nolan

• Smith, T., Clark, A., Dodd, E., Khoo, M.E., Heneker, S., Cross, J., Cheston,R.,Gray, R., Fox, C., Nolan, F. Feasibility study suggests no impact from protected engagement time on adverse events in mental health wards for older adults. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing,2017 doi:10.1111/inm.12362
• Dodd, E., Cheston, R., Procter, C., Heneker, S., Gray, R., Fox, C., Nolan, F. Protected engagement time on older adult mental health wards: A thematic analysis of the views of patients, carers, and staff. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 2017 doi: 10.1111/inm.12342
• Nolan, F. M., Fox, C., Cheston, R., Turner, D., Clarke, A., Dodd, E., Khoo, M.E., Gray, R. (2016). "A feasibility study comparing UK older adult mental health inpatient wards which use protected engagement time with other wards which do not: study protocol." Pilot and Feasibility Studies 2(1): 1-12.
• Chambers M, McAndrew S, Nolan F, Thomas B, Watts P, Kantaris X. Service user involvement in the coproduction of a mental health nursing metric: The Therapeutic Engagement Questionnaire. Health expectations,2016 1-7 DOI:10.1111/hex.12526

Professor Susan McPherson

• McPherson, S. and Beresford, P., (2019). Semantics of patient choice: how the UK national guideline for depression silences patients. Disability and Society. 34 (3), 1-7
• McPherson, S. and Hengartner, MP., (2019). Long-term outcomes of trials in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence depression guideline. BJPsych Open, 5 (5). ISSN 2056-4724.

Professor Jan McAllister

• McAllister, J and Gascoine, S and Carroll, A and Humby, K and Kingston, M and Shepstone, L and Risebro, H and Mackintosh, B and Thompson, TD and Hodgekins, J (2017) 'Cognitive bias modification for social anxiety in adults who stutter: a feasibility study of a randomised controlled trial.' BMJ Open, 7 (10). ISSN 2044-6055
• McAllister, J. 2016. Behavioural, emotional and social development of children who stutter. Journal of fluency disorders, 50, 23-32.
• Heelan, Milly and McAllister, Jan and Skinner, Jane (2016) 'Stuttering, alcohol consumption and smoking.' Journal of Fluency Disorders, 48. 27 - 34. ISSN 0094-730X
• McAllister, Jan and Collier, Jacqueline (2014) 'Birth weight and stuttering: Evidence from three birth cohorts.' Journal of Fluency Disorders, 39. 25 - 33. ISSN 0094-730X

Professor Gill Green

• Green, G., Davison, C., Bradby, H., Krause, K., Morente, F., Alex, G. (2014) Pathways to care -  how Superdiversity shapes the need for navigational assistance. Sociology of Health & Illness, 36,8,1205-1219
• Cooper, D., Green, G., Tembo, D. & Christie, S. (2019) Levels of resilience and delivery of HIV care in response to urban violence and crime. Journal of Advanced Nursing.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14022
• Green, G and Barratt, C and Wiltshire, M (2016) Control and care: landlords and the governance of vulnerable tenants in houses in multiple occupation. Housing Studies, 31 (3). 269 - 286. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2015.1080818
• Barratt, C & Green, G. (2017) Making a House in Multiple Occupation a Home: Using Visual Ethnography to Explore Issues of Identity and Well-Being in the Experience of Creating a Home Amongst HMO Tenants. Sociological Research On-line.22(1)9.
• Green, G. (2016) Power to the people: To what extent has public involvement in applied health research achieved this? Research Involvement and Engagement 2:28. DOI: 10.1186/s40900-016-0042-y
• Booker, C.L., Andrews, L., Green, G. & Kumari, M (2020) Impacts of long-standing illness and chronic illness on working hours and household income in a longitudinal UK study. SSM Population Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100684

In addition to writing papers, many of our staff in the School are reviewers and editors for scholarly journals in their field of expertise including:

• Nurse Education Today
• Journal of Clinical Nursing
• Journal of Advanced Nursing
• Social Science and Medicine
• British Journal of Social Work
• Critical Social Policy
• Journal of Interprofessional Care.

Our academics have published books on aspects of healthcare practice and social care, including: 

• Madness, Violence and Power: A critical collection co-authored by Professor Peter Beresford (Toronto University Press).
• Care of Vulnerable Older People: Legal and Ethical Aspects of Nursing co-authored by Paul Buka (Palgrave Macmillan).
• Coping and Thriving in Nursing: An Essential Guide to Practice by Professor Peter Martin (Sage Publishing).
• De-Medicalizing Misery II co-edited by Dr Ewen Speed (Palgrave Macmillan).
• Social Work and the COVID-19 Pandemic co-authored by Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis (International Insights, Policy press Bristol (eds)).
• Global Social Work in a Political Context Radical Perspectives co-authored by Professor Vasilios Ioakimidis (Policy Press).

