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- Social prescribing
- Care home workforce wellbeing
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The Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute, launched in 2019, sits within the University of Sunderland’s prestigious School of Nursing and Health Sciences.
The University benefitted from a generous, multi-million-pound donation from philanthropist and entrepreneur Helen McArdle, which was instrumental in the creation of the innovative new Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute in 2019. The University's Shackleton House building has been re-named Helen McArdle House in recognition of this extraordinary gift.
The Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute focuses on applied health research, working collaboratively across the Faculties of Health Sciences and Wellbeing, Arts and Creative Industries and the Faculty of Technology, harnessing the power and potential of interdisciplinary research. Drawing upon the wide talent and expertise of academics and synergies across the University, our interdisciplinary approach to solving real world research and knowledge exchange issues is making a difference to underserved populations, stigmatized conditions and enabling people to take control of their own health and wellbeing.
The Institute is home to the Sunderland Social Prescribing Research and Knowledge Exchange Centre, funded by the legacy of Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group. The Centre is overseeing the development of evidence to support social prescribing initiatives across the City and to support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. We are supported by Sunderland City Council, All Together Better Sunderland and Sunderland GP Alliance.
Opened in September 2019, the Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute focuses on four strategic and synergistic programmes of research and knowledge exchange:
1) Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (NMAHPs)
2) Health Inequalities
3) Health Services Research
4) Health and Care Workforce Interdisciplinary Research Network (including The Sunderland Social Prescribing Research and Knowledge Exchange Centre)
These strategic programmes are aligned to international, national and regional policy in these areas. Since opening, the Institute’s strategy has also evolved in response to key national and regional policy on the commissioning and delivery of services in the NHS, local authority, and social care, alongside the evidenced widening of health inequalities.
The Institute works collaboratively with external organisations from health, social care, local authority, academic, commercial, and professional bodies. These international, national, and regional partnerships produce co-designed research and knowledge exchange activities under the four Institute programmes and four workstreams to provide recommendations and solutions to health and wellbeing challenges across the continuum of care.
Find out more information on health and wellbeing in Sunderland:
Our PhD students make a vibrant contribution to the Institute’s research environment, with their work aligned to our Programmes and Workstreams.Other staff.
Maria Freeman is the recipient of the 2022 Scholarship entitled ‘Exploring health inequalities in deprived populations in Sunderland’. This study is in collaboration with Sunderland City Council, with the findings having potential to inform strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of Sunderland.
Maria is a graduate of the University, with a BSc in Public Health and a wealth of experience working in health and with underserved populations. This work is aligned to our Health Inequalities Strategic Programme.
Kostas Pefanis is the recipient of the 2022 Scholarship which focuses on the role of community pharmacy and palliative care. Pharmacy practice is an established and integral focus of the Institute’s work, aligned to our Health Services Research Programme.
Kostas is a qualified Pharmacist, with an MPharm from the University of Sunderland.
Our activity is enhanced by a team of experienced and interdisciplinary Research Associates, across a range of externally funded research and knowledge exchange projects.
Advisory Boards
The Institute is governed through an Internal and an External Advisory Board, who support the strategic development of research and knowledge exchange activity.
Research Associates and Visiting Professors
The Institute’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Activity is supported by our Visiting Professors and Visiting Research Fellows internationally and nationally.
The four programmes are supported by four strategic workstreams of:
- Social prescribing
- Care home workforce wellbeing
- Social isolation
- Resettlement and reintegration of veterans
- Long-term follow up of people who have had bariatric surgery
- Stigma of obesity
- Inequalities in sexual and reproductive health in BAME and populations with obesity
- Breastfeeding
The drivers of these research and knowledge exchange workstreams are to produce outputs which can change service delivery and models of integrated care, improve population health and influence policy and practice.
The Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute offers lectures, podcasts and webinars to highlight the work of the Institute, and our collaborations with partner organisations, providing opportunities for discussion and debate.
These activities will be open to, and bring together, University staff and students, local and regional NHS and care workforces, including health and social care organisations, and the public.
Find out moreFor any enquiries about the Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute, please email Professor Yitka Graham at yitka.graham@sunderland.ac.uk.