Janice Connell BSc (Hons) Behavioural Sciences
Research Associate in Mental Health Outcomes Research
Address:
HEDS, ScHARR
The University of Sheffield
Regent Court, 30 Regent Street
Sheffield S1 4DA
Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 5208
Fax: (+44) (0)114 272 4095
E-mail: j.connell@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 2030
Biography
My first research post, from 2002 to 2007, was at the Psychological Therapies Research Centre (PTRC), University of Leeds, working on a project to develop the CORE Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) and CORE Audit and Evaluation System (CORE-A). This is now the most widely used outcome measure/evaluation system in UK psychotherapy services. After spending some time formulating evaluation and benchmarking reports for psychotherapy services using the CORE System, the subsequent development and analysis of the CORE National Database has resulted in the collaborative authorship of over 20 academic papers relating to the audit of an evaluation of mental health services, benchmarking and the psychometric properties of the CORE-OM. In addition to this, I also led and published reports on a systematic scoping review of student counselling services for the BACP and the evaluation of trauma counselling service in Northern Ireland for the Southern Health and Social Services Board, Northern Ireland.
From 2007 to Dec 2009 I was seconded from Leeds University to Sheffield University to work on the evaluation of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. This involved my first foray into the evaluation of mental health services using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In conjunction with the analysis of routinely collected service data, the evaluation included interviewing key stakeholders and service users to investigate service delivery and service user experience.
The resulting interest in service evaluation from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective has culminated in my current (from Dec 2009) research role at ScHARR investigating the appropriateness of existing generic preference based quality of life measures (E5-QD and SF-36) for mental health service users. Whilst this project is considering this question from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective, my focus is primarily on the qualitative aspect of the research which involves conducting a synthesis of qualititative evidence to date systematic and taking lessons/theories learned from this into interviews with people with a range of mental health difficulties.
Research Interests
My research interests revolve around mental health and the evaluation of mental health services from both a quantitative andd qualitative perspective.
Current Projects
Validating generic preference based questionnaires of health in mental health populations: Your mental health and its effect on your quality of life - are we asking the right questions?
Key Publications
- Connell J, Barkham M (2008). Effectiveness of student counselling services: An analysis using the CORE-System. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 36(1):1-18.
- Connell J, Barkham M, Stiles WB, Twigg E, Singleton N, Evans O, Miles JNV (2007). Distribution of CORE-OM scores in a general population, clinical cut-off points, and comparison with the CIS-R. British Journal of Psychiatry 190:69-74.
- Connell J, Barkham M, Mellor Clark J (2007). CORE-OM mental health norms of students attending university counselling services benchmarked against an age-matched primary care sample. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 35(1):41-57.
- Connell J, Cahill J, Barkham M, Gilbody S, Madill A (2006). A systematic scoping review of the research on counselling in Higher and Further Education. British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Rugby.
- Connell J, Barkham M, Regel S (2006). Evaluation of Trauma Counselling Services. Trauma Advisory Panel, Southern Health and Social Services Board, Northern Ireland.
- Connell J, Grant S, Mullin T (2006). Client initiated termination of therapy at NHS primary care counselling services. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 6:60-7.