Psychosocial factors in health
Shivani Sharma and John Done are conducting research that focuses on factors that impact health outcomes in people affected by long-term conditions. This arises from seminal work in the University’s Centre for Lifespan and Chronic Illness Research (CLiCIR), founded by Done and now continuing in our Centre for Health Service Research under the heading of Basic Clinical Science.
Dr. Sharma has a particular interest in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) including health inequalities and developing patient centred care-pathways. She is currently leading a programme of work aimed at specifying pragmatic ways in which to screen for, diagnose and treat depression in patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD) but where language and or cultural barriers impede the identification, diagnosis and management of low mood. She was a key partner in the first UK pilot of the CKD Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) in Gujarati and Urdu. In parallel, she is actively researching health interventions in vulnerable groups such as children with autism. A key theme that spans all of her work is the effective integration of patients and members of the public in the conception, design and implementation of research.
Shivani is a member of the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance, and a Visiting Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, Delhi India.
John Done is conducting research into Psychological factors in rheumatoid arthritis
Current projects
- Cross-cultural adaptation of Patient Reported Outcomes Measures
- Depression and CKD in low income countries
- Adherence in kidney transplant recipients
- Illness perceptions of Turkish Cypriot HD patients
- Play-based intervention for autism
Selected grants
- British Renal Society and British Kidney Patients Association: ‘Specifying the role of renal carers in psychological interventions for haemodialysis patients from South Asian backgrounds’ (2018-2019): PI, £24,366,
- UK Renal Registry: ‘Pilot translation of CKD PREM into South Asian languages’ (2017): Joint PI, £5k,
- NIHR RfPB: ‘Feasibility study of an RCT to investigate the effectiveness of a humanoid robot to support social skills development in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder’ (2016-2018): Joint PI, £250k,
- Research for Patient Benefit: ‘Screening for depression in South Asian patients with End Stage Renal Disease: An evaluation of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R) and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)’ (2014-2016): Joint PI, £304k,
- British Renal Society and British Kidney Patients Association: ‘Developing depression screening tools to meet the linguistic needs of patients with ESRD from South Asian backgrounds’ (2013-2014), £19, 633,