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Centre

Centre for Public and Psychosocial Health

Unit(s) of assessment: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience; Social Work and Social Policy

Research theme: Health and Wellbeing

School: School of Social Sciences

Overview

Image credit: Siavash Rakhtshah

Centre directors

The Centre for Public and Psychosocial Health aims to discover, develop and evaluate ways to maintain and enhance wellbeing and independent living throughout the lifespan. Our multi-disciplinary centre comprises research, practice and scholarship-based staff and PGR students from across NTU.

We partner with public, private, and charitable sectors to develop innovative and impactful research of value to stakeholders and policy makers in local community, nationally and internationally. We view psychological and physical wellbeing as intimately linked; impacted by biological predisposition, life-events, sociocultural and lifestyle factors of risk and resilience. These are influenced by physical (e.g., built environment) and virtual spaces in which we live, play, work and learn.

We recognise psychological distress and trauma as major health influencers, and work to understand and ameliorate the negative impact of traumatic experiences, at individual and societal levels; for example through transformative justice. In addition to studying the impact of illness and behaviours (e.g., gaming, gambling, internet-use) on individuals and those around them, our public health work evaluates and promotes wider determinants of health (political, occupational, economic), and strengthens health systems in community and primary care settings globally.

CPPH publishes approximately 500 manuscripts annually. Please see the Research Group links below for some examples.

Research groups

Research group lead

In the Affect, Personality and the Embodied Brain (APE) Research Group, we investigate cognitive and affective traits that influence our behaviour with particular regard to their biological underpinnings and application to understanding psychopathology. Our work encompasses psychometric and experimental investigation of a wide range of personality traits (e.g., dark traits, general personality, more specific traits like schizotypy, emotional intelligence), their associations with emotions and motivations (e.g., reinforcement sensitivity, anxiety, empathy, pain perception) and behavioural outcomes (e.g., impulsivity, risk taking, aggression, pro-/antisocial tendencies) as well as psychopathology (e.g., ADHD, schizophrenia, depression, autism, personality disorders).

In addition, we study brain-body processes such as the role of inflammation and gut microbiota for an integrated evaluation of brain and body function, to further our understanding of psychological mechanisms affecting risk and resilience for maladaptive behaviour, psychological disorders and other (physical) non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiometabolic disease); with the view to discovery, development and evaluation of novel non-pharmacological interventions (e.g., nutrition, mindfulness based meditation, nurturing touch, VR based interventions).

We use state-of-the-art virtual reality (VR) tools, neuroimaging methods (Electroencephalography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging), and blood assays (inflammation, fatty acids) to study these processes.

Read more about the International APE Network.

Selected publications

  • Heym N., Kibowski F., Bloxsom C.A.J. Blanchard A., Harper A., Wallace L., Firth J., Sumich A (2021). The Dark Empath: Characterising dark traits in the presence of empathy Personality and Individual Differences, 110172.
  • Heym, N., Heasman, BC., Hunter, K., Blanco, SR., Wang, G., Siegert, R., Cleare, A., Gibson, GR., Kumari, V., Sumich, A. (2019). The role of microbiota and inflammation in self-judgement and empathy: implications for understanding the brain-gut-microbiome axis in depression. Psychopharmacology 236 (5): 1459-1470.
  • Doborjeh Z, Doborjeh M, Sumich A, Singh B, Merkin A, Budhraja S, Goh W, Lai EM, Williams M, Tan S, Lee J, Kasabov N. (2023). Investigation of social and cognitive predictors in non-transition ultra-high-risk' individuals for psychosis using spiking neural networks. Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 9(1):10.
  • Paul, S., Arora, A., Midha, R. Vu, D., Roy, P.K., & Belmonte, M.K. (2021) Autistic traits and individual brain differences: functional network efficiency reflects attentional and social impairments, structural nodal efficiencies index systemising and theory-of-mind skills. Molecular Autism 12, 3.

Research group lead

The Ageing and Lifespan Research Group’s research focuses on changes in psychological functioning in early-life development, ageing and age-related clinical conditions.

