Overview
Alison completed a PhD in Education in 2022: her research investigated the experiences of long-serving secondary school teachers in order to explore what has challenged and sustained them through their teaching careers, including their views on teacher “resilience”.
Prior to her PhD, Alison has worked in the further education sector in a range of roles, including as teacher, tutor, manager and senior leader, particularly within land-based education. She has also worked as a self-employed consultant carrying out training, coaching, quality assessment and qualification writing, including both regional and national projects.
Alison is now working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Care Under Pressure 3 project, using a realist approach to investigate mental health and well-being interventions for hospital doctors. She also teaches on a range of leadership modules within the Masters in Education programme. Her research interests primarily relate to wellbeing and leadership, including professional wellbeing within different vocational areas. She is also a passionate advocate of children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families, and works as a trustee for a national charity as well as participating in patient-participation work related to health and education.
Qualifications
- PhD in Education
- MSc Educational Research
- PGCE (Further, Adult and Higher Education)
- BSc (Hons) Agriculture.
ORCID: 0000-0003-4341-1267
Back to top
Publications
Journal articles
Bramwell C, Carrieri D, Melvin A, Pearson A, Scott J, Hancock J, Pearson M, Papoutsi C, Wong G, Mattick K, et al (2023). How can NHS trusts in England optimise strategies to improve the mental health and well-being of hospital doctors? the Care Under Pressure 3 (CUP3) realist evaluation study protocol.
BMJ Open,
13(11), e073615-e073615.
Abstract:
How can NHS trusts in England optimise strategies to improve the mental health and well-being of hospital doctors? the Care Under Pressure 3 (CUP3) realist evaluation study protocol
IntroductionThe growing incidence of mental ill health in doctors was a major issue in the UK and internationally, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has significant and far-reaching implications, including poor quality or inconsistent patient care, absenteeism, workforce attrition and retention issues, presenteeism, and increased risk of suicide. Existing approaches to workplace support do not take into account the individual, organisational and social factors contributing to mental ill health in doctors, nor how interventions/programmes might interact with each other within the workplace. The aim of this study is to work collaboratively with eight purposively selected National Health Service (NHS) trusts within England to develop an evidence-based implementation toolkit for all NHS trusts to reduce doctors’ mental ill health and its impacts on the workforce.Methods and analysisThe project will incorporate three phases. Phase 1 develops a typology of interventions to reduce doctors’ mental ill health. Phase 2 is a realist evaluation of the existing combinations of strategies being used by acute English healthcare trusts to reduce doctors’ mental ill health (including preventative promotion of well-being), based on 160 interviews with key stakeholders. Phase 3 synthesises the insights gained through phases 1 and 2, to create an implementation toolkit that all UK healthcare trusts can use to optimise their strategies to reduce doctors’ mental ill health and its impact on the workforce and patient care.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted for phase 2 of the project from the NHS Research Ethics Committee (REC reference number 22/WA/0352). As part of the conditions for our ethics approval, the sites included in our study will remain anonymous. To ensure the relevance of the study’s outputs, we have planned a wide range of dissemination strategies: an implementation toolkit for healthcare leaders, service managers and doctors; conventional academic outputs such as journal manuscripts and conference presentations; plain English summaries; cartoons and animations; and a media engagement campaign.
Abstract.
Pearson A (2015). WHAT YOUR PATIENT IS THINKING Never say never about our child.
BMJ-BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL,
350 Author URL.
Back to top
