Psychology of Chronic Health Conditions

The group's primary aim is to develop clinical interventions capable of reducing distress associated with long-term health conditions and to promote behaviour change that will facilitate adjustment

Key areas of interest:

  • The experience of living with a visible difference or altered appearance. This includes exploring the role played by cultural, social, and psychological factors in accounting for the variance in adjustment evident in a range of conditions (including both acquired and congenital conditions).
  • The experience of living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the psychological impact, specific considerations for young people, interventions aimed at alleviating associated distress.
  • Psychodermatology - Exploring the relationship between skin conditions and psychological factors.
  • The psychological management of long-term health conditions. This includes the assessment of distress, and development of psychosocial interventions aimed at facilitating adjustment or alleviating distress that maybe associated with illness. 
  • Stigmatisation in relation to health.

Staff undertaking research in this area

Name Summary of thematic area Key Collaborators
Dr Andrew Thompson Adjustment to illness, particularly those that affect appearance/body-image; adjustment after trauma/PTSD; psychodermatology. Prof. Paul Norman, Dr. Thomas Webb, SHEP research Group, Centre for Medical Humanities. Links with national
and international charities including Changing Faces, The Vitiligo Society and The Katie Piper Foundation. Links with Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation.
Trust.
Dr Steve Kellett Psychodermatology and medically unexplained symptoms; Long term conditions Active collaborations within hospitals across Yorkshire and links with a variety of medical specialities including Oncology, Dermatology, & Plastic Surgery. Active collaboration with General Practice clusters. Active collaborations with Yorkshire and Humber IAPT services.
Dr Georgina Rowse The lived experience, psychological impact, and specific impacts for young people of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Assessment and interventions for distress associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Prof. Paul Norman, Dr Fuschia Sirois, Dr Rebecca Yeates, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Prof. Alan Lobo, Dr Bernard Corfe, Dr Alenka Brooks, and Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Dr Priya Narula and Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

Key collaborators

  • Sheffield Teaching Hospital
  • Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Trust
  • Sheffield Children’s Hospital
  • Health and Social Psychological Research Group, University of Sheffield
  • Crohn’s and Colitis UK
  • Centre for Appearance Research, University of West of England
  • SHEP research group
  • Centre for Medical Humanities
  • Links with national and international charities including Changing Faces, The Vitiligo Society,
    and The Katie Piper Foundation.

Selected Key Publications and Grant Awards for the Psychology of Chronic Health Conditions theme

This section is currently being updated. See Clinical Psychology Key Publications & Grant Awards for a wider selection of key publications/grants for the whole unit. A full list of publications and grants for each member of staff can be accessed via individual web pages.

Current PhD/DClin Psy Supervision 

This section is currently being updated. 

Related information