Mental health and Inequalities

Mental health and Inequalities

Theme lead

Professor Joy Duxbury

 

Brief description

Our research combines a range of disciplines, ideologies and approaches in understanding challenges associated with mental health and pathways to finding shared understandings and solutions.

We co-create significant, global contributions to the field of mental health with experts by experience and partners. This includes people with complex histories in inpatient and community services at different stages of their lives and across the age-range, their carers and significant others.

The scope of our work embraces human rights and social justice to understand the complexities and trauma associated with mental health. We are interested in creative ways of co-creating potential solutions and in exploring the impact of relationships and the environment.

We work within the community to make sense of these complex factors and the vast inequalities across health and social care provisions.

 

Our team

Dr Elaine Bidmead, Katie Goodall, Dr Paul Miller, Dr Liz Bates, and Dr Sue Wilbraham.

 

About our research

Addressing mental health and inequalities in organisation and community services with experts by experience, our research brings together a diverse range of disciplines, perspectives and approaches to advance the understanding of mental health and the broader determinants of health.

We co-create and collaborate closely with experts by experience to create meaningful contributions to our respective fields. Our work focuses on individuals with complex histories in inpatient and community settings alongside their carers and loved ones, ensuring their voices are central to our research.

Grounded in human rights and social justice, we are committed to tackling inequalities that underpin mental health outcomes, our work explores the social, economic, and cultural determinants of health, recognising how factors such as poverty, discrimination and access to care shape mental health and wellbeing and physical health. We work within the community to make sense of these complex factors and the vast inequalities across health and social care provisions.

 

Our expertise

  • Minimising restrictive practices such as physical restraint and coercion across health and social care, criminal and educational settings.
  • Health and social inequalities with a particular focus on coastal and rural communities

 

Our impact is demonstrated through

  • Leading global efforts to reduce restrictive practices in mental health and related settings
  • Championing nurse-led, trauma-informed care that prioritises dignity, compassion and inclusivity
  • Driving policy and practice changes at local and national levels to address disparities in mental health services and outcomes
  • Embedding co-design and co-production in every stage of the research process, partnering with experts by experience to ensure their insights shape meaningful solutions
  • Developing improvement-focused initiatives that challenge cultural barriers, structural inequalities and power imbalances.

 

Our projects

Duxbury J, Parry S Co Leads et al (2024) Recovery and Resilience Framework for Children in Care: A Realist Co-production Development Study NIHR £320, 000 The NEST Study NIHR funds new study to improve care for vulnerable children | NIHR. NIHR funds new study to improve care for vulnerable children | NIHR

Duxbury J, Haines A et al (2022) SWAP UPLIFT to existing NIHR Grant amounting to an additional £ 43, 000 for a further 6 months Realist review of complex interventions to prevent & reduce the use of restrictive practices on people with learning disabilities in hospital settings   Cost for full project in total £401, 806 Research: The LEARN Project | Manchester Metropolitan University. Research: The LEARN Project | Manchester Metropolitan University

Haines A, Duxbury J (2022) Evaluation of the National HOPE(S) Programme to End Long Term Segregation (LTS) for People with Learning Disabilities and Autism   Cost to funder NHS England Via Merseycare NHS Trust £159, 248 2 Year Project

Haines A & Duxbury J (2022) Project 514952: Models of care for people with learning disabilities and/or autism with forensic needs who require detention under MHA in secure settings: a mixed methods study. 2-year Project   £196, 495.Funder Merseycare mental Health Trust

Duxbury et al 2021 NIHR PRP funded project aim at “Improving the experiences of Black African Caribbean men detained under the Mental Health Act: a co-produced intervention using the Silences Framework (ImprovE-ACT) £830, 000 (See report below).  Research: Mental health act reform | Manchester Metropolitan University. Research: Mental health act reform | Manchester Metropolitan University

 

