I am a Senior Lecturer and co-lead the Social Research with Deaf people (SORD) research group.

Upon completion of my BSc in Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire in 2004, I became a youth service co-ordinator, working with d/Deaf* young people in the East Lancashire area. I then decided to return to university to study at Masters level, and took the opportunity to be a Research Assistant at the University of Manchester. My first project involved carrying out an evaluation of a pilot project on parenting deaf children. While completing my MRes, I worked on various research projects on a part time basis. These projects included research into resilience and Deaf role models, as well as forward-translating the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire into British Sign Language (BSL). 

Between 2006 and 2008, I occasionally gave lectures on the social construction of deafness to BSc Social Work students at Manchester Metropolitan University and trainee audiologists at the University of Manchester.

In 2009, I went to the Institute of Technology within the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, in New York on a six-month internship. During this time, I worked alongside Professor Peter Hauser and his team in the Deaf Studies Laboratory, on a project on the psychosocial and academic achievements of deaf young people, mainly focusing on cultural capital and community cultural wealth in relation to the education of deaf children.

In 2009, I commenced my doctoral research fellowship which was funded by the National Institute for Health Research. The title of my PhD thesis was ‘Deaf people and mental well-being: Exploring and measuring mental well-being in British Sign Language’. The aims of the PhD were; (i) to understand the association between childhood and adulthood mental well-being in d/Deaf populations; (ii) to find out how well standardised mental health assessments can be used with d/Deaf populations; and (iii) to explore Deaf people’s perspectives on mental well-being. This study involved the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Between 2011 and 2012, I was also Study Manager of a project working on the validation of BSL versions of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7), and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). This was funded by the British Society for Mental Health and Deafness.

Upon the completion of my doctoral research fellowship, I was trial manager on a project evaluating the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of British Sign Language (BSL) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT).

Examples of previous Research Project(s):

• External Evaluation of the NDCS Parenting Project.
• Deaf Children and Families - Building Resilience. A Literature Review
• Independent Evaluation of NDCS's Deaf Role Model Project.
• Deaf people and mental well-being: Exploring and measuring mental well-being in British Sign Language.
• Translating the Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7, and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale into British Sign Language. Followed by a Pilot Study.
• Medicines for Neonates: Using Routinely Collected NHS Electronic Clinical Data for Applied Research to Improve Newborn Outcomes.
• SAFE: Personal safety skills for deaf children programme.
• Evaluating the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of British Sign Language (BSL) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)

• Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) in British Sign Language (BSL) (Principal Investigator)
• Recording Emerging Adulthood in Deaf Youth (READY) study (Co-investigator)
• Social determinants of health/wellbeing amongst deaf people.

(* d/Deaf = “Deaf” with a capital D refers to Deaf people who see themselves as part of a linguistic minority group.)

Current projects:

I am currently a NIHR Post-Doctoral Research Fellow working on a project titled: “Telemedicine as a treatment for Deaf people with common mental health problems who use British Sign Language: a mixed methods feasibility study”. The overarching research aim is to test the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of telemedicine intervention in the delivery of psychological therapy in BSL to Deaf people who are experiencing anxiety and/or depression.

Additionally, I am the co-PI for an evaluation study of the Deaf Cancer Support project and the co-PI for an evaluation study for the pilot 18-25 Deaf Mental Health Assessment Service. Recently, I was awarded the Healthier Futures Pump Priming Award for Electronic Patient Records and the Deaf BSL users project in partnership with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

My research interests primarily involve issues pertaining to d/Deaf communities and their families, especially those which promote more positive outcomes. I am particularly interested in aspects of research related to the mental and emotional well-being of deaf people from birth onwards, such as the self-esteem of d/Deaf young people in general.

I am also concerned with methodological issues which arise in research with d/Deaf people. My interests include examination of the psychometric properties of instruments used with Deaf sign language using populations, including the translation process and the validation of standard instruments.

The main focus of this research is considering outcomes which could improve the quality of life for d/Deaf people and their families.

My MRes dissertation was a study of the relationship between the perceived strengths and difficulties of d/Deaf young people and their self-esteem. I used reports both from d/Deaf young people themselves and from their parents. For the BSL versions of the psychometric instruments (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale; the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), the instruments were translated into BSL and then back-translated. The data in the study was analysed using various statistical tests.

My PhD thesis focused on mental well-being in d/Deaf populations. As a result of the lack of available mental health assessments in BSL, four mental health assessments were produced in BSL (namely the CORE-OM, PHQ-9, GAD-7 and WSAS) and the reliability and validation of each version has been examined. Deaf people’s perspectives on mental well-being have also been explored.

• Professor Alys Young (Professor of Social Work, Education and Research)
• Professor Karina Lovell (Director of Research & Professor of Mental Health)
• Dr Celia Hulme (Research Associate) 
• Dr Rosemary Oram 
• Robyn Swannack
• Molly Redpath-Healy 

• British Psychological Society (BPS)

• British Society for Mental Health and Deafness

I have used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyse data. For example, my use of a qualitative approach has included using themes content analysis to analyse interview data. For studies involving quantitative data, I have used various statistical tests, including Mann-Whitney U tests, correlation, linear and multiple regression, internal reliability (e.g. Cronbach’s alpha), and principal component analysis (for construct validity). Some of research projects that I have undertaken used mixed methods research approach.

• Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) - 2022
• PhD Nursing - 2013, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester
• MRes Psychology - 2008, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester
• BSc (Hons) Psychology - 2004, University of Central Lancashire

I teach research methods in various units at the Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work. Currently, I am unit lead for NURS60020 Managing Research in Health and Social Care; and I contribute to other units including NURS60018 Research Designs; NURS60014 Foundations of Research; MNurs4100 / MSc70120 Dissertations. I occasionally teach sessions to other programmes including BMidwif.

In 2022 I was awarded as a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA).