Alison Wearden

Overview

Professor of Health Psychology

Editor (with David French) of British Journal of Health Psychology

Past Chair, British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology. 

Biography

I graduated in Psychology from the University of Manchester in 1977, and then went on to obtain a Diploma in Social Administration and Social Work in 1979. After working for nine years as a Probation Officer and four years at home caring for children, I returned to Psychology in 1993 when I worked on some research looking at age and IQ effects in timing. I worked as a researcher from 1993 to 1999 until taking up my post as lecturer in Psychology in January 2000. I obtained an MSc entitled "Cognitive Functioning in chronic fatigue syndrome" in 1995, and a PhD, entitled "Expressed emotion and Type 1 diabetes" in 2000. My current research interests include understanding and managing chronic illness, particularly chronic fatigue syndrome, focusing on the roles of illness cognitions and interpersonal factors, and the physical health of people with mental health conditions. Current projects and research being carried out by PhD and masters students include developing an app to enhance wellbeing and motivation in people who do not currently want to quit smoking; understanding the experiences, particularly interpersonal experiences, of people with IBD and IDD; quality of life in couples as one partner transitions onto dialysis; the influence of partners on adjustment to recently diagnosed dementia.

Link to my google scholar page:

http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=eKGxDtAAAAAJ&hl=en