PhD Studentship Exploring The Perceptions Of Parents, Children And Health Professionals In Relation To Understanding Childhood Obesity, School Of Health And Social Care

Director of studies: Dr Jane Appleton, Dr Jilly Martin

Second Supervisor: Dr Luci Wiggs

Email Addresses: jvappleton@brookes.ac.uk, jmartin@brookes.ac.uk, lwiggs@brookes.ac.uk

Eligibility: Applicants require a good Honours degree (2.1 or equivalent). Due to available funding Home and EU students are eligible.

Start Date: 20th September 2011, Closing Date: 3rd May 2011

Value p.a.: Bursary of £13,500 for 2011/12 (increasing by 3% in each of the two subsequent full-time years), & fees.

Project Summary: Childhood obesity is a major public health issue. Children who are obese are more likely to suffer obesity as adults and are at greater risk of developing many chronic diseases and serious long term health problems. Obese children are also at greater risk of experiencing problems with self-esteem, bullying and psychological issues. Yet despite efforts to tackle childhood obesity, there appears to be some disagreement in terms of how childhood obesity is conceptualised. There are also conflicting beliefs surrounding the causes of obesity and its prevention amongst health professionals and the public. This PhD study will investigate the tools used to identify and assess children at risk of obesity. Using qualitative methods the views of parents and health professionals will be explored to develop a picture of how childhood obesity is understood by each group and how they believe it might be assessed and tackled successfully.

This project will be supervised by an inter-disciplinary team. The team will include as Director of Studies, Dr Jane Appleton, co-supervisor Dr Jilly Martin and second supervisor Dr. Luci Wiggs. Dr. Jane Appleton is a Health Visitor with a long standing professional practice and research interest in professional assessment and work with vulnerable children. She has a publication record and considerable experience with qualitative methods. Jane is also a nurse member of Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee, co-editor of Child Abuse Review and Professional Editor for the journal Community Practitioner. Dr Jilly Martin is a health psychologist interested in public health and young peoples' health-related issues and is currently researching how psychology can inform interventions to prevent and treat childhood obesity. Dr Luci Wiggs is a psychologist specialising in the field of sleep disorder and management in children. She has also taken a special interest in issues surrounding service provision in sleep medicine including assessing professional training, parents' and children's perceptions of 'problems' and experiences of barriers to treatment and investigating ways of increasing access to help. She has a publication record and doctoral supervision experience in this field and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sleep Research.

Further information concerning research groups in the School of Health and Social care can be found at http://shsc.brookes.ac.uk/research/groups

To apply for this studentship, please complete the university's postgraduate research application form and send copies of our postgraduate referee form, downloadable at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/studying/applications/direct/research.

Applications should be posted to:
Ms Lucy Boyles,
Postgraduate Administrator
School of Life Sciences
Oxford Brookes University
Headington
Oxford OX3 0BP
UK

Please note that applications will not be accepted by email.

Interviews will be held in the week commencing 6th June 2011.

Tags: Social Sciences and Social Care Jobs