Psychological Therapies
Focuses on improving decision-making, quality, and outcomes of services providing psychological treatment to people who have mental or physical health problems
The Centre for Psychological Services Research is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University's School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR) and Department of Psychology. The Centre is headed by Professor Michael Barkham together with an executive team comprising Professors John Brazier (ScHARR), Gillian Hardy (Clinical Psychology Unit) and Glenys Parry (ScHARR).
The aim of the Centre is to improve decision-making, quality, and outcomes of services providing psychological treatment to people who have mental or physical health problems. It will do this by establishing interdisciplinary and collaborative research activity via a range of research programmes operating at local, national, and international levels. Its name reflects the unique positioning of Psychological Services Research (PSR) which combines the techniques and disciplines of Health Services Research together with those of psychological research.
Key areas of interest
The emphasis is on pragmatic multi-method approaches to translational research, aimed at improving the organisation and delivery of psychological services and placing health economics in a central role in their evaluation.
We have a particular interest in linking findings on therapy process, efficacy and cost-effectiveness, for example, through building and analyzing very large naturalistic data sets derived from UK service settings; comparing these with large international data sets on costs and outcomes; benchmarking outcomes against data from controlled clinical trials and understanding these services in the wider context of public mental health and well being.
Clinical Psychology Unit staff undertaking research in Psychological Therapies
| Name | Summary of thematic area | Key collaborators |
|---|---|---|
| Prof Michael Barkham | Practice-based evidence for the psychological therapies; practice research networks (PRNs); therapist effects; outcome measurement, in particular the CORE-OM and related measures; measure development | Professor Gillian Hardy & Dr Steve Kellett (CPU); Professors Glenys Parry, John Brazier, & Dave Saxon (ScHARR); Dr Tom Ricketts (Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust; Professor Karina Lovell (University of Manchester); Professor Simon Gilbody (University of York); Professor David Richards (University of Exeter); Professors Mike Lucock & Chris Leach (University of Huddersfield); Dr Jeremy Halstead (South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust); Professor Sue Wheeler (University of Leicester); Professor William B Stiles (Miami University); Professor Louis Castonguay (Penn State University); Professor Wolfgang Lutz (University of Trier) |
| Prof Gillian Hardy | The processes and mechanisms of individual change, and the factors that influence these processes, particularly in relation to psychological health and ill health. | Tom Ricketts (ScHARR, University of Sheffield); Prof Glenys Parry (ScHARR, University of Sheffield); Dr Tom Webb (Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield); Dr Joel Town (NHS) |
| Dr Stephen Kellett | Evaluation of the clinical and occupational impact of psychological therapies. | Prof Glenys Parry (ScHARR, University of Sheffield); Tony Ryle (Retired); Dawn Bennett (NHS); Dr Colin Lindsay (University of York) |
| Prof Glenn Waller | Research interests are in the cognitive-behavioural psychopathology of the eating disorders and the use of that knowledge further to develop evidence-based therapies for the eating disorders. That work ties to a broader research field involving clinicians' delivery of evidence-based psychological treatments. |
Local network of clinicians working with eating disorders (five specialist services in Sheffield); Psychological Researchers in Eating Disorders Network (King's College London, University of East Anglia, University of Southampton); Loughborough University Centre for Eating Disorders; University of Calgary; University of London |
Selected Key Publications for the Psychological Therapies theme
See Clinical Psychology Key Publications & Grant Awards for a wider selection of key publications/grants for the whole unit. A full list of publications and grants for each member of staff can be accessed via individual web pages.
Kellett, S. Purdoe, F. & Bickerstaff, D. (in press). Predicting return to work from health related welfare following low intensity cognitive behaviour therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Saxon D & Barkham M (2012) Patterns of therapist variability: therapist effects and the contribution of patient severity and risk. J Consult Clin Psychol, 80(4), 535-546.
Waller G, Stringer H & Meyer C (2012) What cognitive behavioral techniques do therapists report using when delivering cognitive behavioral therapy for the eating disorders? J Consult Clin Psychol, 80(1), 171-175.
