Dr Helen West PhD, CPsychol, FHEA

Personal Statement

I am the Theme Lead for 'Psychology and Sociology as applied to Medicine' (PSM) on the MBChB (undergraduate medicine), including curriculum development, delivery of lectures, group work and assessment. I assist with coordination of the MBChB “Good Doctor” supratheme (incorporating Psychology and Sociology as applied to Medicine; Public, Preventative and Global Health; Professionalism, Ethics and the Legal context; and The Clinical Team). I facilitate simulated consultations during MBChB Communication for Clinical Practice sessions, and contribute to teaching in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Palliative Medicine. I supervise undergraduate final year projects in the Department of Psychology, DClin student theses, Psychology Conversion MSc projects, and PhD students.

My research focuses on the application of psychological theory to healthcare; perinatal mental health; medical student mental health and wellbeing; and the communication of health information. I am currently conducting research on the mental health and wellbeing of medical students and newly qualified doctors during COVID-19. I have experience of quantitative and qualitative research, clinical trial coordination, systematic review methodology and meta-analysis.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, I created the “Coping with COVID” podcast with Dr Suzi Gage, as a responsive resource to support students in medicine, nursing and allied health professions. (available here and on all major podcast apps).

Between November 2016 and January 2019 I coordinated the STRAWB2 study (Stress and Wellbeing After Childbirth), a multi-site randomised controlled trial. The trial was awarded the Innovation award at the Northern Maternity and Midwifery Festival Awards 2018, and was shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives 2019 Johnson’s Award for Excellence in Maternity Care. I co-authored the NHSE good practice guide for supporting mental health care in a maternity and neonatal setting (available here).

While working at Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth, I authored systematic reviews of interventions in pregnancy and childbirth to inform WHO and NICE guidelines. I developed and tested visual summaries of Cochrane reviews to communicate the main results in an accessible format.

My PhD research explored how service users and providers interpret and communicate probabilistic information from antenatal genetic screening tests.

I regularly peer review submissions to the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, and review applications for ethical approval submitted to the Health and Life Sciences Research Ethics Committee.
I was awarded a Royal Society for Public Health Special Commendation for Contributions to the Field of Arts and Mental Health Research for work developing and piloting a Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment toolkit.
I am a Chartered Psychologist (Division of Health Psychology), a member of the British Psychological Society, and a Fellow of AdvanceHE.