Lecturer in Social Science Applied to Health.

Helen’s first degree was a BSc in Psychology (University of Warwick). After graduating she worked as a youth worker which triggered an interest in and passion for addressing socioeconomic inequalities. She picked this up in her MSc in Health Psychology (University of Surrey), undertaking a dissertation focused on school pupils’ habits and attitudes towards breakfast, in the context of a piloting scheme of funding school breakfast clubs. Helen’s interest in social inequalities led her to the sociology of health and illness, and she moved to the University of Edinburgh to undertake a PhD: ‘Lay attitudes towards cardiovascular risk in the context of screening, prevention and trial participation’.

Helen extended her research in screening, first as a postdoctoral Research Psychologist at the Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge on projects investigating the psychological impact and experience of screening for type 2 diabetes, and second through an ESRC/MRC interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship (also University of Cambridge).Helen joined the SAPPHIRE Group in September 2008, and soon began collaborating with colleagues in the Diabetes Research Centre, enabling her to continue to undertake research relating to screening and prevention, and develop an interest in self-management of chronic conditions. With SAPPHIRE colleague Natalie Armstrong, Helen edited a special issue of the journal Sociology of Health and Illness in 2012: ‘The Sociology of Medical Screening: Critical Perspectives, New Directions.’

Her expertise is developing and evaluating complex interventions for the prevention and management of long-term conditions, through rigorous methodology, informed by social and behavioural science. Current and recent projects include: PROPELS (Promotion of Physical activity through structured Education with differing Levels of on going Support for people at high risk of type 2 diabetes); DESMOND on going; DESMOND Foundation; and DESMOND Self-monitoring study.

disclosure, qualitative methods, South Asian, type 1 diabetes mellitus.