Research Themes
Digital interventions
CCCAHP has a large programme of research (over £80 million) developing and evaluating digital behavioural interventions to improve health. CCCHAP members pioneered the Person-based Approach to intervention development (see: www.personbasedapproach.org) and co-created the LifeGuide software platform to support the iterative development, evaluation and dissemination of interventions (see: www.lifeguideonline.org). These include digital tools to:
- help people self-manage a range of health conditions, including hypertension, cancer-related fatigue, disability following stroke, dizziness, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes and its complications , flu-related symptoms and infections, and eczema
- support people to lose weight, stop smoking, practice hand hygiene, improve nutrition and increase their physical activity
- support children and young people and their families manage chronic pain of any aetiology including cancer-related pain and pain at the end of life and in survivors.
- help improve the uptake of condom use and reduce sexually transmitted infections
- enhance clinicians’ communication skills
Understanding Pain
For more information visit Pain Research Lab page.
Our research into paediatric and adult pain aims to push the boundaries of knowledge and increase our understanding of the psychological aspects of acute and chronic pain throughout the lifespan, and improve how pain is managed by addressing its psychological correlates. Our research focuses mainly on three intertwined themes:
- the cognitive and affective neuroscience of pain – in particular, the emotional modulation of attention in chronic pain.
- the development of theory-driven psychological interventions for the management of acute and chronic pain in children and adults.
- the evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of psychological interventions in paediatric and adult pain management.
Current studies include:
- The PARAMOUNT Study: End-of-Life pain management by family carers and healthcare professionals in infants, children and young people in out of hospital settings
- Attentional bias to somatosensory stimuli in chronic pain patients
- Prevention of Morbidity in Sickle Cell Disease (POMS2a)-overnight auto-adjusting continuous positive airway pressure compared with nocturnal oxygen therapy
Our research is informed by systematic reviews and meta-analyses, some recent and current examples of which include:
- Home-based physical symptom management interventions for informal (family) caregivers of patients with life limiting conditions
- The association between quantitative sensory testing and pain intensity or disability in paediatric chronic pain
- Conditioned pain modulation in children and adolescents
- The impact of chronic pain on school functioning for children and young people.
Sexual and Reproductive Health
For more information visit Centre for Sexual Health Research page
Current and recent research on sexual and reproductive health includes these areas:
- sexually transmitted infections
- interventions to improve uptake, and experience of, condom use
- young people’s sexual activity
- areal variations in rates of teenage conceptions
- the role of pleasure in sexual development and in relationships
- challenges and opportunities associated with increases in pornography access
- factors affecting conception outcome decisions in young people
- sexual health among older adults
- development of innovative sex education programmes
- understanding of sexual health and behaviour in couple relationships
- mental, physical, and sexual health and well-being among sexual and gender minority individuals
- HIV prevention strategies, including the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
- sexual orientation and identity
Understanding patient experiences
Our research on patients’ experiences uses mixed methods to explore, understand, and work to improve patients’ experiences of diverse health care interventions. Areas of current interest include:
- supporting informed treatment decision-making and adherence to treatment, enhancing treatment outcomes through psychological pathways
- patients’ lived experience of the use of placebos in randomised clinical trials and associated ethical procedures
- innovative and ethically acceptable ways to harness contextual components of healthcare (including placebo effects) and thus improve patients’ experiences and clinical outcomes
- complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine, including the role of these approaches in supporting health behaviour change
Facilities and Equipment
The Pain Research Laboratory is temperature-controlled and hosts state-of-the-art quantitative sensory testing equipment, including the TSA-II Neurosensory-Analyser, a bespoke cold-pressor task, Rolltemp rollers, a handheld digital algometer, pinprick stimulators, and a set of von Frey hairs among others. The lab features a private waiting area, which is especially important for parents when conducting our paediatric research.
Funding
Members of our research group have received funding from the UK research councils, NIHR, medical charities, Australian Research Council, Norwegian Research Council, DfID, and EC.
Collaboration and Partnership
CCCAHP collaborates with researchers from many countries and across a range of disciplines, including medicine, public health, computer science, sociology, and health sciences. Current collaborators include researchers from: University College London, University of Oxford, Bristol University, Coventry University, Harvard University, Indiana University, University of Oslo, University of Sussex, University of Technology Sydney, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, and the Royal Marsden and Great Ormond Street Hospitals.
Impact - brief description of pathways to impact
The digital interventions developed by CCCAHP are made available nationally and internationally to help patients, clinicians and members of the community manage their health. Our university enterprise works with the public, private and third sectors, and has already disseminated interventions to help with antimicrobial stewardship, obesity, respiratory illness, and dizziness.
Prof Liossi runs an outpatient psychology clinic and participates in the MDT clinics for children with chronic pain and is the co-chair of Great Ormond Street Hospital’s (GOSH) paediatric psychology research committee. Access to clinical populations at GOSH has supported recruitment to funded trials and provides direct pathways to impact for the Pain Research Lab’s translational research.
CCCAHP also informs clinical practice and educational initiatives; for example, members of CCCAHP have participated in preparing clinical and education practice guidelines and giving guidance to WHO and NICE. Additionally, in terms of public health policy, members of CCCAHP have attended Parliamentary Select Committees, been members of Government Independent Advisory Groups, including SAGE, as well as offering guidance to some LMIC governments (including Nepal and Thailand) on sexual health, sex education and related issues. Members of CCCAHP work with national and international policy-makers to develop processes and programmes to reduce negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Members of CCCAHP also work directly with local NHS services to improve and evaluate service delivery.
Permanent CCCAHP members:
Heather Armstrong
Felicity Bishop
Kat Bradbury
Laura Dennison
Cynthia Graham (Co-Director)
Roger Ingham
Sarah Kirby
Christina Liossi (Co-Director)
Leanne Morrison
Daniel Schoth
Lucy Yardley