The members’ current interests span visual perception, motor control, attention, memory, working life, the living environment and cross-cultural approaches to lifelong well being. In the childhood and adolescence period of the lifespan, we are working on the role of psychomotor factors in the development of assistive frameworks for individuals on the autistic spectrum.

In the adult phase, our group is studying psychological aspects of the workplace. In ageing phase, we are investigating changes to visual perception, attention, and memory, with applied interests in the management of dementia. We are also studying psychological factors in the control of balance and movement, with applied interests in old age mobility. The group also conducts research on the sociocultural aspects of lifespan psychology, including self and family perceptions across cultures, resilience and indigenous communities, positive ageing and lifespan perspectives on well being.

Selected publications

  • Badham, S. P., Hay, M., Foxon, N., Kaur, K., & Maylor, E. A. (2016). When does prior knowledge disproportionately benefit older adults’ memory?. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 23(3), 338-365.
  • Jones, S. A., & Noppeney, U. (2021). Ageing and multisensory integration: A review of the evidence, and a computational perspective. Cortex, 138, 1-23.
  • Park, M. S. A., & Joshanloo, M. (2021). Satisfaction with life declines with age in Malaysia: An exploratory analysis of factors influencing subjective well-being in a developing/middle-income country. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16(2), 471-486.
  • Fraizer, E. V., & Mitra, S. (2008). Methodological and interpretive issues in posture-cognition dual-tasking in upright stance. Gait & posture, 27(2), 271-279.

Research group lead

The International Gaming Research Unit is committed to

  • Discovering and understanding attitudes toward gambling, game playing, internet usage and other potentially addictive behaviours
  • Developing and evaluating responsible gambling tools
  • Developing psychometric tools to assess problematic and addictive behaviours
  • Examining the ways individuals interact online – both healthy and unhealthy interactions
  • examining the situational and psycho-structural characteristics of gaming (for example, what makes games enjoyable to play?)
  • Examining how new technologies and products impact on our lives and change the way we live
  • Identifying those people who are most at risk of developing behavioural problems with these activities
  • Designing prevention strategies to minimise the risk of such vulnerable people developing problems
  • identifying the underlying factors that contribute to some people developing psychological and behavioural dependencies in relation to some of these activities or technologies.

Selected publications

  • Auer, M. & Griffiths, M.D. (2023). Using artificial intelligence algorithms to predict self-reported problem gambling with account-based player data in an online casino setting. Journal of Gambling Studies, 39, 1273-1294.
  • Gibson, E., Griffiths, M.D., Calado, F. & Harris, A. (2023). Videogame player experiences with micro-transactions: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 145, 107766.
  • Szolin, K., Kuss, D. J., Nuyens, P. & Griffiths, M.D. (2022). “I am the character, the character is me”: A thematic analysis of the user-avatar relationship in videogames. Computers in Human Behavior, 143, 107694.
  • Vieira, C., Kuss, D.J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2023). Early maladaptive schemas and behavioural addictions: A systematic literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 105, 102340.

Research group lead

The Cyberpsychology Research Group is very active in undertaking and disseminating research in the area of the psychology of the Internet and digital technology use. The group’s research spans psychosocial implications of Internet and technology use across various channels and applications (e.g., mobile/smartphones, gaming, social networking), the use of technologies to inform mental health, education, and research, as well as augmented and virtual reality applications.

Selected publications

  • Hadlington, L., Harkin, L. J., Kuss, D., Newman, K., & Ryding, F. C. (2022). Psychology of Popular Media Perceptions of Fake news, misinformation and disinformation amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A qualitative exploration. Psychology of Popular Media. ISSN 2689-6567.
  • Binder, J. F. (2023). Establishing conversational engagement and being effective: The role of body movement in mediated communication. Acta Psychologica, 233, 103840.
  • Hussain, Z., Ferreira, R., & Kuss, D. J. (2023). The feasibility of smartphone interventions to decrease problematic use of social networking sites: A randomised controlled trial. Psychiatry Research Communications, 3, 3, 100132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psycom.2023.100132
  • Throuvala MA, Pontes HM, Tsaousis I, Griffiths MD, Rennoldson M and Kuss DJ (2021) Exploring the Dimensions of Smartphone Distraction: Development, Validation, Measurement Invariance, and Latent Mean Differences of the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS). Front. Psychiatry 12:642634.