Houghton S, Saxon D, Bradburn M, Ricketts T & Hardy GE (2010) The effectiveness of routinely delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a benchmarking study. Br J Clin Psychol, 49(Pt 4), 473-489.
Selected Key Grant Awards
Ayer, T.A., Kellett, S. Developing a stepped-care mood in Primary Care for Long Term Conditions/Medically Unexplained Symptoms: Phase 2 (Awarded 2013). £170,000.
British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy Research Foundation (BACP): Barkham, M. (PI), Saxon, D., Bennett, S., Bower, P., Bradburn, M., Brazier, J., Elliott, R., Gabriel, L., Hardy, G.E., Kellett, S., King, M., Pilling, S., Waller, G., & Shaw, S. Pragmatic, Randomised Controlled Trial assessing the non-Inferiority of Counselling and its Effectiveness for Depression (PRaCTICED). (Awarded subject to contract 2013). £449,891.
Ayer, T.A., Kellett, S. Developing a stepped-care mood in Primary Care for Long Term Conditions/Medically Unexplained Symptoms: Phase 1 (Awarded 2012). £170,000.
NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA): Lovell,K., (PI) Bower, P., Bee, P., Roberts, C., Mottram, P., Lidbetter, N., Barkham, M., Hardy, G.E., Reynolds, S., Gega, L., Gilbody, S., McMillan, D., & Byford, S. Obsessive Compulsive Treatment Efficacy Trial (OCTET). (Awarded 2011). £1,806,152.
Big Lottery Fund Social Fund. Waller, G. (lead academic applicant, in collaboration with charity). Cognitive behavioural therapy and cognitive analytic therapy for anorexia nervosa (Awarded 2010). £457,000.
Current PhD students
- Ifigeneia Mavranezouli: The development of a preference-based measure for people with common mental health problems derived from the CORE-OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure) (Supervised by Professors John Brazier & Michael Barkham)
- Jo-Ann Pereira: A multilevel mixed methods approach to investigating therapist effects (Supervised by Professor Michael Barkham & Dr Steve Kellett)
Current DClin Psy Trainee Projects 2012-13
- Recognising the conversational structure of empathic therapy dialogue: Therapist expertise and its relationship to intuition (Peter Spencer, supervised by Prof Michael Barkham)
- First person accounts of grandiose delusions: A grounded theory approach (Sanela Grbic, supervised by Dr Rebecca Knowles & Prof Gillian Hardy)
- The effect of therapists’ attachment styles on emotional responses in clients presenting for self-help CBT in an OCD treatment trial (Robert Durtnell, supervised by Prof Gillian Hardy)
- The role of affect in psychotherapeutic change in intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (Victoria Lomax, supervised by Prof Gillian Hardy)
- The experience of working with compulsive hoarding: a Q sort study (Kathryn Holden, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)
- Cognitive analytic therapy for morbid jealousy (obsessive subtype) (Louise Curling, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)
- An exploratory study of exits during cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) for depression (Sundeep Sandhu, supervised by Prof Gillian Hardy & Dr Stephen Kellett)
- Do therapists naturally use implementation intentions? Is this associated with beneficial outcomes? A study with mixed methodology (Agoro Toli, supervised by Prof Gillian Hardy & Dr Thomas Webb)
- A multi-level modelling approach to investigating therapist effects and factors influencing therapy outcome with IAPT low intensity workers (Nicholas Firth, supervised by Prof Michael Barkham & Dr Stephen Kellett)
- Identifying client and therapist predictors of no reliable client change in routine clinical practice (Katharine Harvey, supervised by Prof Michael Barkham)
- Psychological determinants of successful Weight Loss for patients within a multi-modal intervention supporting lifestyle change (Elinor Currey, supervised by Prof Glenn Waller)
- Compulsive buying in men and the effect of arousal in impulse control (Ben Hague, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)
- Development and piloting of a low-intensity CAT-informed intervention for anxiety (Jo Meadows, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)
