Research groups
Research interests
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Dementia and Continence
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Flexible Working Practices
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Organisational Resilience
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Responsible Leadership
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Dementia Care and Leadership
Current research
Dementia and Continence (DemCon): This is Barbara’s main research area currently. Following recruitment and interviewing of health care community and primary care practitioners, and home care workers, data will be analysed to identify the specific resources that will enhance the service provided by health care practitioners to this patient group. Bespoke resources will be developed, based on the data analysis, and then field-tested and evaluated. Refinement of the resources will be made following testing and prior to widespread dissemination.
Early findings from DemCon has identified a need for resources specifically tailored to homecare workers, to enhance the care they give to their clients with dementia and continence issues. Additional funding has been awarded to scope these resources and plan their development and evaluation. This additional project, DemCon Homecare, will be led by Barbara, commence in April 2023 and will provide added benefit to the DemCon study.
Flexible Working Practices: Barbara has been the Research Fellow on a project looking into the flexible working arrangements in five case study organisations, including an NHS Trust, retail sector, professional services, banking and local government. She has been involved in participant recruitment, conducting interviews, thematic data analysis and report writing. The project is due to complete at the end of March 2023.
Organisational Resilience and Responsible Leadership: Barbara’s PhD focussed on identifying the strategic leadership behaviours that leaders in the NHS employed to develop and sustain organisational resilience. A key finding was that of Responsible Leadership as the key leadership approach in both case study organisations. A new model of organisational resilience was developed as a result of the research findings and Barbara is interested in conducting further research into leadership and its impact on the care of people who are living with dementia and admitted to hospital for an acute condition.