Research group lead

The mission of the Trauma, Social Isolation and Mental Health (TSIMH) group is to improve the psychological wellbeing of and support for individuals with experiences of trauma, social exclusion and psychological distress (ranging from traumatic experiences in refugees and staff in the emergency services, homelessness to mental illness, for example eating disorder and bipolar disorder). This is structured around some of the key principles of NTU’s Health and Wellbeing theme: we explore social events and pathologies that influence healthy development in people’s mind and body, in the wider context of communities and society.

Selected publications

  • Bridger, K. M., Binder, J. F., & Kellezi, B. (2020). Secondary traumatic stress in foster carers: Risk factors and implications for intervention. Journal of child and family studies29, 482-492.
  • Edmondson, A. J., Borthwick, R., Hughes, E., & Lucock, M. (2022). Using photovoice to understand and improve healthy lifestyles of people diagnosed with serious mental illness. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing29(5), 676-687.
  • Kellezi, B., Guxholli, A., Stevenson, C., Ruth Helen Wakefield, J., Bowe, M., & Bridger, K. (2021). ‘Enemy of the people’: Family identity as social cure and curse dynamics in contexts of human rights violations. European Journal of Social Psychology51(3), 450-466.
  • Marriott, M. R., Thompson, A. R., Cockshutt, G., & Rowse, G. (2019). Narrative insight in psychosis: The relationship with spiritual and religious explanatory frameworks. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice92(1), 74-90.

The Work, Well-Being and Performance research group undertakes rigorous and impactful research that aims to improve the health and well-being, working lives, and productivity of individuals, teams, and organisations.

Our work is externally funded and designed in collaboration with those who will benefit from the research insights. It draws and applies knowledge from a range of areas within psychology (such as developmental/lifespan, personality, health, community, and social psychology) and cognate areas such as business and management, occupational health, sport science, and ergonomics. Specific research interests cover: health and well-being, organisational interventions, intervention evaluation, diversity, coaching, organisational resilience and recovery, work behaviours (e.g., presenteeism, absenteeism, workaholism), climate and culture, change and organisational development, human error and safety, ageing and work, (in)quality, job design, leadership and teamwork, commuting and working away from home, affect (nostalgia) and individual differences, mindfulness, performance and motivation, chronic health, “always on”, and acceptable behaviours in SMEs.

Our work is carried out in a range of workplace settings, including, for example, healthcare, higher education, local government, the police, and manufacturing. Our work has been funded by the European Commission, Research Councils, charities, and industry.

PhD funding

Further information on doctoral studies

Programs of research

Understanding and affecting mechanisms of risk and resilience in Mental health. This work employs psychosocial and biological methods to understand vulnerability to common psychological disorders (Depression, Schizophrenia, Eating Disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, ADHD, Autism, Personality Disorders), and uses that knowledge to develop and evaluate interventions to protect against the onset-, facilitate recovery from- or manage living with psychopathology. It provides for research-informed teaching on several modules (advanced biological psychology, clinical neuropsychology, personality, personality disorders and violence), including one of the largest year three modules in NTU Psychology, Psychopathology.

Our work on trauma and distress comprises several qualitative and quantitative studies. Qualitative work includes studies of the psychological impact of sharing traumatic experiences within the family; The psychological impact of documenting stories of trauma; The impact of traumatic injuries and predictors of return to work; The experience of gender-based violence in war- coping strategies and justice; evaluating psychological intervention for violent women in forensic settings.

Quantitative work seeks to investigate and ameliorate the impact of trauma on psychological wellbeing, including the evaluation of interventions (e.g., psychosensory, psychoeducation, cognitive training, mindfulness, embodiment and self-compassion) to lower distress in response to trauma and improve psychological outcomes. Examples of intervention groups include: mother-child dyads emerging from domestic violence backgrounds; children with adverse experiences (e.g., history of child labour in India); academics and students; care workers; athletes; parents with distressed infants/excessive crying.

