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 |
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 2011-12
- 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)
- An exploration of the reunion of refugee families (Hannah Swan, supervised by Dr Gail Coleman & Prof Gillian Hardy)
- Does clients’ insight into their defensive functioning mediate the relationship between affect experiencing and outcome in intensive short term dynamic psychotherapy? (Jurga Paserpsyke, supervised by 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)
- The effectiveness of group CBT with older adults (Manreesh Bains, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)
- Cognitive analytic therapy for morbid jealousy (obsessive subtype) (Louise Curling, supervised by Dr Stephen Kellett)