In addition, our academics have contributed chapters to books on their specialist areas of research, such as:

• Ioakimidis, V. and Trimikliniotis, N. (2019) Imperialism, colonialism and a Marxist epistemology of 'critical peace' in Webb, S. The Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work, London: Routledge.
• Ioakimidis, V. (2015), Neocolonialism in Social Work, in Wright, D (editor in chief) International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences 2nd Edition, Elsevier.
• Bald, C., Carter, L., Ferstman, C., Fagan, A., Gilbert, G. and Wyllie, A., (2020). The Impact on Vulnerable Populations. Vulnerability: A Discussion. In: Covid-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues. A Project of the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. University of Essex. 147- 148. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2
• Wyllie, A., (2020). The Human Rights of Older People during Covid-19: Social Wellbeing and Access to Care and Support for Older People in the United Kingdom. In: Covid-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues. Editors: Ferstman, C. and Fagan, A., University of Essex. 197- 203. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2.
• Bald, C., Carter, L., Ferstman, C., Fagan, A., Gilbert, G. and Wyllie, A., (2020).The Impact on Vulnerable Populations. Vulnerability: A Discussion In: Covid-19, Law and Human Rights: Essex Dialogues. A Project of the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. Editors: Ferstman, C. and Fagan, A., . University of Essex. 147- 148. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2.
• Jordan, S (2018) The Uses and Abuses of Humour in Social Work. Routledge Advances in Social Work. 1138477583. ISBN 9781138477582
• Jordan, S (2019) How many social workers does it take to change a light bulb? One to hold the bulb in place and the rest to incite revolution: subversion, social work and humour, in Critical and Radical Social Work © Policy Press 2019 Print ISSN 2049 8608 Online ISSN 2049 8675.
• Martínez Herrero and Ioakimidis, V. (in press) Las historias oscuras del trabajo social y su importancia desde el enfoque de los derechos humanos, in Gómez, E. J. y Herranz, J.M. (eds) Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible desde una perspectiva de los Derechos Humanos, el Trabajo Social y la Comunicación. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch. ISBN: 9788413782096.
• Martínez Herrero, M. and Crossley, S., (2019). Pobreza, familias “problemáticas” y trabajo social en Reino Unido: deconstruyendo la manipulación mediática y construyendo una práctica enraizada en los derechos humanos y la justicia social, in Gómez Ciriano, E.J. Imagen, Estigma y Derechos Humanos: Claves Para Abordar la Vulnerabilidad y la Exclusión Social Desde el Trabajo Social y la comunicación, Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch. 167- 201. ISBN: 978-84-1336-512-1.

In response to COVID-19, academics in our School came together to work on a range of projects that look at the impact of the pandemic across local, national and international communities.

Our role as a Health and Social Care education provider has allowed deep insight and understanding in to the effects of COVID-19 on aspects such as mental health, education of healthcare staff, and how social inequalities have been magnified by national responses to the virus.

Papers

• Asimakopoulou, Koula and Hoorens, Vera and Speed, Ewen and Coulson, Neil S and Antoniszczak, Dominika and Collyer, Fran and Deschrijver, Eliane and Dubbin, Leslie and Faulks, Denise and Forsyth, Rowena and Goltsi, Vicky and Harsløf, Ivan and Larsen, Kristian and Manaras, Irene and Olczak‐Kowalczyk, Dorota and Willis, Karen and Xenou, Tatiana and Scambler, Sasha (2020) 'Comparative optimism about infection and recovery from COVID‐19; Implications for adherence with lockdown advice.' Health Expectations. ISSN 1369-6513
• Bald, Caroline and Walker, Sharon (2020) 'Covid-19 and Social Inequalities in Health in the UK.' In: Ferstman, Carla and Fagan, Andrew, (eds.) Covid-19, Law and Human Rights : Essex Dialogues. A Project of the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. University of Essex, 159 - 166. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2
• Bald, Caroline and Carter, Laura and Ferstman, Carla and Fagan, Andrew and Gilbert, Geoff and Wyllie, Aaron (2020) 'The Impact on Vulnerable Populations. Vulnerability: A Discussion.' In: Ferstman, Carla and Fagan, Andrew, (eds.) Covid-19, Law and Human Rights : Essex Dialogues. A Project of the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. University of Essex, 147 - 148. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2
• Kapilashrami, Anuj and Bhui, Kamaldeep (2020) 'Mental health and COVID-19: is the virus racist?' The British Journal of Psychiatry, 217 (2). 405 - 407. ISSN 0007-1250
• Lackie, Kelly and Najjar, Ghaidaa and El-Awaisi, Alla and Frost, Jody and Green, Chris and Langlois, Sylvia and Lising, Dean and Pfeifle, Andrea L and Ward, Helena and Xyrichis, Andreas and Khalili, Hossein (2020) 'Interprofessional education and collaborative practice research during the COVID-19 pandemic: Considerations to advance the field.' Journal of Interprofessional Care, 34 (5). 583 - 586. ISSN 1356-1820
• Mannion, Russell and Speed, Ewen (2020) 'Populism, pestilence and plague in the time of Coronavirus.' International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare. ISSN 2056-4902 (In Press)
• Montel, Lisa and Kapilashrami, Anuj and Coleman, Michel and Allemani, Claudia (2020) 'The Right to Health in Times of Pandemic: What Can We Learn from the UK’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak?' Health and Human Rights: an international journal, 22 (2). ISSN 1079-0969
• Sharma, Jeevan and Sharma, Anurag and Kapilashrami, Anuj (2020) 'Covid-19 and Precarity of Low-income Migrant Workers in Indian Cities.' Society and Culture in South Asia. ISSN 2393-8617 (In Press)
• Wyllie, Aaron (2020) 'The Human Rights of Older People during Covid-19: Social Wellbeing and Access to Care and Support for Older People in the United Kingdom.' In: Ferstman, Carla and Fagan, Andrew, (eds.) Covid-19, Law and Human Rights : Essex Dialogues. A Project of the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. University of Essex, 197 - 203. ISBN 978-1-5272-6632-2