Research in Allied Health Professions and Studies (UoA 12A)

Research is based in the Health, Rehabilitation and Psychology Centre and located primarily in the Faculties of Health, Psychology and Social Care and MMU Cheshire.

A successful bid by RIHSC in 2003 for Research Capability Funding allowed considerable investment in research informing professional practice and some elements of biological science. The latter elements have since been developed within MMU’s Institute for Biomedical Research into Human Movement and Health, which is responsible for a separate submission as “Biomedical Sciences” (UoA12B – RAE 2008), and which is associated with the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

Allied Health Professions research which RIHSC has submitted to RAE 2008 (UoA12A) comprises three groups:

The majority of researchers are members of two of these groups, reflecting the inter-related nature of the areas of research and the groups’ interdisciplinarity.

Disability, Injury & Rehabilitation

(Burden, Burton, Chadwick, Fowler, Goldbart, Goodwin, Graham, Holmes, Lee-Treweek, McEwan, Marshall, Mills, Mitchell, Roach, Williams, and Yohannes)

Locomotor Impairment:
Current and recent projects include: psychological and biomechanical factors in low back pain; physiotherapist prescribed community based exercise in inflammatory peripheral neuropathy; rehabilitation following arthroscopic partial meniscectomy; rehabilitation approaches in knee osteoarthritis; biomechanical analysis of paralympic powerlifters; measures of patella position; clinical and instrumental; the role of ACE in the regulation of muscle strength; similarity of polygenic profiles and capacity constraints on human physical performance; and osteopathy, responsibility and back problems.

Neuromotor Conditions:
The neuromotor strand incorporates research focusing on intervention, assessment of outcome measures, interventions and management in different clinical populations with the aim of improving clinical practice. Current and recent projects include: cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder; use of passive movements by UK physiotherapists for critically ill, ventilated and sedated patients; multimodal observation as a neurorehabilitation therapy for stroke patients; use of imagery and observation as therapy following stroke and rehabilitation needs of adults with neuromuscular disorders.

Development of Speech, Language and Communication:
This strand addresses aspects of developmental communication difficulties, with particular emphasis on family conceptualisations and experiences, environmental and cultural factors, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

Current and recent projects include: early years practitioners’ ideas of environmental effects on language development and delay; communication modes in the home with children who use AAC; systematic review of environmental influences on speech, language and communication difficulties in children; explanatory models of language development, language delay and intervention; support staff attitudes to the use of sign language by adults with intellectual disabilities.

Learning Disability:
Research in this strand addresses health and behavioural intervention and service issues relating to children and adults with learning disability. Current projects include: investigation of dysphagia in adults with intellectual disabilities; relationship between challenging behaviour and communication in adults with intellectual disability; access to dental care for adults with learning disability; history of learning disability nursing; experiences of health care of adults with learning difficulties in Manchester; approaches to communication assessment and intervention with children and adults with profound intellectual disabilities; survey of the use of pulse oximetry by SLTs; responsive services for people with learning disabilities from minority ethnic communities; and accessing eye care for adults who are learning disabled.

Applied Behavioural Sciences in Health group

(Ashford, Dagnall, Holmes, Roach, Smith, Stirling, Wheatcroft, Windsor and Williams)

Cognition and Language:
This strand includes research into communication, personality and cognition. Current and recent projects include: the Cognitive Interview and its effectiveness amongst an Arabic sample; cognitive and neuropsychological aspects of social inhibition and facilitation; effectiveness of guidance strategies in counteracting negative effects of cross-examination; effects of courtroom question type and questioning styles on police officers' perceptions of giving evidence in court; police perceptions of interview techniques; bi-lateral eye movements, explicit and implicit memory, dual processes in memory, personality factors and false memory.

Visual and Motor Cognition:
This strand includes research into the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in the representation of human action. Work includes fundamental studies of brain activity during observation of action through to optimising observational learning of skills and applying imagery more effectively to stroke patients and elite sports performers.

Current and recent projects include: action observation modulation of the TMS motor evoked potential response: influence of psychosocial context; changes in imagery ability following extended periods of action observation; eye movement and driving performance; eye movement characteristics of elite shotgun shooters: the quiet eye; EEG activity during action observation and execution: the influence of task complexity; rapid articulation on wind instruments and lingual articulation for speech; implications for teachers and learners.

Mental Health:
This strand includes research into a range of mental health issues, including schizophrenia, psychosis, cannabis use, and adjustment in Parkinson's disease.

Current and recent research projects include: psychological factors in adjustment to low back pain; exploring the origins and personality correlates of paranormal belief(s); cognitive basis of psychotic-like symptoms in non-clinical samples; an exploration of cognitive mechanisms that may distinguish individuals with different levels of trait schizotypy; meta-cognition and insight impairments in schizophrenia; schizotypy and cannabis experiences in people with a psychotic illness and effects of exercise on cognitive biases to threat in anxious individuals.

Health Service: education, delivery and evaluation

(Burton, Chadwick, Derbyshire, Goldbart, Goodwin, Lee-Treweek, Loughlin, Marsden, Marshall, Mitchell, Stirling, Warner, Webb, Wheatcroft and Yohannes)

Education:
Research questions pertain to the initial and in-service education of health professionals. Current and recent projects include: research for RCSLT on the experiences of international SLT students on UK programmes; workforce and training issues in learning disability services and the development of a video and training manual on child sexual abuse.

Service delivery:
Research in this strand addresses current issues in the delivery of health services. Results of these projects are disseminated to policy makers and practitioners through publications and presentations. Their impact is identified below. Current and recent projects include: triage in emergency ophthalmic nursing; mental health liaison in substance misuse services (ADSIS project); substance misuse service provision: management of shared care and treatment access (Turning Point project); barriers to guideline implementation in dysphagia; evaluation of provision for people with dual diagnosis of mental health and drug use; responsive services for people with learning disabilities from minority ethnic communities; managerialism in the NHS; GP’s management of depression in chronic diseases; and working with emotions in complementary medicine: the case of aromatherapy practitioners.

Evaluation:
Research in this strand includes methodological developments, formal evaluations of intervention approaches and disease processes, as well as the critical examination of the concept of evidence based practice. Current and recent projects include: diet, digestion and pregnancy; systematic review of speech and language therapy for children with cerebral palsy; a framework for describing participants and communication partners and environments in AAC research; the use of QUALYs in evaluating physiotherapy post arthroscopic partial meniscectomy; predictors of long-term outcome in psychosis; 10 and proposed 20 year follow up of the Manchester first episode psychosis cohort; tolerance of uncertainty, extraversion, neuroticism and attitudes to RCTs amongst surgeons and physicians; and critical perspectives on evidence-based practice.