Centre for Health and Community Research
The Centre for Health and Community Research (CHCR) was established in 1992 and was initially funded by the North Wales Health Authority. The Centre is one of two research centres within the School of Health, Social Care, Sport and Exercise Sciences.
The Centre is led by Dr Kevin Dawson and has six core members: Sally-Ann Baker, Dr Alex Carson, Dr Sue Taylor, Dr Dawn Jones and Jackie Fitzgerald. The methodological expertise of these members combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, and their work can be described through key substantive areas and cross-cutting themes. The two key substantive research areas are health risk behaviours and service development. Research within the Centre also falls into three cross-cutting themes: service improvement, user-involvement and inequalities.
Health Risk Behaviours research area
Research falling within the cross-cutting theme of service improvement includes funded evaluations of: healthy living initiatives; smoking ban; dietetics and fitness grant schemes; and coronary heart disease prevention initiatives.
Research falling within the cross-cutting theme of user involvement includes the funded projects: discourses on empowerment; involvement of mental health service users in decision making; and evaluation of Hearts and Minds Initiative.
Research falling with the cross-cutting theme of inequalities includes funded evaluations of: healthy living initiatives; coronary heart disease prevention initiatives; and exercise on referral schemes.
Service Development research area
Research falling within the cross-cutting theme of service improvement includes funded projects relating to: development of nursing roles; nursing competencies; and primary care nursing. Also included within this cross-cutting theme are activities and publications relating to palliative care, clinical supervision ethics and nursing roles. As part of this theme, Professor George Castledine is to be appointed as a visiting professor, with a view to assisting the School in establishing a Practice Development Unit in palliative care.
Research falling within the cross-cutting theme of user involvement includes funded projects relating to: continuing care; nursing strategy development within the context of international policy; and nursing assessment of people with learning disabilities (LD).
Research falling within the cross-cutting theme of inequalities includes the funded projects relating to: nursing assessment of people with LD and health needs of care home residents.
Child Health and Wellbeing research area
This is an emerging research area, and includes research on a support system to improve emotional literacy of children, as well as a new research group ‘Emotional Wellbeing in Children’, led by Dr Kathryn Hunt in partnership with Newcastle University and Keele University. This research group is working on research on the development of Therapeutic Intervention Processes (TIPS) instrument for children and young people 3-16 years. As part of this research Dr Hunt is designing and developing a Children’s Charter, with best practice guidelines for offering therapeutic interventions for children and young people in partnership with BACP. The group is also conducting a pilot evaluation of Wrexham Counselling in Primary Schools funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.
This research area includes research in Sport and Exercise Sciences on health and fitness in children. This is managed by Dr Sue Taylor, who has won a grant to support a PhD fellowship in health and fitness of school children.
It is anticipated that this research area will be developed further in 2009 with evaluative work of Flying Start.
More information
For more information about the Centre for Health and Community Research, please follow the links below:
