Professor Eleanor Bradley

Research Interests

Eleanor has research interests which focus on the application of health psychology to different healthcare settings and patient experiences.  Eleanor is currently working on research in the following areas:

• Mental health nurse and pharmacist prescribing: how are nurses and pharmacists working with mental health service users and family carers to make prescribing decisions and to consider treatment adherence.
• Patient confidentiality in adult mental healthcare: application and understanding amongst mental health nursing students.
• Living with severe allergy: the psychological consequences following anaphylaxis in adults

Eleanor is an expert in qualitative research and has a particular interest in grounded theory and meta-synthesis.  She currently co-chairs a qualitative research special interest forum with Dr Theresa Mitchell, designed to encourage the use of rigorous, innovative qualitative methodologies amongst academics and our postgraduate research students. 

She is involved in supervising a wide range of PhD students from across different disciplines.  Topic areas include: Music and dementia (Ruby Swift); Shared decision making and rheumatoid arthritis (Frances Chilton); Illness perceptions and mood disorders (Kim Caldwell); Perinatal mental health (Jo Johnson); Physical activity and bipolar disorder (Gemma McCullough); A critical exploration of staff experiences following a student suicide (Hilary Causer); Sexuality and conversion therapy in the Caribbean (Jimmy Couzens); Formation of a professional identity amongst student nurses (Theresa Pengally); Resilience amongst senior healthcare leaders (Adam Turner).

PhD Project Ideas

Eleanor works closely with NHS partners to encourage research and scholarship within healthcare settings.  She has been involved in a number of successful inter-disciplinary research and evaluation bids to look at innovations in healthcare, most recently an evaluation of the impact of a talent management initiative (funded by NHS Leadership Academy England, completed in March 2019).

Teaching Interests

Eleanor has taught on a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, across psychology and allied health.  She supervises undergraduate psychology students in their final year projects across a range of topics, with a particular focus on health and mental health. 

Eleanor has particular expertise in relation to postgraduate teaching, supervision and support.  She is actively engaged with the Research Degrees Programme and contributes to the RTP modules and workshops for MRes and MPhil/PhD students.  Examples of sessions include ‘Meta-Synthesis’; ‘Philosophy of Research’; ‘Conducting Difficult Interviews’.  Eleanor has been involved in a range of curriculum developments associated with postgraduate research, including professional doctorates and PhD by published work.  She is currently the Chair of the Research Degrees Board.

Eleanor is an active doctoral supervisor and is working with students across a range of innovative research projects spanning from music and dementia; illness perceptions and bipolar disorder; perinatal mental health; shared decision making and rheumatoid arthritis.  If you are interested in studying for a PhD at the University of Worcester, please contact Eleanor for further information about her topics of interest.

Membership of Professional Bodies

AFBPsS

Chartered Psychologist (Division of Health Psychology)

External Roles

Eleanor is the Associate Director for Research and Innovation at the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.  She is also a member of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Research Consortium and a member of the Research and Development Expert Forum at Worcester Acute NHS Hospitals Research Group.   Eleanor is a regular peer reviewer for a range of academic journals, and has acted as a sub-panel member for National Institute for Health Research Programmes.  She is an experienced external examiner for doctoral students.

Recent Publications

Publications from the last 4 years include:

Sud D, Tritter J, Bradley E, Maidment I (2021) The experiences of the caring dyad: (un)articulated realities of living with cardiometabolic risk, metabolic syndrome and related diseases in severe mental illness, Health Expectations, 
https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13322

Wilson DG, Brewster N, Taylor RJ, Trevelyan A, Apostolakis M, Goyal D, Foster W, Walklet E, Bradley E (in press) Pain during cardiac implantable electronic device implantation, British Journal of Cardiology

Causer H, Bradley E, Muse K and Smith J (2021) Bearing witness: A grounded theory of the experiences of staff at two United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions following a student death by suicide.  PLoSONE,
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251369

Chilton F, Bradley E and Mitchell T (2021) “Lost time”: Patients with Early Inflammatory / Rheumatoid Arthritis and their Experiences of Delays in Primary Care; Musculoskeletal Care:1 – 9
https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.1546 

Sud D, Laughton E, McAskill R, Bradley E, Maidment I (2021) The role of pharmacy in the management of cardiometabolic risk, metabolic syndrome and related diseases in severe mental illness: A mixed methods systematic literature review. BMC Systematic Review, 10:92 
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01586-9

Smith J, Griffiths L, Band M, Hird-Smith R, Williams B, Bold J, Bradley E, Dilworth R, Horne D (2020) Early Intervention in Psychosis: Effectiveness and Implementation of a Combined Exercise and Health Behavior Intervention within Routine Care. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 11. ISSN 1664-2392

Mahoney, Berenice , Walklet, Elaine , Bradley, Eleanor , Thrush, S., Skillman, J., Whisker, L., Barnes, N., Holcombe, C. and Potter, S. (2020) Experiences of implant loss after immediate implant-based breast reconstruction: A qualitative study. British Journal of Surgery Open. ISSN 2474-9842

Mahoney B, Bradley E, Walklet E and O’Hickey S (2019) The Hidden Psychological Challenges of Living with Anaphylaxis in Adults, The Psychologist 32: 42-45

Causer H, Muse K, Smith J and Bradley E (2019) What is the experience of practitioners in health, education or social care roles following a death by suicide? A qualitative research synthesis, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (18): 3293

Mahoney B, Walklet E, Bradley E, O’Hickey S (2019) Improving adrenaline autoinjector adherence: A psychologically informed training for healthcare professionals, Immunity, Inflammation and Disease 7(3): 214-228

Walklet E, Mahoney B, Bradley E and O’Hickey S (2019) Application of Health Psychology: Development of a practitioner training intervention in anaphylaxis, Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions: 39 (2): 130-135

Walket E, Moss T, Walsh N and Bradley E (2018) Quality of Life in Adults with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) Disease: a Photovoice Study, ComMenT

Neech S, Scott H, Priest H, Bradley E, Tweed A (2018) Experiences of user involvement in mental health settings: User motivations and benefits, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing; 25 (5-6); 327-337

Molyneaux E, Telesia L, Henshaw C, Boath L, Bradley E, Howard LM (2018) 'Antidepressants for preventing postnatal depression' (issue 4), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, www.cochranelibrary.com

Bradley E and Green D (2018) Involved, Inputting or Informing: ‘Shared’ Decision Making in Adult Mental Healthcare, Health Expectations; 21 (1), 192 – 200

Simmons L, Jones T and Bradley E (2017) Reducing mental health stigma: The relationship between knowledge and attitude change, European Journal of Mental Health; 12: 25-40

Fanneran-Hamilton T, Bradley E and McNally D (2017) Traversing the services: a constructivist grounded theory of admission in two adult acute mental health inpatient wards, Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health; 4 (1): 53 – 60