Shireen Patel
Research Associate, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
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Biography
Shireen Patel completed her MSc in Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham in 2005 after which she worked for several years in psychiatric care. Following this she worked as a research assistant involved in evaluating the long-term progress of patients discharged from a forensic medium secure unit, before obtaining a post at the University of Nottingham in the division of Primary Care on a CLAHRC project.
Expertise Summary
She encompasses both theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the field of psychiatry, particularly in the domain of personality disorder due to working within this area for approximately five years.
Research Summary
Shireen Patel's principal research interests lie in the field of health promotion and improving quality of life following a diagnosis of physical or mental illness. She has been involved in the… read more
Current Research
Shireen Patel's principal research interests lie in the field of health promotion and improving quality of life following a diagnosis of physical or mental illness. She has been involved in the Arnold Lodge Admission Cohort: Reconvictions and Intervening Treatments (ALACRITy) follow up study, which involved evaluating the long term progress of patients discharged from a forensic medium secure unit.
She also has over four years of clinical experience working in a psychiatric hospital. Her main responsibilities involved participating in the development and maintenance of high quality patient care through involvement in the assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating of patient care. It also involved promoting and safeguarding the interests and well being of patients. As a Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) she engaged in social activities with patients, escorted them on leave and facilitated therapeutic groups and one-on-one sessions to allow individuals to express their emotions and concerns.
She is currently working as a Research Associate in Primary Care on two projects: The Impact of Injuries and the Regular Attenders Project.
Regular Attenders project
This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a nurse-based cognitive behaviour therapy intervention for regular attenders in primary care with depression, anxiety or medically unexplained symptoms.
Impact of Injuries study
This project attempts to address the impact of injuries on individuals and aims to investigate the role of psychological problems emerging after an injury and the extent to which patients' needs are being met in hospitals and following discharge.
For both projects she is involved in recruiting and interviewing patients at the hospital, G.P services or patients homes. She is also responsible for ensuring that all patient data is collated and entered correctly and stored confidentially.
------------ Future Research
Her future research plans are to build on the foundations of her interest in health promotion by applying psychological theory into practice within a health setting. She values the importance of addressing the psychological impact on illness and the significance of interventions aimed to provide psychological treatment to service users.