Our work in adverse childhood experiences on mental health and trauma-informed intervention focuses on investigating the risk factors and impact of adverse childhood experiences, such as domestic violence and abuse (DVA), and trauma-focused intervention approaches. Within this work, we seek empirical evidence to identify intervention targets and evaluate interventions for building resilience, processing trauma and coping with negative or dysregulated mood states (e.g., fear, anxiety, anger, aggression) that might result from adversity. There are several ongoing projects that are highly impactful and involve 3rd sector organisations, schools and practitioners. For example, members of the centre (i) examine the impact of domestic violence and abuse on mental well-being in children (see LWA Flagship study), (ii) teachers recognition of the signs of child abuse and DVA in school teachers. This work is impactful in supporting the educational sector to identify at risk individuals for referral, prevention and early intervention.

These projects also involve collaborations with third sector organisations with clear pathways to national and international impact. This research is evidence-based practice-focused, where we apply evidence and theory to the implementation and evaluation of assessment and intervention approaches. We have extensively engaged with external partners and organisational bodies contributing to the release of various reports and presentation at external political bodies (e.g., United Nations). This is currently generating substantial impact.

This converges with current collaboration with India and London on the impact of trauma on brain function and cognitive remodelling in children and adolescence. Trauma is a major risk factor for dysregulation of the immune system (inflammation) and as such increases vulnerability to several psychological and physical illnesses.

Our work particularly focuses on behavioural addiction and includes the prevention and reduction of problem gambling, problem gaming, problem social media use (and other behavioural addictions); as well as identifying, evaluating and promoting safer behaviour and ways to alleviate suffering of people impacted by behavioural addictions. For example, we evaluate responsible gambling tools offered by the gambling industry. Other work identifies problematic online gambling and internet use using account-based tracking data and WIFI use (e.g., by students at university).

We promote evidence-based decision making in determining practice and policy​ in the area of behavioural addictions among multi-stakeholder groups. Our IGRU/Behavioural addiction research group is one of the most well-known and highly published internationally in this field. We also undertake some research in substance addiction. For example, on assessment of brain function in people recovering from substance addiction; and investigation of co-occurrence between substance and behavioural addiction.

Our cyberpsychology work seeks to improve safety and security of internet-based lifestyles and user outcomes for engagement with digital technologies. This includes investigation of prevalence and mitigation of problematic or excessive uses of digital technologies, and the development of programmes to enhance online, digital and media literacy skills, with the view to improving health and wellbeing.

Our work in personality is impactful and theory shifting. Our ongoing work develops personality frameworks (e.g., re-enforcement sensitivity, dark traits, empathy, schizotypy) that can be applied to explain, and predict, behaviour and wellbeing. We use self-report experimental designs, including virtual reality and biological methods to understand individual differences in personality and how these relate to risk for poor psychological health and/or maladaptive behaviour. For example, our work on aversive traits such as psychopathy has led to the discovery of a novel psychological construct which we have coined as the “The Dark Empath” (see flagship).

This work challenges the traditional theory that dark traits are underpinned by the absence of empathy, rather it proposes empathy as particularly protective in the context of dark traits. It formed part of a triad of dark trait papers that resulted in theoretical and practical impact, informing our understanding of dysfunctional attachment bonds and indirect/less observable forms of interpersonal aggression in those dark traits. The findings of this research stream strongly influence and directly impact our other research programmes on the impact of adverse childhood experiences on mental health and development of trauma-informed interventions. This work has also overlap with our collaborative (Brunel University, Broadmoor Hospital) studies in forensic populations (e.g., men with a history of homicide).

We use various brain imaging methods (e.g., electroencephalography, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, near infrared spectroscopy) to understand neurobiological underpinnings of both healthy and unhealthy function. In addition to traditional methods, we collaborate with computer scientists and engineers to apply machine learning methods for categorisation and prediction of brain states associated with health and/or response to intervention.

Our innovative work in molecular psychology integrates understanding of the central nervous system with the immune and enteric systems. Such work provides novel understanding of biological mechanisms underpinning several grand challenges in psychological health (schizophrenia, depression, maladaptive aggression, dementia), which substantially impact society and economic wellbeing. For example, depression is one of the most prevalent and disabling disorders worldwide, accounting for substantial personal, societal, health and economic burden (33% disability costs) and is a significant risk factor for all noncommunicable diseases.

