Cardiff School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies

Research Interests

• Qualitative methodology
• Service User Involvement in Research
• The experiences of service users
• Chronic illness in childhood (particularly type 1 diabetes)

Career Overview

A late entrant to nursing, after completing my RGN and RSCN training, I took up the post of paediatric diabetes specialist nurse in Cardiff in 1995. I found that I enjoyed studying, and research in particular. Thus, after finishing my MSc dissertation by research, I registered for and completed a PhD exploring the experiences of parents of children with newly diagnosed diabetes. I currently work as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, Cardiff University, but am seconded 2½ days a week to Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust to provide nursing leadership to the paediatric diabetes service and provide the ongoing care, support and education of 220 children with diabetes and their families in hospital and community settings. Although my main research interest is the care and management of childhood diabetes, I also have a particular interest in the involvement of service users in the context of research, policy decision-making and service development.

Teaching Profile

My contribution to learning and teaching crosses Schools and academic levels, from pre-registration to doctoral students, and includes teaching qualified medical and nursing staff in the clinical environment. For example, I teach about childhood diabetes on pre and post registration diploma courses, qualitative data collection and analysis and other methodological issues at Masters/Doctoral level, and led an annual research workshop for the Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust R&D Research Day from 2002-2005. In addition to my personal PhD/MSc students, I provide mentorship to aspiring and early stage researchers and novice writers, which is an important part of the School’s wider strategy to build research capacity in the School.