Dr Victoria Shepherd
Research Associate - Nurse
- shepherdvl1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2068 7641
- 413, Neuadd Meirionnydd, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS
- Available for postgraduate supervision
I am a post-doctoral researcher based in the Centre for Trials Research. Within the Centre, I am involved in a number of clinical trials and other research studies, through which I have gained a wide experience of research methods in a range of health care settings. These have primarily involved working with populations where informed consent can be challenging, such as older people in long term care settings, in emergency settings, and trials involving children and young people. I have a special interest in research involving vulnerable populations including children, older adults with cognitive impairments, critically ill and emergency situations. I am involved in a number of research studies which involve these populations, with a focus on infections and primary care. I have developed an interest in law and ethical issues in research, in particular issues of consent in vulnerable populations and the use of proxy and deferred consent models.
I lead a programme of methodological research exploring the ethical, legal and practical issues around research involving adults who lack capacity consent. This includes an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship (2016-2019) titled: Informed consent and proxy decision making in research involving adults lacking capacity: development of an intervention to support proxy informed decision making, set within ethical and legal frameworks. This research includes the development of complex interventions to address the barriers to condcuting trials with adults who lack capacity.
I am involved in and lead a number of care home research studies, including leading a study to establish the research priorities in care homes using consensus-based methods, and am a member of a number of national and international care home research collaborations. Prior to this I had an extensive clinical career as a Registered Nurse, the majority spent in Critical Care settings in England and Wales. I am also an expert member on an NHS Research Ethics Committee.
Honours and awards
PhD Deciding about research for others: normative, empirical, and legal accounts of proxy decision-making for research and the development of a decision support intervention (November 2019)
Finalist in in Wales Nurse of the Year Awards 2019 - Supporting Improvement Through Research Award (runner up)
BSc Acute and Critical Care, MA Healthcare Law and Ethics. Dissertation: Vulnerable populations in medical research: is research regulation ‘protecting them to death'? (September 2014)
Professional memberships
NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council)
Institute of Medical Ethics
Society for Academic Primary Care
RCN Wales Nurse of the Year Alumni Network
Committees and reviewing
Member of NHS Research Ethics Committee (2019-present)
Consultant Editor in clinical trials & care homes studies for Geriatrics, Gerontology and Aging (March 2020-present)
2020
- Shepherd, V. 2020. Advances and challenges in conducting ethical trials involving populations lacking capacity to consent: a decade in review. Contemporary Clinical Trials 95, article number: 106054. (10.1016/j.cct.2020.106054)
- Butler, C. C.et al. 2020. Effect of probiotic use on antibiotic administration among care home residents: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Medical Association
- Shepherd, V. 2020. An under-represented and underserved population in trials: methodological, structural, and systemic barriers to the inclusion of adults lacking capacity to consent. Trials 21(1), article number: 445. (10.1186/s13063-020-04406-y)
- Shepherd, V. and Davies, J. 2020. Conducting a randomized controlled trial in care homes: the challenges of recruiting residents who lack capacity to consent. In: SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health. SAGE, (10.4135/9781529726626)
2019
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2019. 'It's a tough decision': A qualitative study of proxy decision-making for research involving adults who lack capacity to consent in England and Wales. Age and Ageing 48(6), pp. 903-909. (10.1093/ageing/afz115)
- Wachholz, P.et al. 2019. Research on long-term care homes for older people in Brazil: protocol for a scoping review. East Midlands Research into Ageing Network 32, pp. 1-16.
