Overview

Bethan Treadgold is a Chartered Psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Primary Care Research Group, University of Exeter Medical School.

Bethan is currently conducting a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR). 

Bethan joined the University of Exeter in 2021, while finalising her PhD research at the Univeristy of Southampton.

Bethan's research interests are interdisciplinary, with a focus on health services research, digital health, health-related internet-mediated research, patients and carers' experiences, and employing qualitative research methods.

Qualifications

• BSc Psychology, University of Southampton (2016)
• MSc Health Psychology, University of Southampton (2018)
• PhD Primary Care Research, Univeristy of Southampton (2022)
• Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society (2022)

Links

• Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx)

Research group links

• Health services research

Back to top

Research

Research interests

Bethan's research interests are interdisciplinary, with a focus on:

• Health services research

• Digital health

• Health-related internet-mediated research (online support communities, forums, social media support groups)

• Patients and carers' experiences

• Qualitative research methods

Bethan began carrying out health services research while undertaking a MSc in Health Psychology at the University of Southampton (2016-2017), where she conducted a mixed-methods national service evaluation of rehabilitation services for children after treatment for a brain tumour (Treadgold et al. 2019). Alongside her studies, Bethan worked as a qualitative research assistant at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, in maternal health (Lawrence et al. 2020). Bethan went on to secure funding from the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, and later Research Capability Funding from Solent NHS Trust, to undertake a PhD studentship at the Primary Care Research Centre, University of Southampton (2017-2021). 

For her PhD (title: Parents and carers’ views and experiences of eczema in the online world: a mixed-methods exploration, Bethan carried out a mixed-methods (though primarily qualitative) exploration into the online health resources used by parents and carers of children with eczema, the nature of advice exchanged in online communities, how parents and carers made sense of and acted upon online advice and support, and the quality of advice exchanged in online communities. (Treadgold et al., 2020, Treadgold et al., 2023). Bethan has since provided guidance for a charity to improve their online support services for families of children with eczema.

Since joining the Primary Care Research Group at the University of Exeter Medical School in 2021, Bethan has worked as a qualitative research fellow on three collaborative National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded projects:

1. Digital Facilitation in Primary Care (DI-FACTO): investigated the benefits and challenges associated with different models of digital facilitation currently in use in general practice across England.

2. Investigating Clinical Excellence Awards (INCEA): developed a revised scoring scheme for the assessment of National Clinical Excellence Awards for doctors and dentists in England and Wales (Treadgold et al., 2023).

3. Understanding the measurement of postural hypotension in primary care (UMPH): explored how postural hypotension testing was currently organised in primary care in England. 

NIHR SPCR postdoctoral fellowship (May 2023 - present)

Title: Accessibility, acceptability, and accuracy of online support groups for primary care conditions 

Supervisors: Dr Emma Pitchforth, Professor John Campbell, Professor Neil Coulson, Dr Jeff Lambert

Building on her PhD research, Bethan is currently exploring provision for developing a quality approval system overseen by primary healthcare professionals, for information shared in online support groups. 

The aims of the fellowship are: 1) To explore the usefulness of developing a quality approval system overseen by primary healthcare professionals, for information shared in online support groups; 2) To explore how a quality approval system of information in online support groups, overseen by primary healthcare professionals, could be operationalised in practice. 

Research grants

• 2023 National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research
  Accessibility, Acceptability and Accuracy of Online Support Groups for Primary Care Conditions.
• 2017 NIHR School for Primary Care Research
  Parents and carers’ views and experiences of eczema in the online world: a mixed-methods exploration (PhD)

Back to top

Publications

Back to top

External Engagement and Impact

External positions

Qualitative advisor for NIHR Research Design Service South West (2022 - 2024)

Whilst working as a postdoctoral research fellow within the Primary Care Group at the University of Exeter, Bethan has also worked as a specialist qualitative advisor for the Exeter hub of the NIHR Research Design Service South West. This involved supporting researchers in developing qualitative research and funding applications of benefit to the general public and people who use NHS and social care services.

The NIHR Research Design Service has since been replaced by the NIHR Research Support Service (https://www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/support/research-support-service/).

Back to top

Teaching

• Qualitative research methods (interview studies, focus groups, ethnography)
• Qualitative analysis methods (thematic analysis, thematic synthesis, narrative analysis, content analysis)
• Internet-mediated research (social media, online support communities and forums, chat rooms, web pages, other forms of instant messaging)
• Digital health services research in primary care

Back to top

Supervision / Group

Alumni

Back to top