Overview

Jane joined the Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) as a Senior Lecturer (Education & Research) in June 2017. Prior to that she worked as a Research Fellow and then Senior Research Fellow in Psychology Applied to Health after joining the University of Exeter Medical School in November 2012. Throughout this time, Jane has co-ordinated and contributed to teaching on psychology applied to health, research methods and evidence-based practice and has led and supported research primarily focussed on the development and evaluation of evidence-based behaviour change interventions to prevent and manage long-term conditions. Jane has skills in quantitative and mixed-methods health services and public health research and broad interests in psychosocial aspects of health and illness. Her research includes:

• systematic reviews
• randomised controlled trials of complex interventions
• mixed-methods process evaluations alongside interventions
• development and testing of outcome measures
• other related, mixed methods research investigating the role of behavioural and other psychosocial factors in health, illness and healthcare.

Since October 2022, Jane has also been Co-Director for Postgraduate Research for the Department of Health & Community Sciences and Department of Health & Care Professions

Qualifications

• 2009 PhD Health Psychology (University of East Anglia)
• 2006 PGCert Higher Education Practice (University of East Anglia)
• 2002 PGDip Health Sciences (University of East Anglia)
• 1995 BSc (Hons) Psychology (University of Nottingham)

Career

Jane is an honorary Lecturer, and was previously employed as a Lecturer in Health Psychology (from 2003) and researcher (from 1999), in the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia where she also completed a part-time PhD in health psychology. This followed a period working in Australia as a Research Assistant as part of a Physical Activity and Health research group at Deakin University, and previously in project management and health administration roles at a Division of General Practice in Melbourne. Jane began her research career prior to that as a Research Assistant in a Research and Development Support Unit hosted by what was then the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol.

Research group links

• Institute of Health Research

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Research

Research interests

Jane’s research focuses primarily on developinng, evaluating and understanding mechanisms of action of behaviour change and other complex interventions to prevent and manage long-term conditions.

Jane has broad research interests in psychosocial aspects of health and healthcare, including management of chronic conditions (e.g. asthma, arthritis, diabetes, medication adherence and self-management, depression in chronic illness), chronic disease prevention (e.g. weight management, diabetes prevention), and approaches to supplement traditional care for long-term conditions (e.g. group-based programmes, digital interventions, social prescribing, use of additional healthcare worker roles).

All Jane's research has involved working with multi-disciplinary teams of academics, healthcare professionals and public and patient representatives across primary care, secondary care, public health and in recent times third sector and commerical organisations. She has led and supported randomised controlled trials, process evaluations, economic evaluations and systematic reviews of complex interventions, and used related quantitative and mixed methods research to investigate behavioural and other psychosocial risk factors for, and impacts of, long-term conditions.

Research projects

Research networks

Member of Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx)

Member of Behavioural Science Research Group

Research grants

• 2022 InnovateUK
  Development of the CONNECTPlus healthcare app
• 2022 National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research
  Identifying digital healthcare solutions for young people with ADHD (DigitalHealth-ADHD)
• 2021 National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit
  Feasibility study of a novel digital intervention promoting physical activity in young people with Cystic Fibrosis
• 2021 National Institute for Health Research Three Schools Mental Health Programme
  The use of community-based wellbeing activities for children and young people as a potential prevention and early intervention pathway to improve adolescent emotional and social development.
• 2021 National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research
  Assessing the contributions of additional role practitioners to general practice in England
• 2015 MRC/NIHR Efficacy and Mechanisms Evaluation (EME) programme
  Mechanisms of Action in Group Interventions (MAGI) study
• 2014 NIHR School for Public Health Research
  Community-based Prevention of Diabetes (ComPoD) trial
• 2014 NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme
  At-Risk Registers Integrated into primary care to Stop Asthma crises in the UK (ARRISA-UK) trial
• 2014 GW4
  GW4 Building Communities Initiator funding
• 2013 Swiss National Science Foundation
  Early post-doc mobility fellowship for Dr Marco Bardus
• 2013 NIHR Research for Patient Benefit
  Significant Event Audit feasibility study
• 2012 British Psychological Society
  British Psychological Society seminar series on process evaluation
• 2012 NIHR Programme Grant
  The Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study (NDPS)
• 2006 Asthma UK
  At-Risk Registers In Severe Asthma (ARRISA) trial
• 2001 NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme
  Systematic review of psycho-educational interventions in severe and difficult asthma

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Administrative responsibilities

Exeter co-lead for training and capacity development within the NIHR School for Primary Care Research

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Teaching

• Making Sense of Evidence Lead for the BMBS undergraduate medical programme (since 2017), involving co-ordination and contribution to delivery of small group critical appraisal sessions, lectures and workshops across 5 teaching blocks in Years 1 and 2 (e.g. on randomised trials, systematic reviews, observational studies).
• BMBS discipline lead for Psychology (since 2018), involving development, co-ordination and delivery of psychology teaching, learning and assessment, primarily in Years 1 and 2.
• Contributing to delivery and assessment of Special Study Units on the BMBS programme.
• Supervision of final year research projects on the BSc Medical Sciences programme.
• Teaching on critical appraisal, research methods and psychology and involvement in assessment on various modules on the BSc Medical Sciences programme.
• Contributing to teaching on process evaluation, behaviour change in implementation science and supervision of projects as part of the MSc in Applied Health Services Research

Jane is also contributes to training of health and other professionals as part of the Peninsula Applied Research Collaboration (PenARC) Making Sense of Evidence team.

Previous teaching duties at the University of East Anglia included:

• Developing and co-ordinating a Masters module on “Promoting Behaviour Change and Lifestyle Improvement” (formerly “Psychosocial Aspects of Health”).
• Developing teaching, learning and assessment in the Psychology Domain of the undergraduate medical programme curriculum, including the review and development of learning outcomes in line with “Tomorrow’s Doctor’s 2009”.
• Deputy Co-ordinator for a 4th Year Growth & Development (Paediatrics) module on the undergraduate medical programme.
• Problem based learning (PBL) tutor on the undergraduate medical programme.
• Teaching on a range of health psychology topics (e.g. introduction to the psychology of health, health-related behaviour change, stress and health, psychosocial impacts of disease) and research methods/skills (e.g. systematic review, literature searching) on various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
• Contributing to the development and marking of assessments (e.g. essays, oral presentations, short answer and multiple choice questions) on postgraduate and undergraduate programmes.
• Acting as a research supervisor and personal advisor to a range of postgraduate and undergraduate students.

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Supervision / Group

Postdoctoral researchers

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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