Recent publications

  • Craig, E., Bergqvist, A., Brodrick, I., Heyes, K., Leah, C., Miller, E., Dixon, J., Thompson, K., Best, D., King, C., Sewell, H., McLaren, R., Adebisi, J., Husain, N., Serrant, L., Jarred, T., Duxbury, J., & Haines-Delmont, A. (2024) Improving the Experiences of Black African Caribbean Men Detained Under the Mental Health Act: Co-Produced Policy and Practice Recommendations for Change and Reform (ImproveAct): Final Report. In: NIHR Policy Research Programme Project. Project Report. NIHR. (Unpublished)
  • Bidmead E, Hayes L, Mazzoli-Smith L, Wildman J, Rankin J, Leggott E, et al. (2024) Poverty proofing healthcare: A qualitative study of barriers to accessing healthcare for low-income families with children in northern England. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0292983. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292983
  • Cheetham, M., El Zerbi, C., Bidmead, E., Morris, S. and Dodd, T. (2024) ‘“You can see when your parents are struggling”: a qualitative study of children and young people’s views of Universal Credit’, Journal of Social Policy, pp. 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279424000333. 
  • Scott, S., McGowan, V., Wildman, J., Bidmead, E., Hartley, J., Mathews, C., James, B., Sullivan, C., Bambra, C. and Sowden (2024) “I’ll meet you at our bench”: adaptation, innovation and resilience among VCSE organisations who supported marginalised and minoritised communities during the Covid-19 pandemic in Northern England – a qualitative focus group study. BMC Health Services Research 24, 7 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10435-5.
  • Bidmead, E., El Zerbi, C., Cheetham, M., & Frost, S. (2023). A rapid review of children and young people's views of poverty and welfare in the context of Universal Credit. Children & Society, 00, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12728.
  • Kodua, M., Duxbury, J., Eboh, W., Asztalos, L., & Tweneboa, J. (2023) ‘Healthcare staff’s experiences of using manual physical restraint: A meta-synthesis review’, Nursing & health sciences, 25(3), pp. 271–289. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.13045.
  • Lantta, T., Duxbury, J., Haines-Delmont, A., Björkdahl, A., Husum, T.L., Lickiewicz, J., Douzenis, A., Craig, E., Goodall, K., Bora, C. and Whyte, R. (2023). ‘Models, frameworks and theories in the implementation of programs targeted to reduce formal coercion in mental health settings: a systematic review’, Frontiers in psychiatry, 14, pp. 1158145–1158145. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1158145.
  • Bracewell, K., Jones, C., Haines-Delmont, A., Craig, E., Duxbury, J., & Chantler, K. (2022). Beyond intimate partner relationships: utilising domestic homicide reviews to prevent adult family domestic homicide. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 6(3), 535-550. Retrieved Jan 17, 2025, from: https://doi.org/10.1332/239868021X16316184865237
  • Haines-Delmont, A., Goodall, K., Duxbury, J. and Tsang, A. (2022). An evaluation of the implementation of a “No Force First” informed organisational guide to reduce physical restraint in mental health and learning disability inpatient settings in the UK. Frontiers in psychiatry, 13, p.749615. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.749615.
  • Bidmead, E. and McShane, C. (2021) Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation of Digital Solutions. Health, 13, 1330-1345. https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2021.1311097 .
  • Baker, J., Berzins, K., Canvin, K., Benson, I., Kellar, I., Wright, J., Lopez, R.R., Duxbury, J., Kendall, T. and Stewart, D. (2021). Non-pharmacological interventions to reduce restrictive practices in adult mental health inpatient settings: the COMPARE systematic mapping review. Health and Social Care Delivery Research, 9(5), pp.v-183. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33651527/.
  • Hallett, N., Duxbury, J., McKee, T., Harrison, N., Haines, A., Craig, E., et al. (2021). Taser use on individuals experiencing mental distress: an integrative literature review.  Ment. Health Nurs.28, 56–71.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12594.

 

Contact 

Joy Duxbury (joy.duxbury@cumbria.ac.uk)

Katie Goodall (katie.goodall@cumbria.ac.uk).

 

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