Overview

Rebecca is a clinical academic specialist physiotherapist. Her background is in chronic pain with a special interest in chronic low back pain and mHealth technology. She is passionate about patient-led service redesign and feels strongly that ‘patient-centered care’ should be a meaningful promise.  She joined the University of Exeter in January 2024 as a postdoctoral research fellow working on a NIHR programme development grant to design a prehabilitation intervention for patients awaiting surgery for spinal stenosis.

Rebecca graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2010 and has worked as a physiotherapist in NHS Highland for over 10 years.  Although now employed with the University of Exeter, she continues to live in Scotland. She enjoys a hybrid work arrangement, splitting her time between remote work and in-person visits to the university.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Highlands and Islands (Nov 2023)

Thesis: A realist study of self-management apps to help people living with chronic low back pain   

Supervisors: Prof Trish Gorely, Dr Michelle Beattie, Dr Ania Zubala

• B.Sc. Physiotherapy, Glasgow Caledonian University
• MA (Hons) Ancient History, Edinburgh University

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Research

Research interests

Rebecca’s research to date has focused on chronic low back pain and the role mHealth technology plays in helping people self-manage their condition. In the course of this research, she has developed significant experience in realist research approaches.  She has published papers on realist methods and co-facilitated several international realist methodology training workshops. She is an active member of the realist research community, presenting webinars at university research hubs and offering mentorship to PhD students in the realist approach.

She is committed to improving healthcare through data-driven solutions to empower patients and personalise care for optimal outcomes. This dedication extends beyond clinical and academic work, as evidenced by her contributions as an early career researcher to the Scottish National Guidelines for Chronic Pain and her participation in an expert advisory group to the Scottish Government's National Pain Management Framework.

Research projects

• Development of a prehabilitation intervention for people with lumbar spinal stenosis undergoing spinal surgery (funded by NIHR)
• Feasibility study and qualitative evaluation of the Joint Academy app as a prehabilitation intervention for patients awaiting elective hip and knee arthroplasty.
• What is a pain coach? An exploration of the definition and role of a pain coach from the perspective of people with lived experience of pain and healthcare professionals.

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Conferences and invited presentations

Hunter, R. Beattie, M. Gorely, T. (2022, March 29th) Literature searches in realist reviews. The method in the madness. [Online conference presentation]. CARES 2022 Realist Training Conference.

Hunter, R., Beattie, M. & Gorely, T. (2022, Oct 28). Can a mobile app help manage chronic low back pain? [Conference presentation]. Scottish Pain Research Community (SPaRC) 2022 Twelfth Annual Scientific Meeting, Edinburgh. Scotland

Hunter, R., Van de Velde, L. & Compernolle, S. (2023, Jun 14-17). What works for whom under which circumstances and how: an introduction and practical guide to evaluate health behaviour interventions using realist review [workshop]. ISBNPA Annual Meeting, Uppsala, Sweden.

Macgregor, C., Blane, D., Hunter, R. & Hill O’Connor, C. (2023, Nov 10). Can we mitigate health inequalities? Implications for health care practice, education, research and policy [Symposium], CSP Annual Conference, Glasgow, Scotland.

Other

Webinars

Hunter, R., Beattie, M. & Gorely, T (2022, June 22nd). Mobile apps for self-managing chronic low back pain. What works, for whom and under what circumstances? [Webinar]. BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Hunter, R., Beattie, M. & Gorely, T (2022, February 8th). I’ve found the swamp, now what? Introduction to realist review methodology. [Webinar]. Nottingham University.

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