My research interests focus on the study of paediatric chronic pain and its impact on young people and families.  I am a core member of the Bath Centre for Pain Research and head up the Pain in Children research theme.

Parenting

I continue to work to explore the experience and impact of parenting a child or young person with chronic pain on parents.  Work includes adopting a more systemic focus to examine the wider familial impact of paediatric chronic pain, including fathers and siblings in addition to parental chronic pain.  See here for a recent qualitative synthesis that addresses parental relationships.

Pain narratives

Current work takes a narrative approach to studying how young people and their families understand and make sense of their pain.  I am working to examine how narratives are co-constructed within the family unit and how narratives develop across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.

Social development

Taking a developmental angle I examine the socio-developmental challenges (e.g. development of autonomy, peer relationships) in paediatric chronic pain and how these challenges are managed by young people and families.  I am in particularly interested in studying identity in this context.  

Diagnostic uncertainty

Finally, I am working collaboratively to explore how young people, parents and clinicians make sense of idiopathic paediatric chronic pain when there is perceived uncertainty concerning its cause and/or prognosis.  See here for our recent review.

PhD supervision

I am keen to discuss potential PhD applications in any of my areas of research detailed above or related areas.