Staff Profile
Dr Angela Wearn
Research Fellow
- Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Newcastle University
Baddiley-Clark Building
Richardson Road
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE2 4AX
UK
Angela is a member of the Population Health Sciences Institute and works within the Public Health and Health Inequalities theme. She is a Research Fellow in Public Involvement and Community Engagement for the NIHR's Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria and an Associate Member of Fuse, affiliated to both the Health Inequalities and Behaviour Change themes.
Within her current role, Angela works alongside diverse and seldom-heard communities on a range of topics related to inclusion, improved access to care and the accessibility and relevance of applied health research. She leads on Patient Involvement and Engagement for the North East and North Cumbria Deep End Network, and contributes to a number of regional and national working groups to increase equitable and diverse involvement in health care research.
Angela is also a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, specialising in Health Psychology, with a focus on the health and wellbeing of marginalised groups, prevention and the development and evaluation of complex health interventions. Angela completed her PhD at Northumbria University which explored the development of intervention strategies to address socioeconomic inequalities in cervical screening participation.
Research Interests
- Involvement and engagement of seldom-heard groups (particularly those living in areas of high deprivation, young people and neurodivergent groups).
- Health/mental health of marginalised communities
- Women's health
- Prevention
- Development and evaluation of complex health and/or behaviour change interventions
Recent grants
- Mental health IN the Deep EnD (MINDED) extension. Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria, Targeting Health Needs Award. 2023-2024, £29,103
- Sustaining Diversity and Inclusion in Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research: Development of a VCSE-Research Partnership Network. NHS England, Research Engagement Network Programme. 2023-2024. £130,000
- Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research. NHS England, Research Engagement Network Development Programme. 2022-2023. £99,945
- Co-designing and evaluating novel recruitment strategies to achieve more equitable mental health research participation. NIHR NETSCC. 2022-2026. £277,733 (Co-I)
- Developing inclusive school environments: Optimising the provision of staff training to support positive mental health in autistic young people. NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria, 2022-2024. £24,662 (PI)
- NIHR NENC ARC Mental Health Capacity and Capability: Additional infrastructure funding to support mental health research. 2021-2024, £750,212
- Mental health IN the Deep EnD (MINDED) pilot evaluation: embedding a clinical psychologist in primary care to improve mental health care for patients living in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities within the North East & North Cumbria (2022-2023). NIHR Three Schools Mental Health Evaluation Programme. £151,248 (Co-I)
- Supporting the NHS Long Term Plan: An evaluation of the implementation and impact of NHS-funded tobacco dependence services. NIHR Applied Research Collaboration National Priority Areas: Prevention, including behavioural risk factors, 2021-2023. £369,628.87. (Co-I)
- Supporting access to books and reading to promote health and well-being in disadvantaged groups: realist evaluation of Community Reading Coach provision in six Local Authority areas [The Reading for Wellbeing project]. NIHR ARC, North East and North Cumbria 2020-2023. £96,000. (Co-I)
Angela is a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) and has experience teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Angela has previously designed and delivered teaching modules and sessions relating to:
- Qualitative research methods and analysis
- Quantitative research methods and analysis
- Health Psychology
- Public Involvement and Community Engagement in research.
PhD Supervision:
Caroline Charlton (starting 2022). Increasing timely cervical screening participation in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation. Funded by NIHR School for Public Health Research (second supervisor).
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Articles
- Wearn A, Shepherd L. Determinants of routine cervical screening participation in underserved women: a qualitative systematic review. Psychology and Health 2024, 39(9), 145-170.
- Sirisena M, Lhussier M, Kaner E, Wearn A, Gray J, James R, Redgate S. ‘The book’s a conversation starter’: a realist exploration of the salutogenic potential of reading for pleasure. Medical Humanities 2024, epub ahead of print.
- Rodrigues AM, Wearn A, Haste A, Mallion V, Evison M, Howle F, Haighton C. Understanding the implementation strategy of a secondary care tobacco addiction treatment pathway (the CURE project) in England; a strategic behavioural analysis. BMJ Open 2022, (12), e054739.
- Wearn A, Haste A, Haighton C, Mallion V, Rodrigues AM. Barriers and facilitators to implementing the CURE stop smoking project: a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research 2021, 21(1), 481.
- Wearn A, Shepherd L. The impact of emotion-based mass media campaigns on stigma toward cervical screening non participation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2020, 50(5), 289-298.
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Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)
- Jeffries J, Wearn A, Hassan S, Chew-Graham C, Sowden S. Qualitative evaluation of a complex mental health intervention in general practices serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in northern England. In: Society for Social Medicine & Population Health Annual Scientific Meeting. 2023, Newcastle, UK: BMJ Publishing Group.
- Brennan-Tovey K, Aquino MRJ, Flanagan S, Kaner E, Wearn A, Bigirumurame T, Fong M, Todd A, Aveyard P, Jolly K, Damery S, Attwood A, Robson D, West J, Bridges S, Armitage CJ, Russell S, Strong S, Ramsay SE. Implementation of the NHS-funded tobacco dependence services in England: a qualitative study to understand the contexts of implementation. In: Public Health Science 2021. 2021, Online: The Lancet Publishing Group.
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Reports
- Wearn A, Kaner E, Ramsay S, Aquino MRJ, Alderson H, Cheetham M, Shenton F, Lally J, Anderson E, Rook V, Palfreyman L, Bartle V. Evaluating process and outcomes of public involvement in applied health and social care research: a rapid systematic review. London: National Institute for Health and Care Research, 2022. PROSPERO 2022 CRD42022310210.
- Wearn A, Douglas S, Long SJ. Enhancing public involvement and community engagement in research across the North East and North Cumbria; Scoping existing good practice and proposing next steps. National Institute for Health and Care Research, 2022.
- Geijer-Simpson E, Sirisena M, Redagte S, Lhussier M, Kaner E, Wildman J, Hackett S, Gray J, Rowlands G, McKean C, Wearn A, Hartley J, James B, Heslop J. A rapid realist evidence synthesis on the effectiveness of reading initiatives in promoting mental and physical health in individuals across the life course. London: National Institute for Health Research, 2021. PROSPERO 2021 CRD42021278489.