Our work in this area includes local (cross-centre) and international (NZ, Singapore) collaborative projects on the role of the immune system in psychological (e.g., depression) and physical (e.g., prostate cancer) wellbeing. It contributes to understanding mechanisms of risk (e.g., between co-occurring disorders, due to genotypes, or as a results of environment/trauma) and intervention (e.g., based on nutrition, social connection, mindfulness, emotional training). We can use this information to advise people on optimising wellbeing throughout the lifespan, and directing intervention strategies through precision medicine. This work has contributed to the development of the university research environment by supporting the establishment of a wetlab in NTU psychology and upgrading lipid analysis capability in Chemistry. It forms the basis of several (10 ongoing) PhDs and external income.

This programme evaluates work, education and recreation spaces for their impact on health, performance and wellbeing. For example, using virtual reality technology we have re-design NTU building interiors to enhance biophilic quality bringing nature into the space. We compare spaces varying in biophlic quality on participant self-reported wellbeing and brain responses whilst investigations. We also explore the role of Art in a similar way. If our ideas are supported, we will be able to identify ways in which NTU can cost-effectively enhance student experience. This work has been funded through KTP and internal awards.

We have several ongoing projects aimed at supporting psychological function and quality of life in an increasingly ageing society. People live and work longer (1/6 people will be over 60 in 2030). By 2050, over-80-year-olds will triple those of 2020[1]. Yet, cognitive health in older people has not improved comparatively. This carries huge individual, societal and economic burden. Unless addressed, age-related spending in UK will exceed 26% of GDP by 2065. Thus, in 2018, UK directed £300m toward resolving the grand challenge of an ageing society. Equally important to reducing pathology is understanding psychological thriving in life’s later years which has implications for productivity and safety in working life, supporting socialisation and self-efficacy, reducing loneliness, and improving overall quality-of-life.

In order to capitalise on the benefits of an ageing society, we seek to understand and ameliorate adverse changes in cognitive function that can occur with age. These include impairment to sensory processing, memory, executive function and understanding others. Some of this work applies machine learning methods to brain data to improve early detection and diagnosis of pathological ageing (e.g., dementia). Our other work aims to support people who are experiencing cognitive decline in everyday activities such as shopping and/or making financial decisions. This work is supported by external bids (see below) and contributes to several PGR projects. Work in has stimulated collaboration across NTU as well as nationally and internationally.  We also have ongoing involvement in relevant third sector organisations (e.g., for Parkinson’s Disease).

Our lifespan work includes studies that aim to understand and support people with developmental disorders, such as Attention, deficit hyperactivity disorder, Autism and Schizophrenia. This includes understanding and addressing particular needs of neurodiverse populations and creating learning programmes that cater to those needs.

For example, the Point OutWords (TM) AP (see flagship) aims to help people with autism work with their parents, caregivers, teachers or therapists to learn how to communicate by pointing, typing or speaking. Other work investigates the impact of domestic abuse on the development of internalising and externalising disorders in children and adolescents.

We have several major ongoing projects that seek to develop health care capacity in low-and middle-income countries. Of particular note, is our Public Health work in Uganda, where we have developed significant training programmes for health care professionals. We have also worked with colleagues in Uganda and Kenya to create a transnational mobility programme. This aligns to NTU’s Connecting Globally strategy in providing staff and student mobility to broaden horizons and gain a competitive edge in the global arena.

Events

International Affect, Personality and Embodied Brain (APE) Conference 2023

14 - 15 December 2023

The International Affect, Personality & Embodied Brain Research Group (APE; Nottingham Trent University) and the Human Neurobehavioural Laboratory (HNL; Universidade Catolica Portuguesa) are proud to present the 4th online APE Conference, APE2023, which will take place on the 14th – 15th December 2023.

Find out more

Abstract submission for APE 2023 (deadline 19 November 2023)

British Psychological Society: Trauma and Justice

16 June 2023 (past)

This day conference included 8 presentations bringing the latest evidence and knowledge on the relationship between trauma recovery and justice, redress, access to formal and informal support and recognition in the aftermath.

Find out more