Personal profile

Research Focus

My research focuses on the role of arts-based interventions in the area of adult mental health, stigma and help-seeking behaviour.  This builds on earlier research I conducted as part of my MRes dissertation, where, in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival and the QUB Science Shop, I reviewed the evidence base for arts-based interventions and mental health.  I am interested in mixed methods methodologies and will explore further the role of the arts and the processes by which they interact with stigma and help-seeking, building on the seminal work of Goffman and modern stigma theory to understand and conceptualise the relationship between the arts, stigma and mental health.  This is an underexplored area in research within the context of Northern Ireland and more generally, however research activity has grown and the powerful contribution the arts can make to mental health has be widely recognised.