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2019. 'There's more to life than money and health': family caregivers' views on the role of Power of Attorney in proxy decisions about research participation for people living with dementia. Dementia (10.1177/1471301219884426)
- Shepherd, V. 2019. Deciding about research for others: normative, empirical, and legal accounts of proxy decision-making for research and the development of a decision support intervention. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
- Owen-Jones, E.et al. 2019. Protocol for a double-blind placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of probiotics in reducing antibiotics for infection in care home residents: the Probiotics to Reduce Infections iN CarE home reSidentS (PRINCESS) trial. BMJ Open 9(6), article number: e027513. (10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027513)
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2019. Research involving adults lacking capacity to consent: a content analysis of participant information sheets for consultees and legal representatives in England and Wales. Trials 20, article number: 233. (10.1186/s13063-019-3340-5)
- Edvardsson, D.et al. 2019. Advancing long-term care science through using common data elements: candidate measures for care outcomes of personhood, well-being, and quality of life. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine 5, pp. 1-15. (10.1177/2333721419842672)
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2019. Protection by exclusion? The (lack of) inclusion of adults who lack capacity to consent to research in clinical trials in the UK. Trials 20, article number: 474. (10.1186/s13063-019-3603-1)
2018
- Francis, N. A.et al. 2018. Oral steroids for hearing loss associated with otitis media with effusion in children aged 2 8 years: the OSTRICH RCT. Health Technology Assessment 22(61) (10.3310/hta22610)
- Jordan, A.et al. 2018. What adolescents living with long-term conditions say about being involved in decision-making about their healthcare: A systematic review and narrative synthesis of preferences and experiences. Patient Education and Counseling 101(10), pp. 1725-1735. (10.1016/j.pec.2018.06.006)
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2018. Healthcare professionals' understanding of the legislation governing research involving adults lacking mental capacity in England and Wales: a national survey. Journal of Medical Ethics 44(9), pp. 632-637. (10.1136/medethics-2017-104722)
- Francis, N. A.et al. 2018. Oral steroids for resolution of otitis media with effusion in children (OSTRICH): a double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomised trial. Lancet 392(10147), pp. 557-568. (10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31490-9)
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2018. Ethical understandings of proxy decision-making for research involving adults lacking capacity: a systematic review (framework synthesis) of empirical research. American Journal of Bioethics 9(4), pp. 267-286. (10.1080/23294515.2018.1513097)
2017
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2017. Impact of a deferred recruitment model in a randomised controlled trial in primary care (CREAM study). Trials 18(1), article number: 533. (10.1186/s13063-017-2284-x)
- Francis, N. A.et al. 2017. Oral and topical antibiotics for clinically infected eczema in children: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in ambulatory care. Annals of Family Medicine 15(2), pp. 124-130. (10.1370/afm.2038)
- Shepherd, V., Wood, F. and Hood, K. 2017. Establishing a set of research priorities in care homes for older people in the UK: a modified Delphi consensus study with care home staff. Age and Ageing 46(2), pp. 284-290. (10.1093/ageing/afw204)
2016
- Gkiousias, V.et al. 2016. Parental perceptions and understanding of information provision, management options and factors influencing the decision-making process in the treatment of children with glue ear. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 89, pp. 6-12. (10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.021)
- Shepherd, V. 2016. Research involving adults lacking capacity to consent: the impact of research regulation on 'evidence biased' medicine. BMC Medical Ethics 17(1), article number: 55. (10.1186/s12910-016-0138-9)
- Francis, N. A.et al. 2016. A randomised placebo-controlled trial of oral and topical antibiotics for children with clinically infected eczema in the community: the ChildRen with Eczema, Antibiotic Management (CREAM) study. Health Technology Assessment 20(19), pp. 1-84. (10.3310/hta20190)
- Waldron, C.et al. 2016. Oral Steroids for the Resolution of Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) in Children (OSTRICH): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 17, article number: 115. (10.1186/s13063-016-1236-1)
2015
- Shepherd, V.et al. 2015. Setting up a clinical trial in care homes: challenges encountered and recommendations for future research practice. BMC Research Notes 8, article number: 306. (10.1186/s13104-015-1276-8)
2014
- Hood, K.et al. 2014. Probiotics for Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhoea (PAAD): a prospective observational study of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (including Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea) in care homes. Health Technology Assessment 18(63) (10.3310/hta18630)
My primary research interest is addressing the challenges around the inclusion of adults lacking capacity in research. I previously held an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship to explore the ethical, legal and practical challenges to the inclusion of these under-represented populations, using mixed-methods and interdisciplinary approaches.
I have developed a novel complex intervention (a decision support tool) to enhance proxy decision-making for research (www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7283/v1). I am leading a follow on study to conduct cognitive testing of the decision support intervention (DECISION 2 Study) funded by the Wellcome Trust through ISSF Institutional Funding. I am also leading the development of a core outcome set to evaluate interventions that enhance proxy decisions about participation on behalf of adults who lack capacity (COnSiDER Study) which is registered on the COMET (Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials) database (http://www.comet-initiative.org/Studies/Details/1409). I supervise a number of Intercalated BSc medical student projects in this area.
Previous research activities include contributing to the delivery of multicentre interventional studies, including: Children with Eczema, Antibiotic Management - CREAM Study (NIHR HTA), Oral STeroids for the Resolution of otitis media with effusion (OME) In Children – OSTRICH Study (NIHR HTA) and Probiotics to Reduce Infections iN CarE home reSidentS – PRINCESS Study (NIHR EME).
I have a special interest in care home research. I led a UK wide Research Priority Setting in Care Homes Study, which aimed to identify a set of research priorities for care home research with a key group of stakeholders. The aim is to engage with researchers and funding bodies to share the findings in order to inform the care of older people by ensuring the future research agenda can be focused on the areas of greatest need. I am also involved in collaborating with other national and international researchers/institutions to develop research proposals involving older people in long term care, some of which address areas identified as research priorities.